The American Association for the Advancement of Science is one of the world’s premiere science conferences. Between February 16 and 20,  8,000 people will meet in Vancouver to learn more about some of the world’s newest scientific discoveries and will introduce new areas of inquiry that will shape science for decades to come. It is only the second time in its 164 year history that this conference has met outside of the United States – the first time was in Toronto in 1981.

Back then, I was a high school student in Toronto with a motivated science teacher who encouraged us to attend the conference. To be blunt, Canada was not on the map of leading research, and we were encouraged to attend so that we might set our sights on joining the big leagues elsewhere – the United States or the United Kingdom. Sure we had studied about the discovery of insulin – some 60 years earlier, but the underlying message was “real science happens elsewhere.”

Today, students at that same high school are doing stem cell research during co-op placements at the Hospital for Sick Children working with global leaders in state-of-the art labs. Today, more than 1 million Canadians are pursuing an undergraduate degree, and over 190,000 are pursuing graduate studies – part of a drive towards opportunity and excellence taking place right across the country.

In 1981 there was only one university in Canada conducting more than $50 million in research annually.  Today there are 26 doing that level of research, and 12 of them conduct more than $300 million in research each year. The largest of them (University of Toronto) conducts close to $1 billion in research annually. Through sustained investments, Canada has become a leader in science, technology and innovation.

Back in 1981 there were fewer than 10,000 people pursuing PhDs in Canada. Today, there are about 45,000 full time doctoral students in Canada, and they are conducting research that will shape the 21^st century. This increased opportunity has helped ensure Canada has the highly talented people we need in the global economy.

Our universities today are much more global in their outlook and in their make-up. In 1981 there were just 28,000 international students in Canada, and today there are more than 100,000 from more than 200 countries. Universities are global gateways that strengthen the connections among and between nations and people.  

Consider Canada’s linkages with China. In 1981 there were only 250 Chinese students studying here – and now there are about 20,000. As Prime Minister Harper noted last week in Beijing, these global linkages are becoming increasingly important, particularly with new and emerging global superpowers.

These are all accomplishments about which we should be very proud. Looking ahead, Canada needs to continue its investments in research and innovation, and find new and better ways to collaborate in international research to harness the best minds on the world’s toughest problems.

In 1981, Toronto was a nice place to hold a conference just beyond the U.S. border. This week, when delegates come to Vancouver, they will see how dramatically Canada has changed. They will see what Canada has done to put us on the map as an international destination, partner and peer in doing ground-breaking research.

In preparing to attend the conference in Vancouver, I am delighted to see that there will be several hundred high school students attending, and I wonder what they will achieve in the next 30 years.

That’s the focus of a workshop hosted by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver on Feb. 17. The session, “Establishing research collaborations with emerging economies: Canada’s experience in India and Brazil” will look at why and how Canada’s universities are establishing and enhancing educational and research partnerships with India and Brazil, the opportunities these collaborations are creating, and lessons that can be learned from the Canadian experience.

“International partnerships in research and innovation are vital to building prosperity in the new knowledge-driven economy,” says Paul Davidson, president of AUCC. “And in Canada, building international collaborations is increasingly about reaching out to emerging nations – countries that are building prosperity by investing in research and innovation.”

Brazil is an excellent example. This dynamic Latin American country is poised to become a top-five economy in the next five years and has set a research expenditure target of 2.5 percent of its GDP by 2022.

India, one of the fastest growing economies, will need 1,400 new universities in the next decade. It is currently sending about 160,000 students abroad annually and is poised to surpass all of the G8 in terms of research output.

The AUCC workshop will look at how Canada is positioning itself as a world leader in research and innovation – in part through enhanced partnerships and collaborations with emerging nations – and how this strategy fits with the country’s ongoing mission of attracting the best and brightest minds from around the world to its universities.

Workshop details:

Date: Friday, February 17, 2012

Time: 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Facility: Vancouver Convention Centre (West Building)

Room: 107-108

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 NOTE TO MEDIA: AUCC president Paul Davidson is attending the AAAS Annual Meeting Feb. 16-20 and is available for interviews on this workshop topic and also the importance of hosting the AAAS gathering in Canada for our university research community.

