OTTAWA \u2013 For first year student Riley Alliman, the possibility of studying in Europe one day is an exciting proposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I would gain better connections in the world and advance my career,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Alliman is a student of biopharmaceutical science at the University of Ottawa, and she said her hope is to become a medical researcher.<\/p>\n
Adding that the opportunity to conduct some of her studies in a European Union country would allow her to broaden her expertise and learn how scientists elsewhere approach the same challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows us to further our knowledge in how other places are doing things, versus how maybe here we have different ideas of how we might do research in things like Parkinson\u2019s, because that\u2019s what I\u2019m really into,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that kind of enthusiasm that officials hope will fuel interest in the EU\u2019s student scholarship program known as Erasmus+, in which Canada already participates. But as Ottawa and the EU explore ways of working closer together, negotiations are now underway to make Canada a full participant in the program.<\/p>\n
If that happened, it would mean Canadian students would have access to grants and scholarships that would allow them to study in an EU country. It could also facilitate more transatlantic co-operation and research partnerships. That in turn could lead to economic growth, which is one reason why Canada and the EU are coming together in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, students gain from those experiences, and that certainly will influence perhaps their own trajectories in the future,\u201d said Larissa Bezo, president and CEO of the Canadian Bureau for International Studies. \u201cBut we\u2019re also talking about strengthening Canada\u2019s talent pipeline while building lasting connections with Europe that support research, innovation, and ultimately economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeremy Kinsman, a former Canadian ambassador to the EU, says the exchange is also a useful tool for bringing citizens of Canada and the European bloc closer together.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was always at the foundation of the European political project that if you get people to work together,\u201d he said, \u201cThen you\u2019ll forge a sense of functional achievement much more easily. You\u2019re not strangers anymore. You\u2019re partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Partners that work together in research, technology and industry, but also share values that are increasingly challenged around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when they\u2019re talking about values, people think of democracy and civil rule by law,\u201d said Kinsman. \u201cBut it\u2019s much more than that. It\u2019s internationalist values of co-operation, which Canada has been committed to since the end of the Second World War. The building of an international system that\u2019s institutional, that enables countries to come together to do what they have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one country can do that alone, and they do much better in concert,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Still, there are questions about cost, and how much Canada would have to pay to participate in the Erasmus+ program.<\/p>\n
Talks are now underway, as Canadian and EU officials also explore a potential \u201cassociate EU membership\u201d for Canada.<\/p>\n
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