Canadian and Chilean universities discuss internationalization in doctorates

The CALDO group from Canada and the CRUCH universities agreed to work on a framework agreement to analyze exchange possibilities at a meeting organized at the University of La Frontera, Pucón campus.

With the purpose of sharing an analysis and exchange on doctoral training in Chilean and Canadian universities, seeking alternatives for academic collaboration in the near future, a group of Canadian universities from the CALDO consortium and the universities of the Council of Rectors (CRUCH) met at the University of La Frontera – Pucón campus.

The program included sharing strategies for the internationalization of doctoral training, support experiences to achieve quality results, and defining alternatives for academic collaboration in these areas.

CALDO brings together nine leading research and postgraduate universities, with a particular focus on supporting graduate students through bilateral mobility and collaboration in scientific research. The group was represented by six universities: the University of Ottawa, Laval University, Dalhousie University, Western University (Ontario), the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Alberta. Universities from the north, central, and southern regions of Chile participated from the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH).

At the meeting, the universities belonging to the Council of Rectors expressed their interest and expectations for academic collaboration with the institutions of CALDO. They also highlighted areas of interest related to emerging research topics at their universities, such as migration, indigenous peoples, biomedicine, natural resource management, renewable energy, and teacher training, among others. Furthermore, they pointed to other challenges, such as the transfer of knowledge to society—whether to productive sectors, public policy, or civil society—and the institutional and international strengthening of their graduate programs.

The group of academics from Canada raised the need to identify active areas of academic collaboration between the CRUCH and CALDO universities and established a commitment to advance in common lines of research, which will allow for future meetings between the respective academic communities.

Among the main conclusions and agreements were advancing the definitions for the development of joint supervision and double degree programs in doctoral training; identifying alternatives for the development of exchange in good practices of linkage with industry and technology transfer; generating information systems on scientific activity that brings together academics from Chile and Canada (CALDO), which will subsequently allow strengthening the internationalization of doctoral training and finally, establishing a CRUCH-CALDO framework agreement that facilitates and promotes academic collaboration in research and doctoral training between Chile and Canada.