Media Contact:

Helen Murphy
Communications Manager
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
hmurphy@aucc.ca
613-563-1236 ext. 238
Cell: 613-608-8749

“This bill is an important step forward in providing a balance between the interests of creators and users of copyright works,” says Paul Davidson, president of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. “It’s a good approach for Canada’s universities, which are both creators and users of copyright works. The bill clarifies important questions and will help ensure students and learners have access to the content they need, including digital material.”

Bill C-11 will allow universities to harness new technologies, including the Internet, to deliver research and learning materials to faculty members and students. It contains many of the changes the university community suggested during the government’s public consultations in 2009, including exceptions permitting the educational use of Internet materials and the recording and Internet transmission of lessons. These changes will facilitate online learning, including distance education, and make university education more accessible for Aboriginals and mature students.

“Canadian universities recognize the importance of balance between the desire of creators to receive fair remuneration for the use of their works and the public interest in being able to use information for purposes such as research and education,” says Davidson. “This copyright law will result in a fairer treatment for both parties.”

Universities and university students pay large sums to purchase and license educational materials and this will continue under this new legislation. Canada’s university libraries spend more than $300 million annually to buy and license new content for research and learning. In addition, more than $400 million is spent every year in university bookstores to buy new textbooks, course packs and works in digital format.

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For more information or interview opportunities:

Helen Murphy
AUCC Communications Manager
hmurphy@aucc.ca
Tel.: 613-563-1236, ext. 238

The CCSEP’s eligibility criteria will be expanded to include opportunities for Canadian undergraduate students and mid-career professionals to gain academic and professional experience in China (the program is currently open to graduate students and faculty members). “The renewal of this program signals the importance of higher education and research collaboration as a key pillar of bilateral relations between Canada and China,” said Paul Davidson, president of AUCC.

Canada’s universities also look forward to the upcoming calls for proposals for joint research projects, which are expected to be launched in spring 2012. A total of $18 million in funding will be available to support these initiatives, which will facilitate stronger ties between Canadian and Chinese graduate students and researchers in areas such as human vaccines and clean automotive transportation.

“Canada’s future growth and prosperity depend on our ability to be more innovative and competitive. Investments in international education and research will prepare our graduates to drive the innovative capacity of Canada’s economy and make positive contributions to their local and global communities,” said Mr. Davidson.

There are currently more than 475 active partnership agreements between Canadian and Chinese universities, facilitating student and faculty mobility, research cooperation and joint academic programming in a variety of fields. Canadian universities also hosted more than 30,000 Chinese students in 2009, which is the largest group of international students in Canada.

AUCC is the national voice of Canada’s universities, representing 95 Canadian public and private not-for-profit universities and degree-level colleges.

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For more information:

 Helen Murphy
AUCC Communications Manager
hmurphy@aucc.ca
613-563-1236 ext. 238

The award-winning magazine, owned by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, is also the largest source of career ads for people seeking academic positions in Canada.

Website: www.universityaffairs.ca

Universities have been vocal about their ambitions to lure more international students to Canada, but they are quietly worried far too few Canadian students go abroad for their own formative experiences.

Federal and provincial governments are eager to market Canada as a higher-education destination. They feel international students make the classroom more diverse and globally oriented, while also attracting new revenue.
 
But when 25 university presidents converged in Ottawa to discuss Canada’s innovation agenda with parliamentarians on Tuesday, several of them cautioned that more homegrown students need to study outside their own backyard to develop strong worldwide connections and an instinct to innovate.

“Canadian students are not big travellers in comparison to, say, Americans or New Zealanders or Australians, and they don’t even travel that much from province to province,” said Queen’s University president Daniel Woolf.

About 9 in 10 Canadian students go to university in their home province, and evidence suggests a large proportion choose a school within 20 kilometres of home. Only 12 per cent of undergraduates have an international placement or exchange experience, according to a 2009 survey – reason to fear the experience of many students is too parochial given high demand for the ability to work and think globally.

