U of C and Mitacs multi-million dollar partnership allows internationalized student research

By Gurman Sahota, May 17 2019 —

The University of Calgary and Mitacs, a non-profit national research organization, have partnered up to offer as much as $5.4 million to U of C students to go abroad and for international students to come to the university for research.

This emerging partnership fulfills the directives of the international strategy put forth by the university to become a “global intellectual hub.” The goal of the partnership is to have 200 students going abroad for research opportunities with 100 incoming to research at the U of C. The opportunities are available for a variety of students, however, it is geared towards upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, granting each participant $6,000.

“Bringing incoming students will enhance the diversity of the campus, which we measure by both full time students as well as students who are visiting,” said Janaka Ruwanpura, vice-provost international. “So while developing our expertise internally, we connect with the world and connect with others, giving experience to our students about what’s happening around the world.”

Mitacs is not new to campus, rather, the organization was working on an individual basis before signing the partnership with the U of C. The agreement is set to be intact for three years and offers opportunities in Mitacs-approved countries for terms ranging from 12 to 24 weeks. Approved countries span the globe from Australia to Brazil, Israel to Tunisia. Because of the international nature of the partnership, doors have been opened for a variety of opportunities and the chance for U of C researchers to collaborate with their international colleagues in publication.

“University of Calgary researchers published with international colleagues — as of 2018, we had over 101,000 publications — and then 32% of those publications are within countries that we identified as priority countries in the strategy,” said Ruwanpura. “This will really support the research strategies for that it enables more collaborations. It enables more publications that enhance the citations.”

Priority countries for the international strategy are China, Mexico, Tanzania, USA and Germany — many of which are also Mitacs-approved countries.

Individual faculties were consulted for individual quotas and interested students are advised to seek information through their particular faculties. More information on U of C research and Mitacs is available online.