This聽op-ed聽was published on the website of Canada's U15聽group of research-intensive universities.听.
Canada鈥檚 research universities have been top contributors to research, innovation, science, and technology around the world. We have more than earned a strong voice in the leading global councils on higher education.
This thinking is rooted in a justified hope that our sector鈥檚 impact and influence will continue to grow internationally.
Alas, hope, as they say, is not a strategy. Canada鈥檚 research-intensives deserve to help lead the way in the 21st century, and part of the U15鈥檚 mission must be to actively make that happen.
Now is an absolutely crucial time in the evolution of internationalized education in two ways: the development of an international education sector with its own regime of best practices, councils, and norms; and the multidimensionality of inter-national relationships in the 21st century.
To the first point, take the case of the . This organization emerged from the in the United States in 2012, when the heads of nearly 50 national research councils developed a framework for international research co-operation. The result was the fledgling growth of 鈥渁 more unified approach to the scientific process,鈥 to quote the then National Science Foundation director Dr. Subra Suresh.
This signals a meaningful internationalization of the research funding policy environment, which U15 member institutions have a deep interest in shaping.
That鈥檚 what this week鈥檚 announcement that is all about.
The Global Network is an international meta-network of research intensive university groupings, including from Europe, from the United States, from China, from Australia, from Britain, and now, the U15 from Canada.
The network was conceived in 2012 as a means to establish common ground on , to balance the Global Research Council鈥檚 agenda, and to begin closing compatibility gaps between leading groups of research-intensives.
It鈥檚 strategically important to the U15 that we are included in this significant opportunity to shape the future international operating environment for research intensive institutions. On behalf of the U15, I was very pleased to negotiate the broad terms of our inclusion to the group during my recent work in Europe.
During my trip, I also found it enormously valuable to survey several leading institutions in Europe and France in particular. Tightening our alignment and co-operation with LERU as well as other Global Network partners can鈥檛 help but make our university research environment stronger.
But the Global Network isn鈥檛 the whole answer. Canada鈥檚 research universities also need to find new ways of leveraging Canada鈥檚 broader international engagement strategy for the benefit of our sector, and indeed for the country as a whole.
At present, we have only the very beginnings of such an approach.
On January 15 of this year, the Government of Canada released 鈥.鈥
The core features of the strategy are a goal to attract more than 450,000 international researchers and students to Canada by 2022 without displacing students, and establishing new funding for marketing and innovation.
Our vision as a globally-engaged, integrated network of research universities should be expanded across a much broader horizon.
Part of our strategy of shaping the global research environment should be to work Canada鈥檚 diplomatic and trade efforts to our advantage, underlining that research intensive universities are powerful elements of the national interest.
There is a recent case in point, where Canadian diplomatic activity aligned with high value Canadian research interests.
In March I led 蓝莓视频鈥檚 delegation to Israel鈥檚 Technion University, where our two institutions signed a substantive in the areas of quantum information science, nanotechnology and water research.
This came on the heels of the Government of Canada鈥檚 delegation to Israel, during which time Dalhousie president Richard Florizone established .
These research agreements have an important commonality: they were made more possible due to the contours of the Government of Canada鈥檚 broader international affairs strategy, and indeed they enrich that strategy by adding an additional layer to it.
The U15鈥檚 connection to the Global Network, and these U15 successes in leveraging Canadian diplomatic activity, are important signposts for the way ahead.
Canada鈥檚 university sector needs to hone a sharp new set of instincts: for aggressively shaping the global research operating environment, and recognizing our sector as a national strategic asset. 聽Now more than ever, Canada鈥檚 research intensive universities can add new depth and dimension to Canada鈥檚 international and economic relationships.