News and commentary

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – University presidents strengthened Canada’s capacity in research and innovation today by signing 35 new agreements and memoranda of understanding with 18 Brazilian institutions.  Thirteen new scholarship and student mobility programs for Brazilian and Canadian students
were also announced by Canadian institutions.

The presidents of 12 Canadian universities signed the agreements and MOUs with their Brazilian counterparts at the University Presidents’ Roundtable in Rio de Janeiro, part of the presidents’ mission to Brazil, April 25 to May 2. These partnerships range from student and faculty mobility to research collaboration in areas of shared interest. The gathering, which began with an address by Canada’s Governor General, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, was an opportunity for university leaders from both countries to explore opportunities and strategies to further strengthen bilateral collaboration in higher education.

The agreements signed involve investments of $1.72 million (CAD) from Canadian universities and $1.45 million from the Government of Canada. New scholarships and student mobility programs announced are valued at close to $1.71 million (CAD).

“This unprecedented commitment to bilateral collaboration will expand opportunities for students and researchers in both countries for many years to come,” said Stephen Toope, president of The University of British Columbia and chair of the board of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. “We are all engaged in a worldwide enterprise to address our toughest problems. These agreements will help bring together some of the world’s best minds; we are up to the challenge.”

“Much of the work that universities do is borderless,” said Amit Chakma, president of Western University and chair of the federal government’s Advisory Panel on Canada’s International Education Strategy. “In Brazil our universities have found many new opportunities to advance their efforts in research and education through strategic partnerships. By working together, these universities will be able to bring great ideas to the marketplace faster and help drive economic growth for the benefit of people in both countries.”

Canadian universities are responding to the Brazilian government’s new Science Without Borders program by taking steps to attract top Brazilian graduate and undergraduate students to Canada. Announced by President Dilma Rousseff in 2011, the ambitious SWB initiative will provide 75,000 scholarships for Brazilian students to study abroad. Brazil’s private sector has stepped in to fund another 26,000 scholarships. On April 24 2012, the Governor General made a statement in the presence of President Rousseff in Brasilia to announce that Canada will welcome 12,000 Brazilian students at the undergraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral levels under the SWB program.

Canadian universities will be recruiting these scholarship recipients in a number of ways. The Consortium of the Universities of Alberta, Laval, Dalhousie and Ottawa (CALDO) has already signed an agreement with the organizing agencies in Brazil, CAPES and CNPq, to host both undergraduate and graduate students through this program. The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, together with the Canadian Bureau for International Education, also has an agreement with CAPES to bring undergraduate students to Canada, with all AUCC members eligible to participate. Canada’s Mitacs will be working to bring 450 Brazilian undergraduate students to various Canadian universities through their Globalink program from 2012 to 2014.

Some Canadian universities will be offering funding to SWB scholarship recipients to complement the support they receive from the Brazilian government.

The delegation of Canadian university presidents now travels to São Paulo for the Canada-Brazil Innovation Nations Forum on April 27, where participants will discuss opportunities to strengthen university-private sector collaboration in the global economy.

The Brazil mission is being led the Governor General. AUCC is the national voice of Canada’s universities, representing 95 Canadian public and private not-for-profit universities.

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Note to editors: A full list of today’s announcements is included in the backgrounder

Media Contacts:

In Brazil:
Helen Murphy
Communications Manager
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
hmurphy@aucc.ca
613-563-1236 ext. 238
Cell. +1-613-608-8749

Atendimento à Imprensa no Brasil
MAPA Comunicação Integrada – São Paulo
Karoline Pereira – Atendimento
karoline@mapacomunicacao.com.br
Débora Kojo – Coordenadora de Núcleo
55 (11) 6182.4881 / 5096.3137 / 2501.8374
www.mapacomunicacao.com.br
In Ottawa:
Mélanie Béchard
Communications Officer
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
mbechard@aucc.ca
613-563-1236 ext. 306

Guelph, ON – Close to a third of Canada’s university presidents are leaving for Brazil today on the largest-ever initiative of its kind. Their goal is to showcase Canada’s universities as among the best in the world and strengthen relationships with a rapidly growing economic powerhouse. In an unprecedented effort to promote Canada’s universities internationally, about 30 university presidents will join with their Brazilian counterparts in announcing new partnerships and memoranda of understanding to advance research, innovation and student mobility.

