Globalization of higher education and research: A Canadian priority for engagement in the Americas

1. Introduction

The following is a submission from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), the national organization representing Canada's 93 universities and university-degree level colleges at home and abroad. AUCC member institutions are committed to bringing an international dimension to their teaching, research and community outreach activities and interest in engagement with the Americas is strong throughout the Canadian university community ¹.

AUCC has participated actively in previous civil society consultations related to the Plan of Action for the third Summit of the Americas with respect to strengthening the role of higher education and research cooperation for economic, social and cultural development in the Americas. We also submitted a brief to the Canadian delegation that participated in the third Meeting of Ministers of Education in the Americas in August 2003 to inform their sectoral action plan.

We would like to thank DFAIT for the opportunity given to civil society to contribute to the Canadian preparation process of this Special Summit of the Americas. We will take this opportunity to share AUCC's perspectives regarding how the higher education sector in Canada and in the hemisphere can actively contribute to economic growth with equity, good governance and social development. We appreciate that DFAIT has recognized the strategic input offered by the higher education sector by holding several consultation roundtables at Canadian universities during the current preparation process.

In its document Commitments Made, Commitments Kept: Canada's Contribution as Chair of the Summit of the Americas, the Canadian government has demonstrated its commitment to helping countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) improve the quality of their education systems through, for example, development projects to train teachers and school administrators. Canada is also supporting the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE), a key organization linking higher education institutions across the Americas. In our view, Canada should build on these commitments and play a leadership role in endorsing the international dimension of higher education and research - through student mobility, research collaboration and knowledge capacity-building - as a key cross-cutting priority for its involvement in the Americas.

Making the "globalization of higher education and research" in the region a Canadian priority will complement the growing economic ties developing through the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) and the bilateral trade agreements signed with Chile and Costa Rica. Such initiatives would be a significant contribution on the part of Canada to parallel economic integration by promoting closer relations in the hemisphere in a range of fields, including the sciences, technology, arts and humanities and have a lasting impact through the exchange of people, knowledge, understanding and ideas. Commentators point out that one of the main lessons learned from the European Union is that trade integration needed to be buttressed by educational, cultural and social ties in order to truly promote a sustainable integration experience. The following are some key examples of how Canadian universities and their partners in LAC, through the international dimension of their teaching, research and community service activities, can contribute to address the challenges being discussed at the Special Summit.

2. Strengthening the Education Agenda

Strengthening education at all levels is already seen as a crucial dimension of public policy in the Americas. The need for widespread quality education has been identified as one of the key development challenges that have prevented the region from fully achieving prosperity and social equity within a democratic context. The endorsement by state leaders of the Plan of Action of the third Summit of the Americas reflects hemispheric-wide recognition that education is key to strengthening democratic institutions, promoting social development as well as sustaining economic growth with equity. Within the education mandate for the third Summit, state leaders have already committed to develop actions in the areas of higher education, academic mobility and science and technology. These commitments to action were reiterated during the third Meeting of the Ministers of Education, held in Mexico in August 2003.

Evidence from a recent ECLAC study reveals that in view of the labour market's pressing need for advanced qualifications, which the globalization process has heightened, a primary level and secondary level education is not enough to ensure individuals will stay above the poverty line during their working lives. In other words, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of universal primary education by 2015 is a necessary but insufficient condition for sustainable development in most countries in LAC.

Indeed, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and others have recognized the need for developing countries to rebuild strong and vibrant higher education institutions in order to realize their potential as engines for development. Higher education institutions play a crucial role in effectively creating, disseminating and applying knowledge for development and innovation, building advanced human resources capacities, as well as informing policy development.

2.1 Strengthening national higher education and research capacities

Some of the challenges faced by higher education institutions in Latin America include a shortage of graduate programs, weak scientific capacity, relevance and quality of curriculum, institutional governance, as well as quality assurance. For example, enrolment in graduate programs represents only 2.4% of overall enrollment in the higher education sector. The lack of graduate programs is directly linked with the low percentage of university professors holding doctorate degrees.

