Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to address you today.
My name is Brenda Brouwer. I am vice-provost and dean of the school of graduate studies at Queen's University, and president of the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies. It is in this latter capacity that I am here this afternoon, along with our executive director, Sally Rutherford.
I'll begin by telling you a bit about the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies, or CAGS, and the tremendous value proposition that is graduate studies for enhancing Canada's prosperity, productivity, and global engagement. CAGS consists of nearly 60 post-secondary member institutions from across the country dedicated to advancing excellence in graduate education, research, and scholarship to support the formation of highly trained and skilled individuals who contribute to the health, wellness, and advancement of societies in Canada and globally.
We work in partnership with regional, provincial, and federal agencies, including the tri-council granting agencies, to support graduate education as an essential resource underpinning Canada's capacity to become a more economically and socially robust country.
The value of a graduate education extends far beyond the increased earning power of graduates, and thus higher taxable income. It lies in the intellectual capacity, critical and analytical thinking, and hands-on research capability that are cultivated to be applied and mobilized in all sectors of the Canadian economy.
Canada has considerable raw talent in our highly qualified personnel. Canada must do better in supporting them, leveraging their discoveries, and enabling them to effect positive change from which we all stand to benefit.
This leads to several of CAGS' recommendations to this committee. I'll highlight some of them today.
The first is continued investment in fundamental research through the tri-council agencies. Supporting investigator-led research is critical for the pipeline of innovation and discovery, and next-generation researchers. Such research creates opportunities for graduate students to conduct impactful, high-yield research with future commercial value, societal value, and global reach. CAGS echoes post-secondary support to the recommendations of the fundamental science review, chaired by David Naylor and including Queen's Nobel laureate, Dr. Art McDonald.
Funding for the tri-councils has not kept up with inflation or the growing demand to support research, innovation, and discovery. CAGS urges the committee to support the science review's recommendation for an increase of $485 million over four years to address the cumulative underfunding developed over the past years.
Canada must be outwardly focused. Our discoveries, products, and technologies have implications beyond our borders, and our efforts must be enlightened by multiple perspectives, ideas, cultures, and practices to garner global recognition and leadership, yet existing policies and practices restrict our talent pool.
The tri-council's Canada graduate scholarships program is restricted to Canadian applicants. We want to attract the best talent, period, regardless of citizenship. The number of scholarships has been static since 2007, despite a 30% increase in graduate enrolment, and their value remains unchanged since 2003. We need to be competitive to attract the best and make graduate study accessible. We must cast a wide net to ensure that diversity and inclusivity of thought, culture, and experience enrich the graduate experience, promoting ideation, innovation, and inspiration that can be transformative.
CAGS strongly advocates for new investment in the Canadian graduate scholarships program to increase the number of awards and their value, and we urge revision of the eligibility criteria to include international students.
Worth noting is that over 30% of Ph.D. students studying in Canada are international students, about half of whom desire to stay in Canada, contributing directly to our economy, and all strengthen international ties and collaborations.
CAGS recommends that the federal government provide new funds for robust programs to assist Canadian graduate students to gain international experience through research and study abroad. Current imbalances in scholarship support limit the number of outbound Canadian students relative to inbound international students. We need to graduate global citizens who can navigate global economies and communities. Investing in programs that enable student mobility stands to garner high return for Canada.
Access to graduate education is a priority. CAGS believes that pathways and resources must be in place to enable disadvantaged and under-represented groups access university and graduate studies.
We support the Naylor report recommendation that the tri-councils collaborate on a comprehensive plan to promote and provide support for indigenous research with the goal of enhancing research and training by and with indigenous researchers and communities.
Canadian universities graduate over 7,100 Ph.D. candidates annually, each of whom has completed original research, acquired specialized knowledge, and a broad range of transferable skills. Enabling graduate students to incorporate experiential learning into their programs catalyzes collaborations and partnerships, and stimulates job creation, product development, and social innovations that benefit companies, organizations, and communities. The expansion and added investment into the Mitacs accelerate program beyond STEM, bringing in not-for-profits and the federal government, has been very welcome. The uptake beyond STEM, however, is limited due to the investment requirement from the partner. CAGS encourages the government to address the barriers to non-STEM partner receptivity to fully mobilize graduate student capacity and knowledge to all sectors and incorporate research and development into the labour market broadly to maximize opportunity and return.
Finally, we encourage the government to champion the labour market information initiative. Graduate students, potential employers, and the broader Canadian economy will all benefit from labour market information that is accurate, valid, regionally responsive, accessible, and timely.
Mr. Chair, on behalf of the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies, thank you for the opportunity to speak, and we look forward to questions.