In the land of the GULUS the Linuxian is king! This sums up, in a few words, the ultimate objective of the Groupe d’Utilisateurs de Linux de l’Université de Sherbrooke (GULUS), a group of Linux users at the university. Founded in 1998 by students who wished to promote the use of the Linux operating system and free software (unlicensed) within the Sherbrooke community, the GULUS has been gaining in popularity ever since. Last year, the GULUS developers, who have organized numerous mini-lectures and Linux installation festivals, carried out three major projects. The students started by launching EduLinux, the first distribution of the entirely Québécois version of Linux. They then created the Miroir de logiciels libres, a public library of software that people can download free of charge which generates over 3,000 gigabytes of data transfer per month. Finally, they set up a free software centre at the Université de Sherbrooke which serves as a technological showcase for shareware as well as a meeting place and training centre. In regard to EduLinux, with a distribution of over 5,000 copies, it also enabled the Magdeleine high school to give a second life to 64 of its computers and led to the creation of the Révolution Linux company.
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Over 14 years ago, recognizing the importance of international competition, market globalization and the new challenges they represent for future engineers, students at the École Polytechnique Montréal established the Poly-Monde missions. Last May, a delegation made up of 21 future engineers with various areas of expertise departed for Switzerland for three weeks of industrial visits. With the aim of giving participants the chance to discover and study expanding industrial sectors in the selected foreign country, while at the same time establishing comparisons with Québec industries, analysing factors of competitiveness, assessing innovations and comparing the development and strategies of the companies visited, Poly-Suisse 2004 proved to be an excellent avenue of training. In addition to sound preliminary preparation, the mission was also preceded by some fifteen industrial visits in Québec in order to allow comparisons to be made. Wholly responsible for the financing, logistics ands organization of the visits, participants thus put their senses of entrepreneurship, analytical ability and leadership to the test.
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Training Québec’s future leaders in international trade while enabling Québec companies to establish economic ties abroad, this is the objective pursued by the Missions commerciales de l’Université Laval. Over the past eight years, the organization, managed exclusively by students from various disciplines, has successfully carried out thirteen missions in nine countries and given over 150 students the opportunity to participate in a unique training experience, thus paving the way to the careers they once dreamed about. Chosen through a rigorous selection process, participants must personally seek out the company they are to represent. As well as attending numerous training courses, they also prepare very intensely according to the mandate they are to fulfill. Thus, over 130 companies of all sizes, such as the CGI Group, Bell Canada International, Précitech, Prévost Car and Unibroue, to name only a few, have, along with a modest investment, entrusted Missions commerciales de l’Université Laval with a mandate in foreign development. Last May, two delegations, made up of a total of 25 young students full of hope and optimism, took Poland and Peru by storm.
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