Ensuring that the 75 agreements signed this past week between Canadian university presidents and their Brazilian counterparts lead to action and yield results has been a recurring theme of the Brazil mission. But perhaps that need was not stressed as strongly or at such a high level before as it was yesterday at the Presidential Palace in Brasilia.

That’s where St. Francis Xavier University President Sean Riley signed an agreement between the university’s Coady International Institute and Brazil’s Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Participating in the signing and making remarks was Gilberto Carvalho, Chief Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency. Minister Carvalho expressed a deep commitment to the values being put into action through the StFX partnership.

L to R: Rocksane de Carvalho Norton, vice-president of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Gilberto Carvalho, chief minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Sean Riley, president, St. Francis Xavier University and in the background, Jamal Khokhar, the Canadian ambassador. © Rildo Borges

It’s a partnership focused on sustainable community development and democratic participation. “Today it is our honour to have this agreement,” said Minister Carvalho, “because we’re talking about the construction of democracy.” And that’s a value Brazilians hold dear.

He said democracy, which Brazilians fought for the in the 1960s and 1970s, can only be fully achieved when the people have both the right to participate in that democracy as well as the education and training that makes them able to participate. He said Brazil’s fight against dictatorship proved to be “a good training ground for democratic leadership in Brazil.

“We also have an open mind with respect to the ideas of others and we need to learn more,” the minister added. And that‘s where the Coady Institute comes in.

Over the past 50 years, the Coady has provided community development training to 6,000 graduates from 130 countries. Among other things, this new agreement will provide opportunities for social organization leaders in Brazil to gain practical training at the institute on the StFX campus in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

In talking about what StFX and the Coady Institute have to offer, Dr. Riley said, “Probably our greatest interest is in the grassroots development of leaders; the development of leaders from the ground up and not necessarily from the top down.”

Canada’s ambassador to Brazil, Jamal Khokhar, also stressed the importance of moving from words to action. He said the StFX agreement demonstrates how Canada and Brazil can “work together in a spirit of cooperation, generosity and support for our shared role in building an active, capable and engaged citizenry.”

Minister Carvalho invited Ambassador Khokhar to join him in personally monitoring the success of this university partnership as it moves now from words to action.

Canadian university presidents visiting a lab at the Universidade Federal Fluminense

Getting reciprocal student mobility is a priority. It was noted that Fluminense has sent 15 students to York University (which has become a popular choice) but has only received two York students in return. They’d like to work with their Canadian partners to get a better balance in student exchange. However, this university still has an appetite to increase the number of students going to Canadian universities.

UFF currently has seven students preparing to come to Canada through Science without Borders, Brazil’s ambitious student mobility program. They have a total of 30 Science without Borders fellowships and would like to see even more of these students go to Canada. While in Brazil last week, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, announced Canada would welcome 12,000 Brazilian undergraduate, doctoral and post-doctoral levels under the Science without Borders Program.

The presidents had a frank discussion at UFF about what has to happen so that Canada can become an even more attractive partner for Brazil. The advice from UFF administrators was to be specific about the areas of study or research where we want to cooperate, and also to nurture the people-to-people relationships that make these connections happen.

It is clear that building trust will be a key element of success. And our Brazilian hosts pointed to this mission as an excellent example of how this happens.

Yves Beauchamp, director general of the École de technologie supérieure, highlights his opportunity to strengthen already established links between ETS and Brazilian institutions. He hopes to be able to attract high calibre Brazilian PhD students in order to stimulate research at his university. (Video in French only.)

Yet our delegates didn’t miss a beat when several of them participated as moderators and panelists at the Canada-Brazil Innovation Nations Forum this morning.

Stephen Toope, AUCC chair and UBC president, speaking at the Canada-Brazil Innovation Nations Forum.

We also held a news conference today where McGill University Principal Heather Munroe-Blum, University of Manitoba President David Barnard and University of Victoria President David Turpin gave highlights of their institutions’ partnerships with Brazil and their views on strengthening this collaboration.

With a number of key Brazilian media outlets in the room, the University of British Columbia President and AUCC Chair Stephen Toope announced that during the Brazil mission Canada’s universities are announcing 75 new agreements and scholarship programs, valued at $6.74 million.

More exciting news today was the announcement by Mitacs CEO Arvind Gupta of an additional $10.25 million for undergraduate internships and graduate fellowships. Canada’s Mitacs connects university-based researchers, including graduate students and faculty members, with Canadian companies through collaborative research projects and provides research internships to top international undergraduate students. Mitacs announced plans to bring 450 Brazilian undergraduate students to Canada from 2012 to 2014 through its Globalink program. Their announcement includes $3.5 million to fund Globalink Graduate Fellowships – opportunities for student alumni of the Globalink program, including those from Brazil, to pursue graduate studies in Canada.

Following a luncheon with His Excellency, Governor General David Johnston, at which Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology spoke about the role of research in driving commerce and building prosperity, the AUCC delegation visited FAPESP, the state of São Paulo’s main research funding agency. This included a very engaging discussion about opportunities for funded research partnerships with Brazilian scientists.

Science Without Borders is of course a hot topic of discussion this week, and this evening our presidents met a number of Science Without Borders’ students who will be coming to Canada. The evening reception also brought together alumni of Canadian universities living in Brazil.

Our university communities are hoping to welcome the first 500 of 12,000 Science Without Borders’ students coming to Canada to their campuses this fall.

Tomorrow we’ll have an opportunity to see first-hand the very best in Brazilian research facilities when we visit the University of Campinas (Unicamp). This is an outstanding example of the high-end facilities and leading research teams that Canadian students and faculty will benefit from in the coming years, as two-way mobility between Canadian and Brazilian institutions grows.

The Governor General focussed on the importance of partnerships and internationalization of education to attain a global and connected world. © MCpl Dany Veillette, Rideau Hall.

University of New Brunswick President Eddy Campbell moderated a discussion that looked at the potential of Science Without Borders – a new scholarship program that will see 12,000 Brazilian students come to Canada over the next four years – as the start of something even bigger, and lasting.

Anisio Brasileiro of Universidade Federal de Pernambuco said there is hope among many institutions and organizations that Science Without Borders will continue beyond the announced four-year duration.

While enthusiasm for this bold initiative is high among the Canadian and Brazilian university presidents today, no one is pretending that there are no barriers to overcome in maximizing two-way student mobility between our countries. Perhaps topping that list is language.

Canada-Brazil University Presidents' Roundtable. L to R: Paul Davidson, AUCC president; His Excellency the Right Hon. David Johnston, Governor General; Hon. Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology) and Jamal A. Khokhar, Ambassor of Canada. © MCpl Dany Veillette, Rideau Hall.

Participants at the Science Without Borders session encouraged opportunities for Brazilian students to benefit from language training before embarking on an academic experience at a Canadian university, and for Canadian students in Portuguese before coming to Brazil.

Last week I was contacted by a journalist writing a story about the Brazil mission and she wondered aloud whether Canadian high schools should start offering students opportunities to learn Portuguese. With Brazil poised to become the world’s fifth largest economy, and the promise of increased collaboration in higher education and trade between Canada and Brazil in the years ahead, that’s another question worthy of discussion.

David Turpin, president, University of Victoria, speaking with His Excellency the Right Hon. David Johnston, the Governor General, at the Presidents' Roundtable.

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.