Budget 2008: New grad scholarships aim to attract international talent

Will help universities compete globally for talent

The Harper government launched a prestigious scholarship program in the 2008 Budget aimed at attracting bright, young graduate students to Canadian universities.

The program will award 500 PhD students with $50,000 each year for up to three years of study. The program will cost the government $25-million over two years. It will be open to both Canadian and international students.

The new initiative is a response to universities’ complaints that they are unable to attract the world’s brightest students to Canada. The program, named after Governor General George Vanier, aims to compete with high profile scholarship programs like the Rhodes program.

Many university officials applauded the act. According to Ronald Bordessa, president of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, the new Vanier scholarships are a step in the right direction. The budget “will help recruit top quality graduate students including international students.” According to Bordessa, this is a step in the right direction that will make Canadian universities more competitive, and help to both keep talent and attract talent to Canada.

But not everyone agrees that the move hits the mark. James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, pointed out that the program is only going to help 500 students. ““Our general reaction is that it is a budget with no understanding of the needs of PSE,” he said, arguing that there was a lack of announcements that would help the other 600,000 students or institutions themselves.

-with a report from Joey Coleman

(http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2008/02/26/budget-2008-new-grad-scholarships-aim-to-attract-international-talent/)