Thank you very much, Chairman.
Good afternoon, everyone. I am very pleased to be here today. I would like to congratulate the committee for the advice it provided to the government on the budget.
Last week, 65 university presidents from across Canada came to Parliament Hill to show how universities are putting ideas to work for Canadians. I'm pleased to say there was widespread recognition of the role universities are playing in communities across Canada in conducting leading research, fostering innovation, and ensuring that Canada has the talent we need to succeed in the global knowledge economy. Our members were joined by university champions from the private sector—from student entrepreneurs building “born global” companies to CEOs who have invested in higher education for their workforce to up their company's game in a competitive world.
Universities are centres of ideas and innovation. Whereas a 20th-century Canada could prosper from its natural bounty, today's global knowledge economy demands that we must compete on our brains. Canada's students and their families know this and are making smart choices. Over one million students are pursuing an undergraduate education in 2012.
The 2013 budget gives the federal government the opportunity to make strategic investments that will allow universities to continue to increase Canadian economic prosperity within the global knowledge and innovation economy. The AUCC specifically recommends that the federal government invest in university research, international education and renewing post-secondary education for aboriginals in the 2013 budget.
Specifically, we recommend enhancing support for the federal research granting agencies and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, including the institutional cost of research. Quite simply, these are foundational to everything that universities can do.
We also recommend more graduate student internships and employment experience in a broad range of interdisciplinary sectors. This would enable more companies to take advantage of the highly talented graduates that Canada's universities produce.
As you've heard from several witnesses, the recent Council of Canadian Academies' report highlights the outstanding quality of Canada's university researchers and points to Canada's growing influence on global knowledge. Additional investments are required to sustain and accelerate the pace of research.
Canada also needs a strong national and coordinated approach to international education, one that involves governments working in concert with the education sector. International education should be a pillar of the Government of Canada's foreign policy and economic growth objectives.
Over the course of the summer, you may have seen a recent report from DFAIT that indicated international students contribute close to $8 billion a year to Canada's economy. When I say that, I'm thinking of communities like Nanaimo, Kamloops, Brandon, Sudbury, Chicoutimi, and Moncton, which all benefit from international students. International students actually contribute more to Canada's economy than the export of softwood, wheat, and aluminum. To think of this sector as a lever for Canada is important, especially in new and emerging markets.
Attracting international students to Canada gives us an edge in global commerce and trade. But it's about much more than attracting international students to Canada. We must also ensure that this generation of young Canadians gains study abroad experience to prepare them to meet the needs of the global economy. We think of ourselves as an open global nation, but American students are twice as likely to study abroad as Canadians, and German students are three times as likely to study abroad. We have lots of work to do.
We also need to position Canada as an international leader in higher education, not only as a recruiter but as a partner in education and research. International research collaboration amongst universities, governments, and industry builds the strong people-to-people ties needed to attract the best and brightest talent and to expand our trade and investment ties around the world.
To support international higher education, Canada should implement the recommendations of the Chakma report. In brief, these are funding international research collaboration at scale, investing in initiatives to support study abroad opportunities for Canadian students to gain global skills, and investing in initiatives to enhance marketing and branding efforts to attract international students to Canada and leverage existing investments.
Our final recommendation is to invest in post-secondary education for aboriginal people. If I can, let me be blunt for a moment. I have come before this committee four years in a row now, saying that this is an urgent national priority. We welcome and support the government's efforts and the crown-first nations gathering, and the particular focus on the K to 12 system, but we have to do more. Canada needs to go further and we need to go faster.
Universities have also made strides in attracting and retaining aboriginal students over those four years. We have proven projects that can be scaled up to increase aboriginal participation and graduation rates. Action and investment are needed now.
AUCC recommends advancing aboriginal post-secondary education measures that can be delivered by a third party with a proven track record in aboriginal matters in conjunction with private sector partners. The partnership of aboriginal leadership, universities, and the private sector will help close the higher education gap between aboriginals and others in Canada.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Canada will benefit from these investments.