Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First of all, I'd like to thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee today. I'm pleased to be here on behalf of the University of Ottawa to talk to you about the role of universities in furthering the prosperity of Canada and Canadians.
To be successful, universities must pursue several missions at the same time: equipping individuals to work effectively in an increasingly complex and competitive world; developing more socially responsible citizens for local, national, and international communities; and acting as developers of advanced ideas and drivers of new applications, policies, and products that enhance governance, commerce, and culture. These are wide and important mandates that all universities must pursue in response to those we serve: the students, the parents, governments, businesses, non-profit organizations, and communities.
The University of Ottawa plays a unique role in Canada's development. Our location, both in the heart of the national capital and at the juncture of French and English Canada, our commitment to education in both official languages, our passion for knowledge and innovation, and our high-quality learning environment are defining characteristics. In fact, we often say that the University of Ottawa is a reflection, an observatory and a catalyst of the Canadian experience in all its complexity and diversity.
In the current knowledge-based economy, advanced research is critical to economic growth. Allow me to paraphrase my colleague, Chad Gaffield, newly appointed president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, when he said we live in complex and challenging times. Canada's future depends on our human assets: the students, researchers and collaborators whose critical insights are advancing knowledge in the social sciences and humanities. And I would add “in the sciences and in technology”.
In the face of an increasingly competitive international research environment, investments in this effort are crucial. The government recognized this leading to the last election, when it highlighted the essential need for increased promotion of basic and applied research to our economic well-being and how unacceptable it is that our national expenditures on research and development are below those of all G-8 countries. In fact, notwithstanding the important investments in recent years by the federal government in support of R and D, Canada continues to lag the OECD countries when it comes to the percentage of gross domestic expenditures in support of R and D.
To drive national efforts, it is important that the government lead the development of a clear, long-term, sustainable science and technology strategy for Canada in collaboration with all partners, including Canada's universities. In this regard, we encourage a strategy that takes an integrated view of the role universities play along with other partners, including government and businesses, and acknowledges the key areas of support for university-based research and development.
Those areas include ideas--funding of basic and applied research through our three granting councils; people--funding of researchers and graduate students, for example, through the Canada research chair program and the Canada graduate scholarship program; infrastructure--funding of state-of-the-art research facilities through the Canada Foundation for Innovation; and institutional support--maintenance of research infrastructure through the indirect costs program.
Universities are prepared to continue to play a central role in the creation of new knowledge and in facilitating the diffusion and adoption of new technologies which will push Canada forward economically.
At the University of Ottawa, this has meant increasing our overall research efforts across all disciplines and establishing key strategic areas of development and research, including health, e-society, Canada and the world, and molecular sciences. It has also meant becoming more efficient in moving ideas to market for the benefit of Canadians.
Mr. Chairman, earlier this month the University of Ottawa welcomed 34,000 students from every province and territory and more than 150 countries. They are pursuing their studies in over 300 programs across 10 faculties, and they do so with a research-intensive institution providing them with extensive academic and community engagement opportunities.
I would like to conclude by underlining three areas where particular attention is needed. The University of Ottawa is a member of the Consortium national de formation en santé, a federally-funded program for the training of health professionals (medical doctors, nurses, rehabilitation science specialists, etc.) in French minority settings. A network of 10 post-secondary institutions across Canada, the CNFS is a flagship program that is the pride of the Government of Canada, its sponsor Health Canada and its partner institutions.
The University of Ottawa—indeed all Canadian universities—is also attending to post-secondary educational needs for aboriginal Canadians. In addition to our programs in education and law, last year we worked closely with Health Canada in the development of a special program in medicine for aboriginal students. We invite the government to continue to work with universities and colleges in the development of a strategy to develop programs adapted to the needs of the aboriginal community.