“If I look across the U.S. universities which are most like ours, it’s more like 20 per cent, or a little higher,” said Herb O’Heron, director of research and policy analysis at the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. “When I talk to people in Germany, more like a third of students have [such] an experience.”

Sean Riley, president of St. Francis Xavier University, was skeptical of his school’s service learning program that sent students to Guatemala to examine topics like the coffee economy, until he made the trip himself. Now he is “fanatical” about fostering international connections.

“If I had a choice, I’d take the number of students that have a significant international exposure and multiply it by 10 or 20,” Dr. Riley said. “I think we’re kidding ourselves if we think we actually have a global mindset.”

Most universities have dozens, even hundreds of partnerships with schools abroad, but only a fraction of students take advantage of them, especially early in their studies, said Dalhousie University president Tom Traves.

“It exposes you, it transforms you, changes you as a person – you never see the world in the same way again,” he said.

That was Georgia Anstey’s experience. The 21-year-old Vancouver native and University of British Columbia student stumbled on a UBC international service learning program in 2010, and spent six weeks that summer in Swaziland working on a community-level HIV/AIDS project and talking to families. She quickly switched her major from history to international relations, and now has two longer study trips planned, to Uganda and France.

“It shifted my entire direction,” Ms. Anstey said. “Looking at trends with HIV is so staggering sometimes, you distance yourself from it in a classroom sense, from a book or a report. But when you know people, it definitely makes a difference.”

Dr. Traves worries the public still sees study abroad as frivolous, making student travel a tough political sell. Most trips are funded out of strained university budgets, through in-house fundraising or out of students’ pockets.

By contrast, the Brazilian government recently promised to spend $2-billion sending 75,000 more of its students abroad.

“If you put in place a broad national strategy along these lines, I don’t think it would cost big money in the context of the total budget of the federal government – we’re talking tens of millions of dollars, not hundreds. That would be astonishing and have a huge impact,” Dr. Traves said.

“To be a global player, you have to have global understanding, and you can’t do that sitting in your basement looking at a computer screen.”

Maureen Mancuso, 3M Fellow and Provost at the University of Guelph, who has led this campaign, says: “Whether it’s through opening their eyes to new ideas or providing encouragement and motivation, a teacher can truly change the direction of a person’s life.”

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada agrees. AUCC is supporting the series of 11 advertisements, in which each national teaching fellow will say “Thank you” to the teachers who inspired them to change.

“Canada’s universities are home to outstanding teachers, whose knowledge and skills are shaped by scholarship,” says Paul Davidson, president of AUCC. “Great professors give us the tools to navigate in our changing world – and here’s a chance to pay tribute to them.”

Anyone inspired by his or her university teacher is encouraged to post to www.thankyourteacher.ca. Hosted by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) who co-sponsors the 3M National Teaching Fellowships, tributes from the public will be featured for everyone to see.

Arshad Ahmad, President of STLHE and 3M Fellow (1992) echoes his thanks and is quick to name great teachers who have moved him. “I encourage all Canadians, irrespective of where and when they were educated, to write a note and remind their great teacher of the difference they made. Anyone can do it. After all, we are all students.”

And on February 9th, read Maclean’s magazine’s feature article announcing the 2012 3M National Teaching Fellows.

Join us!

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Maureen Mancuso
Provost, University of Guelph
mmancuso@uoguelph.ca
Tel: 519-824-4120, x53845

Paul Davidson
President, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
president@aucc.ca
Tel: 613-563-3961, ext. 232

Arshad Ahmad
President, STLHE
arshad@jmsb.concordia.ca
Tel: 514-947-2095

“Our country’s future growth and prosperity depend on our ability to be more innovative and globally competitive,” says Paul Davidson, president of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. “The federal government is responding to this imperative, and universities are active partners.”

Canada’s universities do more than $1 billion in research each year with the private sector, and almost $1 billion of research for health and social service non-profit groups annually. A number of private-sector partners are joining the university presidents in their “Day on the Hill.”

The day begins with the “Big Thinking Lecture” on Parliament Hill, co-hosted with the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, on the topic of re-thinking innovation. The closing event is an evening reception to demonstrate the university and private-sector partnerships that energize Canadian innovation.