The delegation of university presidents will be led by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, who will deliver the opening address at the Conference of the Americas on International Education in Rio de Janeiro on April 26, 2012. The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, will also be in attendance.

“This is a rare opportunity to raise the collective profile of the excellence of Canada’s universities in a country that’s our strategic partner,” says Stephen Toope, president of The University of British Columbia and chair of the board of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. “Many significant agreements will be announced during the mission, opening up exciting new opportunities in research, innovation and international mobility for students, researchers and faculty in both countries.”

Highlights of the mission include the Canada-Brazil University Presidents’ Roundtable in Rio de Janeiro on April 26, where presidents will discuss opportunities and challenges involved in building and strengthening bilateral university collaboration. On April 27, Canada’s university presidents will take part in an innovation forum in São Paulo to explore successful models of university-industry collaboration to enhance research and innovation in areas of shared interest.

The Canadian delegation will also visit advanced research facilities at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), and other high-end research institutes in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. On May 2, the mission will conclude with meetings between the presidents and Brazilian government officials in Brasilia.

“There are clear synergies between our two countries in important areas of research and discovery,” says Paul Davidson, AUCC president. “The strategic investments announced during this mission will help drive trade, build prosperity and enhance quality of life in both Canada and Brazil.”

The presidents are departing from Guelph today following successful AUCC membership meetings at the University of Guelph.

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Media Contacts:

In Brazil:

Helen Murphy
Communications Manager
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
hmurphy@aucc.ca
Cell.: +1-613-608-8749

In Ottawa:

Mélanie Béchard
Communications Officer
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
mbechard@aucc.ca
613-563-1236 ext. 306

OTTAWA – Canada’s university presidents are preparing for an unprecedented higher education mission to Brazil, April 25-May 2. About thirty university presidents will visit Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Campinas and Brasilia to promote Canada as a partner of choice for research, innovation and higher education. The presidents will meet with their Brazilian counterparts and announce new research partnerships and scholarship agreements.

“This is the largest international mission of university presidents in Canadian history, which speaks to the importance of building connections with this emerging economic powerhouse,” said Stephen Toope, chair of AUCC and president of The University of British Columbia. “Our focus is on establishing and strengthening partnerships in research and innovation. We will also enhance opportunities for student mobility between our countries, providing experiences that will better prepare students in both countries for the new knowledge-driven economy.”

“This mission will build on existing Canada-Brazil relationships and catalyse new ones,” said Paul Davidson, president of AUCC. “These partnerships will address the research interests of both countries and foster long-term prosperity.”

In the next five years, Brazil is expected to become the fifth largest economy in the world. The university sectors in both countries have long recognized each other’s strengths and are keen to forge closer ties.

The Brazil mission is being led by Canada’s Governor General, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston. AUCC is the national voice of Canada’s universities, representing 95 Canadian public and private not-for-profit universities.

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Note to Editors:

View the complete list of participating Canadian university presidents.

Additional information related to the AUCC presidents’ mission to Brazil can be found at www.aucc.ca/brazil.

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

OTTAWA – The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and Access Copyright announced today that they have negotiated a model licence that will allow universities to reproduce copyright-protected materials in both print and digital formats.

“We believe that this negotiated agreement provides a successful outcome for universities, their students and faculty,” said Paul Davidson, president of the AUCC. “It provides long-term certainty on price, and access to a new range of digital materials. Most importantly, the agreement respects the principles of academic freedom and privacy that are important to universities, and ensures that the administrative burden on institutions is minimized.”

The model licence sees the AUCC and institutions working with publishers and creators to ensure fair compensation for the works they are using.

