Canada's universities eager for Chinese partnerships

Caroline Boudoux, associate professor at Polytechnique Montreal, whose book covers a comprehensive range of topics in biomedical optics, introduces the Laboratory of Optical Diagnoses and Imaging to visitors in Montreal.

"For example, in terms of research, we have a good relationship with Huawei, the big player in telecommunication technology in 5G. We're developing a chair with Huawei now," said Benoit Boilet, associate dean on McGill's Faculty of Engineering. "Huwei has established a lab in Montreal; there're a lot of interactions between us happening."

Phil Ohorn, associate provost for international affairs at McGill University, asserted that China is one of the major research partners, as it is now the largest source of foreign students in Canada.

"We are a much internationalized university, and we are very proud that we have a student audience from all over the world, China in particular," he said.

Ohorn said Chinese students are lucky because they come into a welcoming and comprehensive society that is exposed to different ways of life and cultures from all over the world.

"We have graduate and undergraduate programs with specific universities and innovative online programs in China. Our environment allows us to work together and help one another, and this is one of our strengths: the ability to welcome people from all over the world," he said.

John A. See, director of partnership and development Asia, Laval University, said that in the last 10 years, strategies have been put in place to develop deeper relationships with China so that there would be more internationalization with Chinese universities.

"It is our priority to work with China and do lots of student recruitment. We started in Shanghai and Beijing, where the biggest universities are, forging long-term collaboration and strong relationships and focusing on internationalizing universities like the Beijing Institute of Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University," he said.

Laval sends delegations to PhD workshops in Beijing every year, and these missions also go to schools and universities to promote the university.

"So gradually, we have got a very strong relationship, but more importantly, with the funding from China, we can support those students. We also have an agreement to sponsor our students to go to China to do studies on subjects like archaeology, culture and language," See said.