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Waiting at Pearson Airport in Toronto to board our overnight flight to São Paolo, then on to Rio. The flight leaves at midnight, and we get into São Paolo around 11 a.m. tomorrow morning.

I’m in the company of a dozen university presidents, who have spent the last few days at the AUCC membership meetings. We’re the last group of some 30 university presidents who are heading to Brazil today to build higher education and research linkages.

At the AUCC meetings, presidents have been listening to GE Canada’s Elyse Allan talk about innovation and creativity – and about the importance of ensuring Canadian students graduate with a global outlook and knowledge of the world. They’ve had discussions about how to increase student mobility across Canada. How to make sure undergraduates get more opportunities for hands-on research. How to work closely with their local communities.

And now we are off to Brazil, to put into practice many of the things we’ve talked about over the last days. We’re launching into a whirlwind of meetings, partnership announcements, and intensive discussions with academic partners in Brazil. In the end, Canadian students will see the benefits. They’ll learn more about the world when they study in Canadian classrooms alongside students from this South American economic powerhouse. Their learning will be enriched by faculty who undertake new and exciting research partnerships with colleagues in Brazil. And some of the Canadian students will get a chance to see the Brazilian economy and culture first-hand, with new opportunities to study abroad and gain that global experience that GE Canada and other companies find so valuable.

Yes, the next few days will be a whirlwind – but the payback will be long-term for our Canadian university students.

I can’t wait to see it all first-hand.

The question came to me from a friend via email. Well, after my first day I could not say because I spent most of the time with my Brazilian hosts talking about Mozambique.

I was in Florianópolis in the south of Brazil visiting the marine aquaculture facilities at the Universidade Federal de Santa Caterina  which is working in partnership with the University of Victoria to improve aquaculture in Mozambique (the most populous Portuguese-speaking country in Africa).

Shrimp and fish farming research, techniques and production are all being developed at Mozambique’s Eduardo Mondlane University and the Ministry of Fisheries with the assistance of both Brazilian and Canadian faculty and technicians.

UVic, and in particular Dr. Jack Littlepage from the Centre for Global Studies, go a long way back here in Brazil. The world class operation in Florianópolis – the shellfish, shrimp and finfish laboratories and culture facilities – were developed over the course of many years with the assistance of UVic and through CIDA funding under AUCC´s University Partnerships in Cooperation and Development Program. These original projects built the capacity that laid the foundation for the work in Mozambique.

Manecas Baloi, graduate student at UFSC and Dr. Jack Littlepage, University of Victoria. © Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC)

As with many things in the Canada-Brazil relationship, the project in Africa represents an evolution – in this case from North-South cooperation to North-South-South. Brazil is a leader on many fronts – international development is yet another one.

As the day wrapped up, I stopped to look out east across the South Atlantic. As I admired the view, I started thinking of what’s on the other side of the sea from here and it occured to me, one answer to my friend’s question “How’s Brazil?” – well, it’s quite close to Africa.

I did my fair share of asking for insight and advice about visiting Brazil these past few weeks, since providing communications support for the presidents’ mission takes me to South America for the first time. Some 30 university presidents will arrive in Rio tomorrow, ready to make research and higher education linkages with Brazil. Before I left, I received the usual guidance about personal safety, applicable in any big world city that attracts millions of tourists. But what I didn’t necessarily expect was for so many friends and acquaintances to attest to the friendliness of the Brazilian people.

Being born and raised in the Maritimes, I guess I have pretty high expectations when someone says that people from a certain area are friendly. Now, although I’ve been in Brazil for less than 24 hours, I see that the description is clearly true here.

A street in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The real shortcoming for me is that I didn’t crack open that Brazilian Portuguese phrasebook a little more before leaving Ottawa. Additional language capacity would have come in handy when travelling through the adventure that is the Sao Paulo airport.

