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Today’s institutional visits in Rio de Janeiro gave our university presidents an opportunity to get down to the nuts and bolts of building new and stronger connections with Brazilian partners. At the Universidade Federal Fluminense, for example, the institution’s leadership was very specific about what it wants to work on in collaboration with Canadian universities. This includes collaboration in research, two-way student mobility, joint degrees at the undergraduate level, joint supervision of doctoral degrees, as well as shared links with industry.

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.

Stephen McClatchie, principal at Huron University College, reflects on the first days of meetings and talks about how impressed he is with the Brazilian government’s commitment to the advancement of higher education.

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.)

Paul Davidson, AUCC president, reflects on meetings with Canadian and Brazilian students. He welcomes the significant contribution by the Brazilian government via its Science without Borders program. Canada could receive up to 12,000 Brazilian students in the coming years thanks to this program.

Paul Davidson, AUCC president, provides an overview of the visit to Unicamp, one of Brazil’s top research-intensive universities. Eight Canadian universities signed agreements with Unicamp in areas ranging from student and faculty mobility, to research collaboration, to the development of joint academic programs.

His views are shaped by a deep and passionate commitment to innovation and international education. Everywhere he goes in Brazil, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, reaches out to young people, engaging them, encouraging them and talking about the values that bring Canada and Brazil together.

His Excellency is leading AUCC’s mission to Brazil. A compelling speaker, he knows the university community well. The father of five daughters, all of whom pursued student exchanges and university studies outside Canada, he is a proud Canadian with a global outlook – just as he was when he led two outstanding Canadian universities, McGill University and the University of Waterloo. (While he was at McGill, he was also chair of AUCC’s board.)

Watching him over these last days, I’ve been impressed as always by his ability to connect with people, especially young people. Last night we were at a reception for young Brazilian students who are part of the Sciences without Borders program, an ambitious vision that will see some 100,000 Brazilian students study abroad. Earlier this week, His Excellency announced that Canada would host 12,000 of these students, not just for postsecondary studies, but in a uniquely Canadian twist, for internships and work-study experiences in Canadian businesses and research labs. That opportunity to put theory into practice will give young Brazilians a real taste of life in our country. Yesterday, Mr. Johnston was at his most energized when he spoke to those students, laughing, posing for pictures, and taking a deep interest in their study plans.

Their Excellencies, the Right Hon. David Johnston, Governor General of Canada and Mrs. Sharon Johnston meet with scholarship recipients of the Brazilian Science without Borders program.

Earlier this week, His Excellency spoke to a group of Brazilian and Canadian university presidents who are deepening higher education and research collaboration between our two countries. He was introduced by Stephen Toope, president of the University of British Columbia and chair of the AUCC Board, who used the analogy of a shared passion to set the stage for the Governor General’s remarks.

Hockey, said Prof. Toope, is a lot like futebol (or soccer) in Brazil – competitive and tenacious, demanding strength and manifold skills, but also teamwork and collaboration. In fact, Prof. Toope went on, those words could describe the AUCC mission to Brazil equally well. “The people of Canada and Brazil are also engaged in a globally competitive game of skill, a game that is fast and getting faster, and one in which we can only compete with teamwork, not just nationally but amongst nations.”

Then the Governor General took the stage, and told the compelling story of how he had grown up in northern Ontario, leaving first to go to Harvard University to study and play hockey, and then moving on to Cambridge University. But despite the fears of his high school principal – who wouldn’t sign a letter of reference for the young David Johnston because he was afraid he would never come back home – Mr. Johnston returned to Canada, broadened in every way, and, in his words, “a considerably better educator through those international experiences”.

At the roundtable, His Excellency spoke directly to the Canadian and Brazilian university presidents, as a former colleague. He urged them to make the partnerships they are creating between Canada and Brazil powerful and lasting. “Let’s turn that old saying around,” he said. “Too many times, when all is said and done, there is more said than done.” Instead, he urged the presidents to be champions for their institutions, making sure to stretch and challenge the young Brazilians who will come to Canada, and the Canadians who will study and conduct research here in Brazil.

“Canada needs Brazil,” he said simply. “Together we can do great things.”