Without an adequate supply of qualified scientists and engineers, the potential for a strong S&T; system, and thus sustained economic growth, is limited. Canadian universities can significantly contribute to strengthening national higher education and research capacity in LAC by helping develop new graduate programs of study and engage in research capacity-building. For instance, in the last five years, University Partnerships in Cooperation and Development (UPCD) projects have helped partners in Latin America establish eleven new masters and doctoral programs in areas such as business administration, health, environmental management, marine biology, and cooperative agricultural management.

2.2 Strengthening basic education

Inequality in access to quality education has been identified as a key factor in perpetuating poverty and inequality in the region. Higher education institutions have a central role to play in strengthening the entire education system. Universities can contribute to the development of strong systems of primary and secondary education by training new teachers, providing "in-service" continuing education to current teachers, and conducting research, planning and evaluation with respect to educational policy.

Canadian universities have partnered with several institutions in LAC on projects aiming to strengthen education and teacher training. Representing 30% of all UPCD projects in the region, it is one of the sector with the most activity overall.

3. Enhancing good governance in the Americas

Higher education institutions have a key role to play in enhancing good governance and democratic development in the Americas in a number of ways. First, higher education institutions foster the values of democracy and citizenship in developing countries. Universities instill the norms and attitudes of pluralism, tolerance, merit and reasoned argument in its students who go on to become the country's civil servants, political leaders, journalists and business people.

Second, universities are also important partners in conducting research to identify best practices in good governance. For example, given the cross-cutting nature of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, it was suggested at the roundtable held at the University of British Columbia that an Inter-American Institute on Democracy located in a university could play a key role in monitoring the successful implementation of the Charter. Such an institute could develop analytical benchmarks to assess the performance of countries in the implementation of the Charter, drawing upon the best available expertise in academe, civil society and government. Policy-makers in the region would also have access to a "virtual policy network" in order to strengthen the link between academic research and policy-making in the area of good governance.

Third, Canadian universities can play an important role in building capacity for good governance in key societal institutions. Canadian universities have partnered with higher education institutions in Latin America to strengthen democracy and good governance through several UPCD² projects and other funding mechanisms. For instance, the University of Ottawa partnered with the Universidade de Sao Paulo to support Brazil's initiative to reduce institutional violence. This project, funded by the bilateral branch at CIDA, promoted police accountability systems in the State of Sao Paulo.

4. Ensuring economic growth with equity in the Americas

Recent research by ECLAC shows that LAC countries are facing very different challenges to reach the MDG to halve extreme poverty by 2015. In order to reach this goal, ECLAC highlights the need to implement economic and social policies that strengthen the capacity to broaden the production base, but also bring about a progressive redistribution of income to ensure that economic growth yields faster results in terms of raising the standard of living of low-income groups. The Quebec City Plan of Action calls on different institutions to provide more research on the effects of economic policies on different populations, including on women and men, rural and urban populations, indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, as well as in the informal and unpaid work sectors.

Universities can play a key role in this field. At the recent roundtable held at the University of Calgary, participants suggested that researchers should collaborate to establish a research agenda on economic growth with equity for the Americas. The research could, for example, focus on best practices and identify the fiscal measures that will allow redistribution of wealth. To ensure better leveraging of academic capacities, a strong link between research outcomes and policy-making process must be fostered.

5. Fostering social development in the Americas

Canadian universities can make a significant contribution to strengthening social development in the Americas through development cooperation programs. They have expertise in several key areas such as education, health, engineering, law and human rights, environment, agriculture, and business administration. About 70% of UPCD projects are directly related to social development as they focus on basic human needs, gender equality and the environment.

