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Canada’s Research Council Told to Focus on Applied Research

March 21, 2011, 2:44 pm

The new head of Canada’s National Research Council, the country’s biggest science institute, has ordered it to move away from basic research to focus on projects that will encourage economic development and technology, reports the Ottawa Citizen.

John MacDougall, who was named president of the council last year by the Conservative government, sent a memo this month outlining the change in direction, saying he wants research that is “successfully deployed and used to benefit our customers and partners in industry and government.”

He also told the council’s more than 4,000 staff members that all research projects will now have to be approved by top management, a change that is causing some disquiet and fear for jobs. A number of the research council’s labs are located on university campuses, with some professors holding joint appointments. Some council officials have already begun talking with those universities about their links to industry, the newspaper reported.

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  • glchew

    And this is why most basic research in Canada (or what’s left of it) will one day be run by people speaking Hindi or Mandarin – or any language from a nation that still values basic research. A previous Canadian government did the same thing to the once renowned Fisheries Research Board of Canada: they turned it from a bastion of fundamental marine research into an anemic scientific arm of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

  • cwm4c

    As with any leadership position, authority and accountability for the decisions must come with it.  If not, then you will have a manager and nothing more.  The Univerity’s choice will dictate what they get.

  • cdwickstrom

    In my experience in and out of the academy, I find that being oriented to the culture of the organization in which one is employed is critical to both effective leadership and effective FOLLOWERSHIP.  In none of my four academic institutional experiences was any effort made to orient me to the organization at even the most basic level.  It was a “here’s your desk, go to work” experience in each.  Orientation to the roles and relationships within the organization as a whole, and the administration in particular would go a long way in helping to make the position of department “head”/”chair” more effective and more understood. it would go a long way in explaining just what the D H/C can and CAN’T do, as well.  It also helps to understand that, as I told my trainees in supervisory development courses outside the academy, being a first-line supervisor is the toughest job in any organization, especially when you suddenly have to begin to exercise management roles over former peers. 

  • 11261897

    The greatest asset a department chair can have: an astute and understanding dean!

  • shar9019

    You’re right, it is free speech. But just because it’s free speech, doesn’t mean someone can’t look at it and form opinions about you that may or may not be accurate and then use those opinions to affect your ability to be hired for a new position. 

    Googling candidates is not a legal/constitutional issue, it’s an ethical issue. And as we all know, people’s ethical standards vary from one end to the other depending on the situation. 

  • 12080243

    An outstanding read is “The Dean’s Disease: How the Darker Side of Power Manifests Itself in the Office of the Dean” by Arthur G. Bedeian, Academy of Management Learning and Education, 2002, Vol. 1, No. 2, 164-173. This is wonderful outline of potential pitfalls of academic administrators at all levels. Must reading for potential and current administrators.

  • crankycat

    The most effective department heads are those who listen well, communicate well, and are able to build a shared vision and mission with those they lead. It helps also to have enough resources to do the job, and to be able to be decisive when necessary.

  • dxg197

    Being a department chair is one of the hardest jobs at the institution.  Leading a group of faculty is the closest thing to herding cats and if you don’t have a supportive dean, you can find yourself fighting a 2 front war on every issue.  The faculty need to help and support the chair, offering advice but not forcing any positions on him or her.  If the chair has the support of the faculty, the dean is more likely to listen and it is more likely that they can form a trusting relationship and work together effectively.  The key is to hire a chair that everyone respects and trusts.

  • nacrandell

    Universities should not be franchised.

    Expading the school outside the state will dilute the quality of education. If foriegn students are interested in the school, then let them enroll in the US. If US students want to participate in study abroad programs, then let the school work with a local and certified college.

  • daphne00

    a big part of the problem is who runs these programs for the universities.  I have noticed that colleges ask for international higher ed experience when they advertise these positions… then you see someone hired that has never even been abroad– then they go abroad and cannot manage the culture shock or know how to negotiate their way in a foreign environment.  An an American educator that has worked abroad for two decades I can tell you that this is a BIG part of the problem.  Maybe external oversight needs to begin with examining the credentials and job performance of those running the programs.

  • gavin_moodie

    This has been a big issue for Australian colleges and universities.  Since at least 2000 the federal government has operated a register for institutions that teach international students on shore.  Basically, the federal government wont issue a visa to a student unless they have an offer of enrolment (which is normally recorded electronically on the immigration department’s database) in a program and institution registered by the feds.

    Almost since its inception in 2000 the separate Australian federal quality assurance body for universities has scrutinised off shore programs closely, almost always inspecting off shore teaching sites (at the university’s expense!).

    Nonetheless, international education warrants institutions’ vigilance, as the authors argue.  

  • sklahr

    I would like to add that many institutions in the U.S. do not have a senior international officer, and therefore, there is no coordination or oversight of international initiatives at all. At many institutions, the senior international officer may not be given the authority by the administration to have the necessary oversight due to the level of the position within the organizational structure. Also, there are senior international officers at U.S. institutions who do not belong to the major professional associations and international education organizations that provide the necessary professional development, information sharing, and networking critical to effectively serving in this role, such as AIEA, NAFSA, IIE, etc. The latter is often related to lack of funding, including the lack of travel funds to attend these associations’ meetings, conferences, and workshops.  

  • marjorie_lavin

    The post by Lane and Kinser notes that institutions are responsible to assure their own quality.  And that is just what Empire State College does.
    Our program in Tirana, which enrolls about 110 students per year, is overseen by a regional coordinator based on Prague and a full-time coordinator on-site in Tirana.  The regional coordinator, formerly a full-time, tenured faculty member and associate dean at a college center in New York, visits the Tirana program once a term with a team of New York based senior faculty, and at other times as needed.  The team meets with students to help them with degree plans, advise on course selection, observe classroom instruction, meet with local faculty and provide faculty development programs.  The team visit also provides an opportunity for the faculty of both institutions to collaborate on course and program development.  The regional coordinator reviews and approves faculty who teach Empire State College courses. 
    The international programs office at Empire State College’s administrative headquarters in Saratoga Springs NY provides further academic oversight.  A faculty curriculum committee reviews and, if appropriate, approves all courses and curriculum, for Tirana and any other international program.  Each student – in the Tirana program and any other Empire State College program – prepares a degree plan and a rationale to justify the selected studies.  An assessment committee of faculty reviews these documents for quality and conformity to academic policy.  There is a second review of the student’s academic record in the graduation approval process. 
    The students, the faculty in Tirana and the leadership of the partner college are well-known to us.  The program is not something that we pack up in a box and ship overseas; we have full-time staff in daily communication with Tirana students.  None of this is a secret. 
    Marjorie W. Lavin, vice provost, Empire State College

  • http://www.facebook.com/condottiero Guillermo Pineda

    The only objective way in which internationalization should be “a goal” for any university is to keep those international students in/near their campuses. Who are these bureaucrats setting the goals for these universities???

  • klima

    May worry about all the institutions that are not under surveillance. All legal actions necessary to resolve these concerns, the law should be removed.

  • mscardenas

    While I support providing the opportunity of an education to anybody who wants it; I must say that instances such as this creates a very negative connotation to any internationalization.  Would an international education society be a good start to overseeing such campuses? 

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