CANADA: Canada, Ukraine solidify HE relations

Continuing to expand its educational reach, the Canadian government collaborated with the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) for the country’s first education mission to Ukraine. An overarching  memorandum of understanding was signed between CBIE and The Union of Rectors of Higher Educational Institutions of Ukraine to broaden HE collaboration and research between the two countries.
A delegation of 15 senior educators from 12 Canadian institutions met with their counterparts from 24 Ukrainian universities to establish further partnerships and sign additional MoUs.

“Canada attaches considerable importance to the development of education and research excellence both domestically and through cooperation with our foreign partners,” said Canada’s ambassador to Ukraine, Troy Lulashnyk.
“Our collaboration and sharing best practices will serve to strengthen further reforms in Ukraine’s higher education system based on the independence of universities and democratic standards.”

Lulashnyk launched the mission in Kyiv at a seminar hosted by the Union of Rectors. The Canadian delegation included educators from the University of Saskatchewan, University of Manitoba and University of New Brunswick.

Further talks took place in Lviv where the delegation met another 18 Ukrainian institutions with a focus on how HE institutions can support innovation through collaborations.

Several more Memoranda of Understanding were signed between individual institutions in the days following the workshops as the delegations visited specific higher education partners.

“We achieved our goal of greatly enhancing the bilateral relationship and setting the stage for expanded activity,” said the delegation’s co -creators Karen McBride, President and CEO of CBIE, and Dr. H.E.A. Campbell, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick.

Educational and cultural ties run deep between between the two countries resulting in a Ukrainian diaspora of  1.2 million around Canada. In 2011, 360 students from Ukraine studied at an HE institute in Canada. Other initiatives set up to encourage educational collaboration includes the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program that sees university students from Ukraine learn how democracy functions in Canada by working closely with Canadian Members of Parliament of all parties.

A delegation of public school representatives will travel to Turkey in April led by the Canadian Association of Public Schools-International as Canada aims to increase inbound student mobility at all levels.