Some Evidence Relating to the Canada Research Chair Program

In 2000, the Government of Canada created a permanent program to establish 2,000 research professorships (Canada Research Chairs) in Canadian universities.

The Canada Research Chairs program invests $300 million per year to “attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds.”

- to attract and retain excellent researchers in Canadian universities;

- to improve universities’ capacity for generating and applying new knowledge;

- to strengthen the training of highly qualified personnel; - and to optimize the use of research resources through

strategic planning. As of November 2010, a total of 1,845 Canada Research

Chair positions were filled, among whom 546 chairholders were recruited from abroad, including 344 from the US.

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Source: CRCP, 2009a

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Presidential Young Investigator Award (CAREER) and Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) (USA, offering funding up to $640,000 over a 5-year period for junior researchers)

Federation Fellowship Program (Australia, $221,261 annum) Marie Curie Program (EU, $410,161 annum) Humboldt Research Awards (Germany, valued at 60,000 EUR

over 1-year period) One Hundred Talent Program ($450,000 over 3-year period)

Cheung Kong Scholar Program ($200,000 over 3-year period), Thousand Talent Program ($450,000 startup + $100,000 annum) (China)

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Province Tier Research Council Gender Total

I II NSERC SSHRC CIHR Male Female

Alberta 1 2 2 1 2 1 3

BC 1 3 2 2 2 2 4

Ontario 4 7 8 3 11 11

Quebec 2 2 2 2

Total 6 14 14 2 4 17 3 20

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What was the deciding factor in your decision to accept your current position? What single factor do you appreciate most about your current position, your institution, and Canada?

What single factor do you appreciate least about your current position, your institution, and Canada?

After the term of your current appointment, will you stay in your institution or in Canada?

What ideas, perspectives and values that draw upon Chinese epistemological or cultural traditions can you bring into your academic work or disciplinary field? To what extent can they contribute to a greater diversity of academic thought and discourse in Canada?

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Most feel drawn to Canada’s multicultural environment, which is especially important to their families and kids

Most Tier II CRCs appreciate Canada’s sort of egalitarian approach to resource distribution—most people have some, though not much. Those in their early career stage would benefit most from such an approach.

The Canadian approach allows longer term planning for career/academic development, while the American approach is dominated by the funding agencies and the market, which expect much quicker turnaround.

Canadian universities pay more attention to teaching, while teaching counts little in American universities.

The values of Canadian society stand between the capitalist and the socialist, which appeal to those from China.

Basically there are few “push” factors in the Canadian context, so whether or not to stay depends largely on “pull” factors from other systems.

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“CRC and NSERC programs encourage you have long term planning…This is particularly important for interdisciplinary research…It would be risky if you have to write a report every year as in the US, spend a lot of time writing proposals for one year ahead at a time.” (Interview with a Tier I CRC recruited from within university)

“In the US, researchers routinely spent 1/3 to 1/2 of their time to write proposals…Even though you get grants, you have little time to do research, but have to hire others to do it while you look more like a research manager…The Canadian approach helps to overcome downturns in one’s career. Everyone could experience ups and downs in research. If your area is not popular any more, it is hard for you to get any funding in the US.” (Interview with a Tier II CRC recruited from a US research institute)

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“The core of Canadian values is about peace and sustainability (which I initially misinterpreted as mediocrity and attempting nothing). [Similarly] the current practice of CRC program works well to achieve the synergy between the individual and the institution. Research is a conversation between human and nature, and directed by heart, not just brain. Valuable breakthroughs often come from passionateness, not pressure. [In this sense], the American highly competitive environment works well for technological innovations, but not necessarily for discoveries in sciences.” (Interview with a Tier II CRC recruited from within Canada)

“The less competitive environment [in Canada] allows you to pick up those problems that require very deep thinking, while you have to rush in the States where people tend to have a utilitarian mentality…human ideas are hard to judge in their initial stage.” (Interview with a Tier I CRC recruited from within Canada)

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Canadian culture doesn’t favour crazy minds, which are needed for discovery. Instead, it encourages a step-by-step approach.

Canadian egalitarian approach may impede the opportunity for more competitive researchers to get large amount of funds. The CRC title itself sometimes becomes a hindrance for more funds.

Internationalization and diversity of faculty are more common in the American universities, as the consequence of open competitions, especially in the science and engineering fields, while the Canadian universities tend to hire more Canadians or Canadian educated faculty.

Networking and politics are more important in the Canadian context.

“The CRC position is not sufficient to keep me here.”

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“The Canadian relaxed environment is only good for the few geniuses [but most people would need pressure]…In the US, senior professors cannot go to sleep—feeling the threat that young scholars will overtake them…In Canada, there is no incentive or encouragement system—different from China, Japan, Korea and also the US. In the US, a major discovery, a paper in Nature or Science, will get a letter from the president [of the university], but here no recognition, sometimes even have to hide it…I have a sense of a ceiling phenomenon here—cannot go to a higher level” (Interview with a Tier I CRC recruited from a major US research university)

“This is only relevant for research, but good for keeping nice teachers in the university…Americans spend more time on research—here more on teaching.” (ibid.)

