Higher education: think Canada

By Paul Davidson
President and CEO
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada

This op-ed was published in The Times of India on November 1st, 2010

A colleague was recently travelling in India and asked Indians she met what came to their mind when they thought of Canada. Invariably the answer was “cold”. While it is true our winter months have low temperatures in most provinces, we have a warm welcome awaiting Indian students, faculty and research partners at our world class universities. We want you to think of Canada’s higher education sector as your partner of choice for collaborative research or your study destination.

“Why Canada?” you might ask. To begin, Canada has strong cultural links to India – being home to over a million Indian immigrants. What’s more, we are known for our safe campuses, being bilingual (English-French, with English predominating) and are globally-oriented. Canada ranks as being among the most multicultural nations in the world. According to the World Bank, Canadian cities are among the best places to live, work and study. Besides an outstanding quality of life, Canada offers one of the healthiest economies in the world.

In addition to these factors, quite simply, Canada offers high quality university education in a rich learning and research environment. Our internationally ranked universities have great value to bring to the Indian higher education sector as partners or as a destination of study.

In addition to our universities’ internationally renowned reputation for top quality learning and cutting edge research, Canada has a vibrant high-tech sector to facilitate leading industry linkages.

Research and development in Canada is thriving and has long contributed to the country’s economic backbone. Did you know, for example, that Canada is home to such life-changing discoveries as insulin, the electron microscope, the pacemaker? Canadian universities perform more than one-third of the country’s research and contribute billions of dollars to the Canadian economy. Across Canada and every day, research institutes are being established and world-renowned research teams are setting up shop. Research, for example, in health, nanotechnology, high-performance computing and film animation is exploding. We’d like to welcome Indian partners to be a part of this. And you can be assured, with this kind of strength in research, we have found effective ways to heat our homes and offices during the winter. Get more statistics and analysis on Canadian university research.

Partnerships in higher education and research are critical in these endeavours and range from university partnerships with private companies to research projects with governments, communities, the not-for-profit sector and international partners.

Canada has a proven track record for making our campuses more global; we have welcomed tens of thousands of international students and created important long-term linkages. So far about 2,800 students have come from India, but we have room for many more.

That is one of the reasons why the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) has made strategic engagement with India a priority. AUCC is the national association representing public and not-for-profit universities in Canada. It currently has 95 member institutions in more than 80 communities across Canada.

In November this year, AUCC is leading a mission of close to 20 university presidents – representing the largest international delegation of Canadian universities – to India to profile Canada as a partner of choice in higher education. The mission will include a Presidents’ Roundtable, intended to build on Canadian Prime Minister Harper’s 2009 education roundtable in Delhi, and on the Canada-India higher education Memorandum of Understanding signed by Prime Ministers Harper and Singh last June. University presidents will also participate in a partnership forum to build university-industry linkages between the two countries.

Higher education and research is essential to advancement in both countries for our respective participation in the global economy. To meet this challenge, Canadian universities are coming to India to engage with key Indian government decision-makers, business leaders and universities.

Learn more about Canadian universities, and about our mission to India.