Archive for the ‘Higher Education in Canada’ Category
Canada varsity keen on library partnership with IITs
A Canadian university is moving towards library and research partnerships with two Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The University of Alberta (UA) is expecting to share digitised materials in diverse areas such as medicine, engineering and literature with IIT, Ropar, and IIT Roorkee, a university spokesperson told Business Line.
Ms Margaret Law, Director of International Relations with the university libraries, was in India recently. According to her, the institutions may work out specific ways in which they could share rare copies of digitised materials. “This will be with librarians from the IITs and their Canadian counterparts,” Ms Law said.
She felt the university library needed to support those beyond western perspectives on medicine, engineering, or any other fields. In her efforts to enhance research capacities at the University of Alberta, she felt the need to build an infrastructure base by helping develop expertise in librarianship and build library collections worldwide.
For example, IIT Ropar offers a course on Canadian literature but have a very limited collection. “We’re going to help them build a good Canadian literature collection”, Ms Law said. IIT, Ropar, in turn will help the Canadian university build a library of Indian traditional medicine. “We have a number of researchers in Canada, who are interested in global health issues and we have a special collection that’s specifically focused on indigenous traditions and health practices”.
Source: The Hindu Business Line, April 19, 2012
York University looks to team up with Indian institutions
A high-powered delegation comprising three deans from Toronto’s York University representing the Faculty of Science and Engineering (Dr. Janusz Kozinski), the Faculty of Health Sciences (Dr. Harvey Skinner) and the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies (Dr. Martin Singer) is currently touring India to explore collaboration opportunities with educational institutions here.
The team has already had meetings with several colleges, aspiring private universities and research institutions in different parts of the country including Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore, primarily to promote faculty and student exchange programmes.
York University is Canada’s third largest university and one of world’s leading inter-disciplinary teaching and research universities with 54,000 students in ten different faculties offering as many as 5,000 courses. The operating budget for 2010 was $890 million.
Brainstorming workshop
The visit of three Deans to India follows a high level workshop — Canada-India Frontiers 2011 — held in Toronto on October 11-12 where over 100 researchers, engineers, technologists and scientists from both countries brainstormed ways and means to collaborate in diverse areas such as life sciences, space exploration, energy and advanced materials.
High level officials and specialists from India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation, Indian Space Research Organisation, Indian Institute of Technology and several Indian universities participated, with Dr. Vijay Saraswat, scientific advisor to Indian Defence Minister and Dr. W. Selvamurthy, chief controller DRDO, as the key academic speakers.
Energy sector
In an exclusive chat with Business Line last week during his visit to Mumbai, Dr. Kozinski, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering who spearheaded the Canada-India workshop, said research advances made by his faculty have immediate application and use for India, a country where enormous possibilities exist for collaboration in the energy sector, space and materials sciences.
Defence to bio-war
Of immense importance to India is a technology developed by Dr. Kozinski himself, called e-WARN (Early Warning and Advance Response Network) which has the capability to detect, quantify and initiate an effective response to chemical and biological warfare. It is learnt that e-WARN technology is under consideration at the highest level in the government.
Source: The Hindu Business Line, November 12, 2011
Indian students in Canada more than double in a year
The first Canada-India Education Summit this week in Ottawa is set to boost research and educational ties between the two countries. With Canada reportedly registering more than a two-fold increase in Indian students this year from about 4000 last year, the two-day summit at Carleton University from June 17 will further boost enrolments from India.
Top educationists and researchers from India and Canada will participate in roundtable discussions at the summit to be opened by Ms. Purundeshwari, Indian minister of state for human resources development. Canadian foreign affairs minister John Baird will deliver the plenary address.
“It is the first-ever education summit between our two countries. It will lay the path forward to ensure that students and faculty move back and forth easily. Joint research, student exchanges and degree studies in the two countries are on our agenda,” Carleton University President Roseanne O’Reilly Runte told IANS. She said, “Definitely, the number of Indian students coming to Canada will increase as a result of the education summit. We are getting representation from about 15 universities from India.”
Kapil Sibal, minister for human resources development, who was to deliver the keynote address,is not coming. Instead, minister Purundeshwari will now deliver the keynote address. Prominent participants from India include UGC Chairman Ved Prakash, IGNOU Vice Chancellor V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Delhi University Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh, Calcutta University Vice Chancellor Suranjan Das, Panjab University Vice Chancellor R.C. Sobti and Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute President Sunaina Singh.
Apart from a session on ‘Dynamics of Higher Education in India and in Canada,’ the two-day summit will have roundtable discussions on ‘Co-tutelle and joint programmes,’ ‘Credit transfer and degree recognition,’ ‘Technology in international teaching,’ ‘Joint research,’ and ‘Designing the path forward.’
The summit is being held jointly by the Indian high commission, Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute that promotes educational and research cooperation between India and Canada. As speakers at the just concluded Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) here said, the number of students from India coming to Canada is set to rise sharply in the next few years. The education summit is part of the on-going ‘Year of India in Canada’ celebrations.
Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), June 15, 2011
>Canada promises faster immigration, more student visas
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Just days before Canadian parliamentary elections on May 2, political leaders are wooing Indo-Canadians by promising less waiting time for immigration and more student visas from India. Speaking at a roundtable organized by the Canada- India Foundation (CIF) here, top leaders of the opposition Liberal Party promised a comprehensive relationship with India. They said their party government will take the bilateral ties beyond trade to increase immigration and tourism from India and foster deeper education and research cooperation.
Top Liberal Party leader and Toronto MP Bob Rae reminded Indo-Canadians the role played by his party leader and former prime minister Paul Martin in ushering in G20 to include India and other developing economies for wider consultation on global economic issues. He said Canada should focus on its core competencies in engaging with India and leverage its expertise to continue to push for stronger nuclear ties with India.
Suggesting more visas for Indian students to study in Canada, John McCallum, MP from the Toronto suburb of Markham-Unionville, said Australia was “eating Canada’s lunch” in attracting Indian students and the federal government must usher in friendlier policies on visa and work. Canada currently gets about 3,500 Indian students compared to over 40,000 going to Australia each year.
Rob Oliphant, MP from the Toronto constituency of Don Valley West, said his party had identified Gujarat as a great business destination 20 years ago. He said he was happy that the current Canadian government has recognized the importance of Gujarat by being a partner country at this year’s Vibrant Gujarat Summit. Since Canada still doesn’t have any official presence in Gujarat, he favoured a full consular office in the state.
Oliphant promised that his party government would reduce wait times for the family class immigration category from 11-13 years now to five to six years. He also said his party government would be more careful in addresses sensitive issues like the visit of union minister Kamal Nath here last year which led to protests by Sikh groups for his alleged involvement in the 1984 riots.
Bengali-origin Rana Sarkar, who is contesting for parliament for the first time from the Toronto constituency of Scarborough Rouge River, said that based on past history, his Liberal Party has “the DNA for dealing with India and now there is need for India 2.0 engagement strategy.”
Maria Minna, MP from the Toronto constituency of Beaches-East York, emphasized the need for serious engagement of the Indian diaspora for deepening Canada-India relations. Canada-India Foundation leaders Aditya Jha and Ramesh Chotai, said the Indian diaspora was pleased that the Liberal Party recognizes its role in shaping Canadian policies. Representatives of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, IIT Alumni of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Hindu Civilization also quizzed Canadian politicians about India.
Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), April 27, 2011
Canadian universities announce India-specific initiatives
Canadian universities announced today funding for a series of India-specific initiatives valued at over C$ 4 million. These investments include the new Globalink Canada-India Graduate Fellowship. Eight Canadian universities have come together to provide graduate fellowships for top Indian students who wish to pursue a Masters or Ph.D. in Canada.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Sibal underlined the importance of technology solutions which are affordable for the common man. He expressed the hope that the collaboration between the Canadian and Indian Universities will help in this goal. Mr. Sibal stated that while research will need to be engaged in breaking the frontiers of science in areas such as nano technology, science and research will also have to orient research towards finding solutions to problems like grappling with poverty, water crisis, global warming, and energy problems.
Four MoUs were also signed today. One was between the University of British Columbia to renew a long-standing student mobility agreement with IIT-Delhi, which involves undergraduate engineering students spending time at each others’ institutions. Another MoU was between the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Amar Jyothi College of Engineering to jointly offer a Bachelor of Applied Science in Nuclear Power degree. The Royal Roads University and the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) signed an agreement to establish an education partnership that will explore joint delivery of programs through blended and distance education programs. The Royal Roads University and the ACN School of Business also signed an agreement to establish a partnership on academic cooperation.
Source: Press Information Bureau, Government of India
Canadian universities coming to woo Indian students
Presidents of 15 Canadian universities embark on a seven-day mission to India on Monday to woo students from the second fastest growing nation in the world. It is the biggest mission to India by Canadian educational institutions after the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on higher education during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Canada in June.
Though more than 150,000 Indian students go abroad for higher education each year, Canada gets only about 3,000 annually. Thus, Indian students account for a fraction of more than 90,000 foreign students who enrolled in Canadian universities last year. With foreign students paying more than $15,000 in fees each and collectively pumping more than $6.5 billion into the economy, Canada is looking to a big jump in enrollment from India.
Organized by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), the Canadian education mission will travel to Pune and Delhi for meetings with educational institutions, the private sector and administrators to usher in new era in ties in this sector between the two nations. Its major engagements in India include a roundtable with Indian university presidents, which will also be attended by Indian human resource minister Kapil Sibal and his Canadian counterpart Gary Goodyear. The mission will also participate in the higher education summit being organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
“This mission is a way for us to get to know India and its needs more deeply – and to make sure that when Indians think of research and higher education, they think of us,” said AUCC President Paul Davidson before the mission’s departure for India. “Educators and business people in India need to know that Canadian universities are open to building successful partnerships that will enrich experiences for students, strengthen links between our countries and advance international research collaboration,” he said.
Source: The Economic Times (Online edition), November 8, 2010
Higher Education News and Views 