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“Egalitarianism is overstressed in Canada. [As a result,] it doesn’t make a difference to perform well or not so well. Sometimes you even have to downgrade a bit your own pursuit and accomplishment…[For this reason] a colleague here, who is French and a Tier I CRC, has, however, chosen to leave.” (Interview with a Tier II CRC recruited from within university)

“There should be a screening of the promising projects which should then be qualified for extra funding. The current practice is to let everyone finish the term, like the “iron bowl” in the past China. [Even] the CRC’s annual evaluation report has never got any feedback.” (Interview with a Tier II CRC recruited from a Singaporean research institute)

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“Asian view, like yinyang, is less reductionist, and tolerate of opposites…I am interested in things that are different.” (Interview with a Tier I CRC recruited from a major US research university)

“Canadian colleagues can identify different angles from a single issue, while the Chinese, once they identify an issue, can go very deep, and try to trace back to the root…Interdisciplinary research has a lot to do with breadth. While most others just talk, but for me, I see the deep issues, and go to depth.” (Interview with a Tier I CRC recruited from within university)

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Academic factors: Academic Capitalism & “Continental Divide”- Academic capitalism describes the phenomenon of university

faculty’s increasing attention to market potential as an impetus for research. This places faculty in the position of having to anticipate the vagaries of the market. (Slaughter and Leslie, 1997)

- Research has become less “curiosity-driven” and more market-driven. In this process, systems that somehow manage “exceptionalism” to academic capitalism, like Canada, may experience brain gain.

- “In contrast to the emphasis on individual rights in the United States, the Canadian tradition was one of emphasis on social order and the collective good, and to some degree, group rights…the United States emphasizes equality of opportunity while Canada emphasizes equality of results” (Skolnik, 1990, pp. 82 & 86).

- “the greater materialistic orientation of the United States than of Canada” (Skolnik, 1990, p. 86)

- The greater emphasis on accountability for public funds in the US higher education (Barak, 1982; Skolnik, 1990).

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Social & cultural factors: Canada’s Social Cohesion patterns leaning towards the Social Market Regime vs. Americanism featuring Liberal Regime of Social Cohesion

- Its major principles stemming from the blended traditions of French republicanism (statism) and Christian Democracy (emphasizing social order and collective good—“dependence of liberty on order”)

- It resonates the Confucian Regime in many ways!- Americanism had necessarily to be defined in terms of ideology rather than

community as was originally the case with Canada. Thus, to reject American values is un-American, whereas the tolerance of value deviation is possible or even common in Canada.

- Chinese epistemological tradition has always featured pluralism: unity with diversity.

Personal factors: Cultural Capital: the cultural background, knowledge, disposition, and skills that are passed from one generation to the next. More specifically, cultural capital refers to the different linguistic and cultural competencies that individuals inherit from their families. These competencies may include modes of thinking, sets of meanings, and types of dispositions that are accorded a certain social value and status as a result of what the dominant class or classes label as the most valued cultural capital.

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A certain degree of exceptionalism from academic capitalism appears to have helped Canadian universities to lure star researchers internationally, in particular the rising stars. Then, there is a need to address the emerging dilemma between the relatively non-competitive culture and the pressing demand for Canadian system’s global competitiveness.

The egalitarian culture/approach in Canadian universities needs to integrate elements of incentives and meritocracy when dealing with research stars. CRC Program is elite per se and thus should carry on some differentiated practices, e.g., providing more research resource, more course release, applying more competitive screening process.

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2002-03 2007-08

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Source: CRCP, 2009b

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Approved Not Approved Success Rate

NSERC 1154 148 88.6%

CIHR 850 83 91.1%

SSHRC 567 70 89.0%

TOTAL 2571 301 89.5%

Canada’s multiculturalism is an iconic attraction to international talent, and further research needs to be done to shed light on more substantial match between its core value, and the different cultural and epistemological traditions of the international faculty, which, in turn, may help to expand and enhance the diversity of academic thought and discourse in Canadian academia.

All respondents reported benefitting most from collaboration with China in terms of being able to bring in some of the brightest Chinese students, with help of a pre-screening process, i.e., internationalization of faculty contributing to and optimizing internationalization of students.

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Barak, R.J. (1982). Program Review for Higher Education: Within and Without. Boulder: National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

Canada Research Chairs Program (2009a). Canada Research Chairs Review 2007-2008. Ottawa, Canada: CRCP.

Canada Research Chairs Program (2009b). Canada Research Chairs Information Session [ppt]. Edmonton, AB: University of Alberta.

Grant, K.R. and Drakich, J. (2010). The Canada Research Chairs Program: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Higher Education, 59: 21-42.

Skolnik, M. (1990). Lipset’s Continental Divide and the Ideological Basis for Differences in Higher Education between Canada and United States. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, Vol. XX-2, 81-93.

Slaugher, S. and Leslie, L. (1997). Academic capitalism: Politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

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