Mount Royal University’s (MRU) new technology-forward school prepares to welcome thousands in the next few years.

By 2027, the School of Computing Sciences and Mathematics is expected to enroll more than 1,000 students, with an annual target of 350 new students. The school will offer three degree programs, one certificate, and four minors. 

Aside from its core programs, being computer science, computer information systems, and data science, it will also deliver courses required by the Bachelor of Science, Nursing, and Midwifery faculties.

Students not enrolled in the above programs may still reap some of the benefits, as the school will offer general education electives that teach mathematical, computational, and data literacy skills to pupils from all backgrounds.

Additionally, the Spatial Data Science Certificate is a one-year post-bachelor’s certification that gives graduates a deeper understanding of location-based data through hands-on experience with drones, satellite imagery, and predictive modelling. 

Chair Brady Killough said that the administrative restructuring was sparked by growing demand in the existing programs in recent years, which he said meant they needed more support to continue at the size they were reaching. 

He explained that the programs include work-integrated learning, meaning students can pursue internships, research, or capstone projects. MRU’s career services used to guide these, but now an internal person leads them. 

“One of the things it’s really increased our capacity for is the building of those external partnerships and increasing the number and the quality of those experiences,” said Killough.

“It’s given us a lot more capacity to engage in that type of work than we had before.”

Yasaman Amannejad, academic director, said that having these industry-specific resources will help students in the long run.

“They help students further use this foundational knowledge that they’re learning in the program and put them in practice,” she said. 

“What we’re teaching them is not tied to a single tool or a single technology — they’re able to solve real problems.”

School’s launch to assist Calgary’s tech sector

The school’s expansion comes amid a booming technology sector, with 1.5 million workers and over 90,000 more jobs and work placements expected from the federal government’s AI for All strategy. 

Launched in June 2026, the strategy notes Canada as one of the slowest countries to adopt artificial intelligence, despite having “world-class” talent in the digital technology industry. 

To address this, the federal government has invested to increase responsible AI use from 12 per cent to 60 per cent by 2034, with an anticipated return of more than $200 billion in economic benefits. 

Last month, Calgary was named one of North America’s fastest-growing tech talent markets for the third consecutive year, with its workforce having grown 56 per cent between 2022 and 2025, according to CBRE’s annual report. 

Despite this, the Government of Alberta’s occupational outlook report, released on Sept. 2, projected a significant labour shortage in the software engineer and designer, data scientist, and information systems specialists professions. 

Killough said that, with added support from the newly reimagined school structure, they anticipate graduates will help fill this gap and further put the city on the map as a technology hub. 

“The programs that we’re offering here are sort of designed to fill those gaps and to have students who are trained well and well prepared to enter those careers,” he said. 

“I think Calgary’s growing tech sector is really going to be able to make excellent use of that talent.”

Killough added that their programs undergo repeated curriculum reviews to keep instruction up to date, especially in the context of AI. The team also noted that MRU’s computer information systems program is one of the few in the province and country. 

“It’s an excellent degree that combines computing knowledge with a little bit of a heavier kind of business focus than in a traditional degree,” said Killough. 

“It doesn’t get quite the same number of applicants as the computer science degree, for example, but I think that it makes for a very employable, well-prepared graduate coming out of it.”