But here at my little hotel in Rio de Janeiro, the staff is truly friendly and kind. And they seem to have taken pity on me and my limited ability to communicate in the local language. The young woman at the desk, Luiza, who speaks some English, has been particularly helpful. She insists that my cab drivers come in to see her first so she can explain in Portuguese exactly where I’m going and what stops I have to make. I watched this woman of about 24 give these instructions very precisely to a 50-ish driver last night. He simply nodded in compliance. I think Luiza would fit in quite well in Cape Breton.

Another young man working at the desk came up to fix my computer this morning. And the staff members talk among themselves in Portuguese to determine the best route for me to take or where I should stop for something I have to pick up. Then Luiza conveys the advice back to me in English.

So in between my meetings today, I have to get to a bank to pick up some Brazilian dollars. It seems I’ll have some serious tipping to do.

In advance of AUCC’s presidents’ mission to Brazil, the Canadian Embassy in Brazil arranged a familiarization tour for the country’s second-largest television network, Record TV. My colleague Mélanie Béchard and I were happy to accompany journalist Luiz Gustavo da Luz and cameraman Silvio Cesar de Sousa during their visits to Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa March 16-22.

The visit allowed them to capture a slice of Canadian life, naturally with a strong emphasis on what our universities have to offer.

The day their tour started was not by chance. The network was very keen to capture something not seen in Brazil: ice crashing. So our guests covered the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship in Quebec City on March 17. Melanie was their guide (and occasional interpreter) in Quebec City and Montreal. This included visits to Université Laval and the Université de Montréal, where they were able to interview a number of Brazilian students and faculty.

In Toronto, I accompanied Luiz and Silvio to Ryerson University where they interviewed President Sheldon Levy and OCAD University where they spoke with President Sara Diamond. They also interviewed several outstanding Brazilian students, including biomedical engineering student Thiago Caires, originally from São Paulo. Thiago and his partner have developed a prosthetic arm controlled by brain signals — a first in medical prosthetics. Record TV is keen to introduce Thiago to the Brazilian population.

Brazilian journalist Luiz Gustavo da Luz tries out new technology at Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone. © Digital Media Zone, 2012. All rights reserved.

Record TV’s stories from Canada will be broadcast over five evenings during the Brazil mission, to an audience of 30-35 million.

Perhaps what most surprised me about their visit to Canada was the prevalence of Brazilians living and working here. Whenever Luiz and Silvio were speaking Portuguese, more often than not they would be overheard and approached by someone from Brazil.

Even on the train from Quebec City to Montreal, they met a group of Brazilians.

When we were at the airport in Toronto waiting for a flight to Ottawa, they were keen to talk about Nunavut, their next destination. I shared with them what I knew, that in Iqaluit they would encounter friendly people who are used to having visitors come from around the world to learn more about their culture and way of life. I assured them that everyone – from the hotel clerk to the cab driver – would help point them in the right direction for the stories they wanted to cover.

I did point out, however, that with a population of only about 6,700, it was unlikely they would encounter any Brazilians in Iqaluit. I was wrong.

Upon their return to Ottawa Luiz and Silvio were proud to report that they met two Brazilians in Iqaluit. And yes, they were overwhelmed by the friendliness and hospitality of the people of Nunavut.

The more Luiz and Silvio saw of Canada, the more they liked it. “I really like your country,” Luiz would often say. “I want to come back.”

But for now, it’s our turn to visit their country. We’re looking forward to seeing Luiz and Silvio at AUCC’s news conference in São Paulo on April 27.

In just a few days the largest-ever mission of Canadian university presidents will be departing for Brazil to raise the profile of Canadian universities in Brazil and to position Canada as partners of choice in research, innovation and higher education.

This is an unprecedented event – one initiated by AUCC – that will deliver concrete results to benefit Canadians. Watch for news about more than 60 initiatives in the areas of student mobility, research collaboration, and other opportunities to strengthen our relationships with this emerging economic powerhouse.

In the video below, AUCC President Paul Davidson talks about his hopes for the mission.