Our university presidents have arrived in Brazil and there’s lots of excitement in the air about what promises to be a very productive week and a mission designed to advance Canada’s connections to an economic powerhouse that is making significant investments in research and higher education.
Among the AUCC delegates, there’s clearly a shared sense that the Brazil mission is an historic undertaking that will increase meaningful international opportunities for Canadian students and faculty. There’s also growing enthusiasm here for the new partnerships in research and innovation that will be unveiled over the coming days in order to bring some of the brightest minds in Canada and Brazil together to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges.
Our participating presidents are looking forward to sitting down with their Brazilian counterparts tomorrow at the Canada-Brazil University Presidents’ Roundtable in Rio de Janeiro. That’s when a number of panel discussions will address some of the key objectives of this mission by tackling questions such as:
- What can university leaders do to facilitate the collaboration of Canadian and Brazilian universities to foster innovation in both nations?
- What are the existing barriers and how can we overcome them?
- How can Canadian and Brazilian universities build on the Science Without Borders initiative to encourage two-way student mobility?
- How can Canada and Brazil maximize current and create new funding mechanisms to support academic and research cooperation?
We’ll also see an impressive number of new partnerships, scholarships and student mobility programs announced during the Presidents’ Roundtable. This unprecedented gathering will set the stage for a very busy week that promises to deliver significant results, not only for students and faculty, but also the broader society in both countries.
