Thank you very much.
On behalf of the university, I'd first like to thank you for the contributions the federal government has been making to a number of programs that have supported universities in recent years--the knowledge infrastructure program, the Vanier Canada scholarships, and the Canada excellence research chairs program, which I think is a very creative stimulus for research in this country. Universities, especially research-intensive universities, contribute to social, economic, and cultural growth in the country through their threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service, and we appreciate the support for those various things.
Our written submission focuses on three issues, and I'll touch on each of them briefly.
First is the need for continuing investment in the direct and indirect costs of research. The university system has consistently identified direct costs, indirect costs, infrastructure, and people as the components the federal government can help with and has indeed been helping with. But in the current circumstances, we think the balance needs to shift a little bit towards the direct and indirect costs of university-sponsored research, especially now in Canada, and especially with the stimulus that we expect to see in the United States as a result of a number of things that President Obama has said, and our expectations that this will increase the competition for seeking first-class researchers and trying to keep them in Canada. So we would like to see an increase in support to the three major research-granting councils and increased funding for the indirect costs of research.
The second issue we raised in our written brief was increased focus on aboriginal education. It's true in this province and in other parts of Canada that there need to be more aboriginal students in universities to be representative of their distribution in the overall population, and that more of those who come to universities need help to succeed in achieving the educational aspirations they have. The dropout rates in universities for aboriginal students are high because of the cultural adjustments that are necessary. Finally, those aboriginal students who do come confine their interest generally to a relatively small number of our programs. We have very few, for example, aboriginal people in math and science, and relatively more in nursing, education, and social work.
Our intention, as an institution working in collaboration with others in the city, is to try to address each of those three issues. I know that other universities across the country are doing so as well. We ask that you increase support for aboriginal education by investing in university programs and services that support aboriginal students.
The third thing we mentioned is specific to the University of Manitoba, and that's the establishment of the Canadian centre for excellence for grain crops. One of the things we've identified in our own strategic planning framework is focusing work on safe, secure, sustainable food and bioproducts, which matters locally for the economy here, of course, and matters nationally and globally in terms of supply and safety of food. This is a project that's been discussed at length with various government officials and departments, and we think it is an important component of the research infrastructure for the country. It will provide the opportunity for the academic, government, and industrial folks to work together, and we would ask you to include funding for the Canadian centre for grain crops in next year's budget.
Thank you for seeking our input.