TORONTO \u2014 Canada must make itself more welcoming to top academic talent, University of Toronto president Melanie Woodin has said, as universities attempt to woo researchers who are concerned about political instability in the United States.<\/p>\n
Woodin hopes that the federal government announces immigration measures in this week\u2019s budget to make it easier for in-demand researchers like quantum physicists to get on paths to permanent residency in Canada, something she said is virtually impossible under current policies. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had one of the greatest immigration systems in the world,\u201d said Vivek Goel, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo, at The Logic Summit in Toronto on Monday. \u201cThe original points-based system was really based on if you were a top faculty member of any discipline. You were going to get points on that. But it got distorted over the years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Canada is one of many countries that sees a window to poach<\/a> top university talent from the U.S. \u201cThey\u2019re talking to top institutions in Canada, the U.K., around the world, and we need to marshal all of our resources,\u201d said Woodin.\u00a0<\/p>\n During U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s first administration, U of T was able to hire professors like Al\u00e1n Aspuru-Guzik, who left<\/a> a tenured position at Harvard in 2018 to join U of T\u2019s chemistry and computer science departments, citing government research support as a factor. Aspuru-Guzik\u2019s interest in Canada was piqued almost immediately after Trump was elected in 2016, but it took about a year and a half to pull together a hiring package, said Goel, who at the time was U of T\u2019s vice-president of research and innovation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has made deep cuts<\/a> to research grants, while Trump has pushed to defund<\/a> universities and deport<\/a> students involved with pro-Palestinian protests. That has prompted some academics to explore their options.<\/p>\n But Woodin and Goel said Canada faces its own funding and immigration-policy challenges if it wants to recruit more talent like Aspuru-Guzik.\u00a0<\/p>\n U of T relies<\/a> on partnering with U.S. universities or federal research agencies for about $20 million in annual funding, and in Woodin and Goel\u2019s home base of Ontario, tuition freezes<\/a> have drained university budgets.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, international students aren\u2019t applying<\/a> for student visas in Canada at the same rate, as the government has slowed permit approvals. While the government has been trying to curb<\/a> applications to certain private colleges that it sees as diploma \u201cmills\u201d rather than universities, Goel said that students abroad may not appreciate that distinction, and hold-ups apply to students and teachers alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA colleague has been waiting two years for a work permit for top faculty,\u201d said Goel. \u201cThat sends out a signal that it\u2019s not a welcoming place.\u201d <\/p>\n Top AI researchers like U of T professors Geoffrey Hinton and Raquel Urtasun, who were recruited to Canada from abroad, were working on key technologies long before they reached any sort of commercial success, the university leaders noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe should always be welcoming brilliant people,\u201d said Goel.<\/p>\n