AUCC is the national voice of Canada’s universities, representing 95 Canadian public and private not-for-profit universities and degree-level colleges.

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Media Contact:

Helen Murphy
Communications Manager
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
hmurphy@aucc.ca
613-563-1236, ext. 238

By Stephen J. Toope and David Naylor

The fall of 2008 was not a happy time in Canada. Canada was slipping into a global recession, a just-returned third minority Parliament was cranky and Canadians were increasingly cynical about the capacity of government to respond to real and urgent needs. These were not what would normally be called winning conditions for public policy success.

In the fall of 2011, things are better but sunny days have not returned. The economic future remains cloudy. Perhaps, then, it’s worth taking a time-out from the gloom to celebrate something that governments and the private sector got right. 

The federal government announced the Knowledge Infrastructure Program as part of the 2009 stimulus budget. What began as a direct investment of $1.3 billion from the federal government was leveraged – with funding from the provinces, municipalities and the private sector – into an investment of $3.2 billion to upgrade and renew research and learning facilities on university campuses across the country.  These investments are having an impact today, and will help shape the future of higher education, research and innovation in Canada for years to come.

Equipped with these resources Canadian universities set about upgrading, expanding or building new state-of-the-art labs, libraries and learning spaces. In some cases, the projects addressed the pressing need for increased student capacity. At the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus, the new Instruction Centre includes a full range of technology-enabled classrooms varying in size from 30 seats to a 500-seat auditorium, dedicated study space and a 24/7 computer lab. Others made dramatic contributions to sustainability. At the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus, the new GeoExchange system uses groundwater from under the campus to heat and cool buildings, making the campus almost emissions-free.

Several aspects of the Knowledge Infrastructure Program were unusual. The first was its speed. The program went from initial discussions to announcement in just six weeks. And the program moved from announcement to project funding decisions in just six months. A total of 183 projects on 79 campuses were approved. Universities, not always known for rapid decision-making, committed to completing the projects in two years. Some kitchen renovations take longer!

As well, in a country where jurisdictional wrangling often impedes progress, the Knowledge Infrastructure Program stands out as an example of three levels of governments working together for the benefit of all Canadians. The responsibility for delivering the Knowledge Infrastructure Program fell to Industry Canada – not typically a program delivery department.  Yet a team was assembled that reviewed proposals, hammered out a deal with each province and monitored progress.  Virtually all of the projects were completed on time and on budget. Such alignment and speed of action across three levels of government, the private sector, and universities across the entire country is unprecedented. 

Obviously, the private sector players saw in the program relief from what could have been a massive slowdown in the building industry.  Yes, the provinces and federal government were compelled to act to stimulate the economy and to play nicely with each other, and municipalities stepped up to the plate to do their part. Granted, too, that universities had a back-log of capital needs. 

But what strikes us was the spirit of partnership and collaboration shown by all involved in delivering the Knowledge Infrastructure Program. It animated staff at Canada’s universities, hundreds of contractors and thousands of construction workers, individual and corporate donors, and all levels of government.  It also built important facilities that will benefit hundreds of thousands of future students. 

In November 2011, Canadian universities hosted public events to showcase all these new labs, libraries and learning spaces. Roughly 10,000 people attended, and we suspect many were families and friends of our own staff. No surprise there: these facilities aren’t exactly tourist attractions. But as two university presidents from opposite sides of the country, we thought it still might be useful to send out a few public bouquets. Some things do get done surprisingly well in this sometimes frustrating country and these frustrating times. And as two citizens, we are also left wondering how, without a crisis like that of 2008 or the inspiration of an Olympic Games, Canadians might regularly rekindle the social solidarity and collaborative culture that drove forward the Knowledge Infrastructure Program.

Stephen J. Toope is President of The University of British Columbia and Chair of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and David Naylor is President of the University of Toronto

Canada’s prosperity depends on university graduates and researchers – they drive innovation in all sectors of our economy. The research-enriched learning environment on university campuses helps students develop the critical thinking skills required in the knowledge economy.