Ottawa, Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Thank you for your warm welcome. I am delighted to be here this evening to help celebrate this milestone anniversary.

Having spent much of my career working as a university professor, dean and administrator, I am keenly aware of the role this association plays in strengthening graduate studies in Canada.

It is a service for which I am grateful. As governor general, I have identified learning and innovation as pillars of a smarter, more caring Canada, and excellence in graduate studies is essential to our success.

Each of you understands the central place that graduate research and education occupy in our learning and innovation ecosystem. This was true during this association’s first 50 years, and I am sure the role of graduate studies will only become more prominent in the next half-century.

For this reason, I am pleased to note the ambitious theme of this conference, which asks: what do we need to be ready for in the next 50 years?

Such is the pace of change in our world today that it may be simpler to ask: what don’t we need to be ready for?

Or, as the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada puts it:

“Ours is a world where economic, social and personal fulfillment depends less upon what we know and more upon what we are able to learn, how we think and the degree to which we are able to respond to change around us.”

The key imperatives are learning, thinking and responding to change, and I am sure you will agree this holds true for both graduate students and departments of graduate studies.

I want to commend you for tackling a number of important challenges at this year’s conference, including the internationalization of graduate studies, governance issues, career development and student funding.

Let me focus for a moment on just one of those topics: internationalization. Having led a delegation of Canadian universities and colleges to the Conference of the Americas on International Education in Brazil last April, I know there are many opportunities for internationalization in postsecondary studies. On this point I am sure the Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South, Mr. Rod Bruinooge, will agree. Mr. Bruinooge was part of our delegation to Brazil, and I am pleased to see him here this evening once again showing his support for postsecondary education. 

A wonderful example of the international opportunities that exist can be seen in Canada’s participation in the Science Without Borders program, which was announced during my time in Brazil. This innovative program will ultimately see 12 000 Brazilian students come to Canada for postsecondary study.

As the Advisory Panel on Canada’s International Education Strategy points out, the OECD estimates global demand for international higher education will grow from nearly 3.7 million students in 2009 to 6.4 million in 2025. A significant portion will be graduate students, and an opportunity exists for Canadian schools to develop international partnerships and research agreements.

Partnerships—across borders and across disciplines—are essential to our learning today, particularly at the graduate level. Partnerships drive discovery, and they bring us together as peoples and as learning institutions.

I like to call this the diplomacy of knowledge, and I am convinced this kind of collaboration holds great hope for the global learning society of which we dream.

Of course, each of you knows that globalization carries with it significant challenges as well as opportunities, which raises the question: how are we to minimize the risks while seizing the benefits of internationalization?

The answer, I believe, is to stay firmly focused on the interests of the public and the students we serve.

Throughout my mandate, I have spoken of the importance of the social contract that exists between various professions and the public they serve. While the particulars of the social contract can evolve to meet changing circumstances, its unchanging essence is our duty to the common good.

My point is this: the social contract is a powerful notion that can serve as a compass in times of change.

As prominent educators in Canada, the leaders of graduate studies departments must ensure the relevance of programs and continually evolve to meet the needs of students and of society. As you know, the world has changed and is changing, but the central role of educators in building a smarter, more caring world remains constant.

Having served our country so well for the past 50 years, the members of this association are without a doubt up to the challenge of the next half-century.

I wish you a productive and enlightening conference.

Thank you.