Canada-China University Linkages in a New Era of Global Geo-Politics

We were stimulated by celebrations around the 40^th Anniversary of Canada-China Relations in 2010 to design a project that would look specifically at large scale national level efforts at collaboration between Canadian and Chinese universities from 1983 to 2001. After the devastation of the Cultural Revolution, Canada was the only Western country that concentrated its development aid on higher education in China, and the projects it supported were quite different from those of the World Bank, which focused on infrastructural development. CIDA projects supported a large number of university linkages in the areas of education, agriculture, environment, health and management studies, with a particular emphasis on collaboration in the development of faculty and of new courses.

Our project intends to reflect on the historical contribution made by the universities and other social institutions on both sides that were involved in these linkages. What kind of long-term impact can be traced, and what lessons have been learned? How did the projects specifically address areas of knowledge that were crucial to China’s rapid transition towards the position of economic and geo-political leadership it holds today in the world community? What new synergies are now emerging between universities in the two countries that might be built upon in new forms of collaboration?

To answer these questions we are connecting with participants in past projects in many parts of Canada and China. Our project team includes Ruth Hayhoe (TPS), Julia Pan (Dean’s Office), Qiang Zha (York), Phirom Leng (TPS), Qin Liu (TPS) and Lois Dou (CTL).

Contributors

Principal Investigator:

Dr. Ruth Hayhoe (OISE/TPS)

Co-Investigators:

Dr. Julia Pan (OISE/Dean's Office)

Dr. Qiang Zha (Youk University)

Rearch Team

Phirom Leng Ph.D. student (TPS)

Qin Liu Ph. D. student (TPS)

Lois Dou M.Ed. (CTL)

Activities:

Conferences:

SSHRC Sponsored Conference:

Canada-China Relations: Past, Present, Future October 2011

University of Regina, under the auspice of Social Science and Humanity Research Council of Canada, hosted a Symposium on Canada-China Relations: Past, Present and Future in October 2011. The symposium was part of celebration of the 40^th anniversary of Canada-China Diplomatic Relations established in 1971.

The aim of this academic symposium was to create a conversation between established and newer scholars on various aspects of Canada-China relations, updating the developments and outcomes of the bilateral joint activities in the last two decades. The 40+ participants were mostly scholars from various Canadian universities who were involved in Canada-China joint research and exchange works, plus representatives from Canadian government departments such as DEFAIT and Library and Archives Canada.

Professor Paul Evans, the Director of the Institute for Asian Research, University of British Columbia delivered the keynote speech “Beyond Engagement: Canada and China 2020”, and another special dinner guest speaker was Mr. Norman Webster, the former Editor-in-chief and former Peking Bureau Chief, the Global and Mail, who had witnessed and recorded the Canada-China diplomatic relations in the last 40 years.

Qiang Zha and Julia Pan made a joint presentation on “Canada-China University Linkages in a New Era of Global Geo-Politics” in the opening session, and a paper entitled “A Historical Reflection on Canada-China University Linkage, co-authored by Ruth Hayhoe, Julia Pan and Qiang Zha is to be published in the symposium proceeding book in 2012.