The Trump administration’s attacks on a number of major U.S. universities represents an opportunity for Canada to lure academics north of the border, boosting Canada’s research and development capacity, says Desjardins Group Inc.
In a new report, economists at Desjardins said that the increasingly-hostile U.S. approach to American universities has weakened their status in the global scientific community.
“Cuts to federal funding for research, restrictions on grant criteria and a more restrictive policy on international students and researchers are creating a climate of uncertainty and withdrawal. Higher education in the U.S. is also becoming increasingly politicized, undermining the foundations of academic freedom,” it noted.
For Canada, this shift provides an unexpected chance for Canada to reverse its so-called “brain drain,” it suggested.
“The turmoil in U.S. academia … represents a golden opportunity for Canada,” it said.
Canada is already home to some of the world’s leading universities, and, “[u]p to now, Canadian campuses have been relatively unaffected by the ideological tensions afflicting their U.S. counterparts,” the report said — adding that the new Liberal government’s campaign platform, “alluded to investments in innovation, patient capital and research corridors.”
“These are all positive signals that run counter to the more anti-intellectual trends observed among our neighbours to the south,” it said.
However, Canada faces competition in the contest for researchers.
The major European universities are already actively recruiting academic talent from U.S. schools, the report noted. And, at the same time, China is gaining global prominence too.
“It is ramping up budgets, investing in pure research, developing its university infrastructure and attracting or educating a growing percentage of the world’s researchers,” the report said. “This shift of the world’s scientific centre of gravity away from the United States is accelerating.”
To start, “Canada can target Canadian researchers currently working in the United States,” the report suggested.
“A targeted strategy to make it easier for these researchers to come home may be more effective and affordable than attracting researchers without Canadian roots,” it noted.
Additionally, Canada should focus its efforts in subjects, “where it has a concrete comparative advantage,” the report said.
“It already has a global reputation in areas such as the responsible development of artificial intelligence, life sciences and even clean technology,” it said.
“If Canada wants to maintain or even increase its ability to innovate in a more fragmented world, it will have to create the conditions for a new scientific boom, quickly adapt its immigration system and actively recruit Canadian expats,” it concluded.