Canada looks to Brazil, India for grad students and research partners.
In a globalized world where emerging countries aim to become major players in scientific research, universities across Canada would benefit greatly from more exchanges with these countries, said Paul Davidson at a workshop during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver, B.C.
Mr. Davidson, president of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, noted that “the Canadian government is developing an educational strategy at the moment and we are hopeful that it will underscore the importance of student-to-student international exchanges.”
The workshop focused on the opportunities and challenges of research partnerships with India and Brazil. “Canada has lagged behind in these kinds of exchanges, and we are trying to correct that,” Mr. Davidson said.
Mario Pinto, vice-president, research, at Simon Fraser University who has led several missions to India, said during the workshop that learning from other countries enriches research and has the potential to train a new class of “universal researchers.”
India is a country that brings a “rich and ancient culture” that has a lot to offer in science research, said Dr. Pinto. “We should approach our partners in a humble way because they bring other ways of thinking and the potential to enrich scientific findings.”