The agreement strikes a balance between the needs of creators, publishers and the university community. The expanded usage of content included in the agreement is in the interests of all stakeholders, said Access Copyright and AUCC.

“We are pleased to have negotiated this licence with the AUCC,” said Maureen Cavan, executive director of Access Copyright. “The licence provides easy, legal access to copyright-protected works for students, professors and staff, in a simple, fast and cost-efficient manner.”

The model licence will see institutions pay Access Copyright a royalty of $26.00 per full-time equivalent student annually. This royalty includes what used to be a separate 10 cents per page royalty for coursepack copying, so there will no longer be a separate royalty for such copying.

This agreement will be in place until December 31, 2015 and will renew automatically for one-year terms during which any party can cancel or request to renegotiate the agreement.

Over the course of the next six months, a survey methodology will be designed jointly to gather reliable bibliographic data and volume of usage trending data to allow Access Copyright to make fair distribution of royalties to its affiliates and to assist in establishing appropriate future licence rates. The survey will be designed to minimize the administrative burden on both parties, in particular academic staff and students, and will respect academic freedom, privacy and the obligations of universities under collective agreements with faculty and staff.

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Contacts for Access Copyright:

Maureen Cavan
Executive Director
Access Copyright
(416) 868-1620 ext. 226

Roanie Levy
General Counsel, Director Policy and External Affairs
Access Copyright
(416) 868-1620 ext. 233

Contacts for AUCC:

Paul Davidson
President and CEO
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
(613) 563-1236 ext. 232

Christine Tausig Ford
Vice-president and COO
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
(613) 563-1236 ext. 341

This op-ed by Stephen Toope, chairman of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and UBC president, was published in the National Post.

In the global knowledge economy, a country’s greatest strategic advantage is its capacity to discover and innovate.

The federal government acknowledged this clearly in Thursday’s budget, with its commitment to make smart investments in research and innovation. Maintaining such priorities at a time of difficult fiscal decisions affirms the Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s declared ambition to position Canada as a centre of excellence in research, innovation and higher education.

That last component — higher education — is critical to the mix. Education is our best tool for cultivating creativity and equipping citizens to engage globally.

When it comes to developing our human potential, Canada’s universities deliver the greatest possible return on investment. They prepare today’s students for tomorrow’s challenges. They strengthen our communities and drive discovery through dynamic research. They are where critical questions are asked — curious, provocative questions — yielding insights that reframe challenges and expose new possibilities.

Universities play a vital role not only in generating specific innovations, but in building an overall culture of innovation, embedding it in the character of our country.

To make the most of our investments in higher education, we have to create conditions within our universities that will attract highly qualified international students and professors — and entice talented Canadians from all walks of life to stay and do their best work here at home.

The benefits associated with investing in higher education, research and innovation are profound: A strong economy, unlocking human potential, enhancing our quality of life. Fortunately, public investments in Canadian research and innovation have increased nearly fourfold since 1995 — and continue to rise even during the economic downturn.

Around the world, countries are moving quickly to advance their discovery and innovation agendas. This is especially true among emerging economies, which are transforming themselves through dramatic investments in higher education and research. The number of people graduating from China’s universities and specialized colleges has nearly quadrupled since 2000, and the so-called BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — tripled their output of scientific articles between 1996 and 2007, a measure of their drive to innovate. Canada cannot afford to rest on its laurels, and our government understands that reality.

In presenting a strategic, multi-year agenda for discovery and innovation — including stable funding for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and new investment in the Canada Foundation for Innovation — the federal budget signals a commitment to ensuring that Canada is a leader in innovation.

Our future economic strength and social cohesion will depend less on what we now know, and more on what we are capable of learning. We must enhance our capacity to acquire, discover and utilize knowledge. This is — and has always been — the role of universities.

With sustained support, Canadian universities will continue to be laboratories of change and incubators of resilience-producing global citizens who are ready to thrive in a world where nothing stands still and the future belongs to those who imagine it, and build it, first.