Some examples of these UPCD projects include the following:

• In light of the Chilean government's priorities to carry out legislative and policy reform related to childrens' rights, the Université du Québec en Outaouais and Universidad de la Frontera in Chile are partnering to increase respect for childrens' rights by improving youth services and professional training.
• McMaster University and the Université d'État d'HaVti are partners in the Women's Health Initiative project. The partners are assisting the government of Haiti in its goal to reduce maternal mortality by a third by 2003 by enhancing existing capacities in the training of doctors, nurses, midwives and community health workers to meet the needs of pregnant women and their newborns. This initiative will improve the skills and capacity of traditional birth attendants to the benefit of disadvantaged women and their families.
• The Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (SIFC) and the Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas (UNACH), Mexico, have developed a partnership to strengthen Indigenous Studies at the UNACH and at SIFC. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of the UNACH to recruit indigenous students by developing a curriculum in indigenous studies which deals with such issues as indigenous culture and identity, traditional medicine, social organization, and the practice of indigenous laws. At SIFC, the project is strengthening the international indigenous component of the Indian studies curriculum, permitting a comparative perspective between the aboriginal peoples of Canada and the indigenous peoples of Latin America.

6. Recommendations for Canadian actions and leadership

Given that it is widely recognized that education is a key means to reduce poverty, specific policies in higher education at the domestic as well as hemispheric levels could leverage current activities to help achieve the objectives of the Summit of the Americas. Leaders of the Americas should continue to emphasize the role of higher education in the development process of the region by recognizing how higher education can contribute to strengthening the overall education sector; encouraging all member states to invest in their respective higher education sector; as well as developing mechanisms to enhance hemispheric linkages in the area of higher education.

Canada should continue to play a leadership role in integrating knowledge and international dimension of higher education and research as a key cross-cutting theme in the Summit of the Americas process. Specific mechanisms and programs could be enhanced or created to facilitate the globalization of higher education and research in the Americas as a mean to support economic growth with equity, good governance and social development in the Americas. The following are some key recommendations:

• Canada could establish a series of pilot projects for higher education and research collaboration, including student exchanges, with such emerging regional powers as Mexico and Brazil - countries which DFAIT has targeted to develop closer relations. Based on several discussions AUCC has had with colleagues and officials abroad, the governments of these countries are likely willing to make investments in such bilateral programs which would serve as important levers to enhancing stronger economic, social and political ties in the region. As noted earlier, such actions were also called upon by leaders of the Americas at the third Summit as a means to reinforce hemispheric ties. If such pilot projects are successful, a broader program could later be implemented throughout the Americas.
• Canada should capitalize on the tremendous intellectual capital in Canadian and LAC universities to leverage academic expertise for policy development on key issues in the Americas. One concrete example for targeting Canadian support is the Inter-American Institute on Democracy as proposed by the University of British Columbia. This project is illustrative of initiatives involving Canadian universities that support Canada's objective to link knowledge creation to policy impact.
• Canada's official development assistance policies and programs should make strengthening knowledge capacity through higher education institutions a key priority in order to address pressing social, education, health and poverty challenges in the Americas. This brief has illustrated the multiple impacts of the CIDA funded UPCD program. This program annually receives more meritorious proposals than can be funded. CIDA should look to enhancing this partnership program, as well as developing innovative approaches through bilateral mechanisms such as the Canada-Southern Cone Technology Transfer Fund.
• Canada should maintain and increase its support to key existing multilateral higher education mechanisms, such as the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE), which represent important leverage opportunities for networking and knowledge exchange in the region.
• Canada should support hemispheric mechanisms such as the Inter-American Committee on Education as a key means to foster cooperation in strengthening the education agenda in the Americas and ensure opportunities for Canadian education stakeholders to give input into the agenda and operations of this committee.

¹ Recent research undertaken by AUCC reveals that Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is the region of the world in which Canadian universities have the highest degree of interest when it comes to their international cooperation activities. Currently, Canadian universities have 420 exchange agreements with partners in LAC covering student and faculty exchanges, as well as research collaboration. In addition, since 1985, Canadian universities have been involved in 729 development projects with partner universities and institutions in more than 25 countries in the region, approximately one-third of all Canadian university development projects world-wide. A significant number have been within the context of the CIDA-funded University Partnerships in Cooperation and Development (UPCD) program.

² Within the UPCD program, projects on democracy and good governance represent about 10% of all projects in Latin America.