uOttawa is a diverse community that brings together thousands of international students from more than 150 countries, offering opportunities to explore new cultures and ideas every day. Students choose UOttawa to enjoy a superior quality of education and generous scholarships, while living and studying in downtown Ottawa, near many international organizations, including dozens of NGOs, embassies and consulates.

With its diverse community of 45,000 students — including 16,000 Francophones and Francophiles — and 5,000 faculty and staff, The University of Ottawa is the largest bilingual (English-French) university in the world. In 2020, the University created the Office of the Vice-President International and Francophonie (OVPIF) in order to further reinforce its position in both the francophone and global communities.

York University has 300+ partnerships in 64 countries including partnerships with industry, governments, non-profit and private sector companies, and other educational institutions. These collaborative opportunities are co-created so that the missions of both York and the partnering organization are advanced in creating positive change for our students and in local and global communities.

Our commitment to collaboration allows us to address complex global challenges to create positive change in the local and global communities we serve. Solidifying existing international strategic academic alliances, and establishing new alliances is key to expanding outreach and engagement with York’s larger communities.

Experience firsthand York’s global impact and engagement. The University prides itself on championing diversity and inclusivity and fostering global fluencies and cross-cultural knowledges. York community lives these values on one of the largest and most diverse university campuses in Canada.

York’s student body includes about 18 per cent international students and also reflects the diversity of Toronto, one of the world’s most multicultural cities. The University draws scholars and exchange students from around the globe, and our students and faculty have opportunities for exchanges and collaborations at our more than 600 partner institutions worldwide.

York ranked No. 1 in Ontario for global collaborative research publications. Over 60% of York’s publications have an international co-author (SciVal, 2020).

Internationalization is woven into many elements at University of Waterloo. With a goal of becoming one of the most internationalized universities in Canada, diversity and global connections are encouraged and celebrated.

Waterloo’s culture of embracing international perspectives and experiences attracts some of the world’s most talented students, staff, and faculty. Global connections encompass academic, research, and industry partnerships, international learning through work placements, exchanges, field programs, and co-operative education, as well as a vast network of alumni around the world.

With a global network spanning more than 220,000 alumni in 151 countries, Waterloo attracts world-class scholars including a Nobel Laureate, leads in providing work-integrated learning opportunities with 7,100+ active co-op employers and fosters an entrepreneurial spirit that’s created 5,000+ jobs through Velocity alone, Canada’s most productive startup incubator by private investment.

The University of Waterloo’s institutional priorities include a focus “on internationalization and interdisciplinarity” to “advanc[e] learning and knowledge through teaching, research and scholarship, nationally and internationally”. To accomplish this and other goals, Waterloo collaborates with other institutions of excellence around the globe. Successful partnerships are founded on strong connections between institutions and are driven by faculty, staff, and students.

International activities have been a longstanding priority at Western. We have a heightened emphasis and investment in these important activities. A primary objective of Western International is to support an environment and community that promotes the education of global-ready graduates.

With research collaborations on every continent and students and faculty trained far and wide, Western is actively engaged internationally. Partners include institutions, government organizations and other public sector parties, non-profit organizations, and the private sector.

In addition to formal partnerships, Faculties and Schools, individual faculty members, and students are connecting Western with the world and bringing global perspective to our campus every day.

Global development work at Western draws upon creating partnerships with colleagues in the Global South in order to collaborate on teaching, research, and service to address some of the most challenging global issues that exist today – from HIV/AIDS to poverty reduction to adequate education, food security, and health care.

Different from international projects or exchanges, global development programs involve students, staff, and faculty at Western working with international partners to seek sustainable local solutions to significant global issues. The approach is based on principles of reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationships which honour local knowledge and leadership to learn together while advancing local solutions.

The University of Montréal has a truly international environment. With 10,000 international students, the university was previously named Canada’s third most international university, by a Times Higher Education ranking.

The university encourages student mobility. It has some 600 agreements that link the University of Montréal to higher education establishments located in 65 countries which provide a range of opportunities for its students to collaborate with their peers from all over the world and study abroad.

University of Montréal is also part of the G3. The G3 is a group of three major French language universities: Université de Genève, Université de Montréal, and Université libre de Bruxelles.  G3 universities have created a common fund to help initiate new partnerships. The Strategic Project Development Program for Teaching and Research is one of the main vehicles for developing collaborations within the G3. The program is funded equally by all members of the group.

These universities have common interests and share similar goals in the areas of teaching, research, and service to society and the international community. The G3 aims to create innovative collaboration models in training, teaching, and research. It positions itself as a reference within the Francophonie.

Dalhousie’s global connections enhance the quality and impact of education and research at local, national, and international levels. The university’s international strategy is built on cooperation and partnerships to support learning and research that is interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, global in reach, and oriented toward solving problems that extend across national borders.

Key areas of internationalization include:

• Strengthening strategic international partnerships around the world
• Supporting student mobility for studying here or abroad via International Centres on the Halifax campuses and Agricultural campus
• Fostering innovative international research and development
• Recruiting students from around the world for more internationalized campuses
• Supporting and retaining international students with services including ESL
• Engaging alumni across the globe
• Promoting innovation and diversity in academic programs

The university has over 300 partnership agreements with universities from 67 countries. The Office of International Relations helps oversee the implementation of the international strategy and coordinates partnership agreements, visiting delegations, and visits abroad.

McGill is recognized around the world for the excellence of its teaching and research programs. Ernest Rutherford’s Nobel Prize-winning research on the nature of radioactivity was conducted at McGill, part of a long tradition of innovation on our campuses that includes the invention of the artificial blood cell and Plexiglas. Today our professors are building the new field of epigenetics, developing alternative energy sources from crop plants, and driving human achievement in every field imaginable.

In addition to a stellar faculty, McGill is known for attracting the brightest students from across Canada, the United States, and around the world. McGill students have the highest average entering grades in Canada, and our commitment to fostering the very best has helped our students win more national and international awards on average than their peers at any other Canadian university. The prestigious Rhodes Scholarship has gone to a nation-leading 145 McGill students.

McMaster recognises that a key element of its internationalisation strategy is forging global partnerships – research and educational alliances based on reciprocity, transfer of knowledge and resources, engagement with communities, and a commitment to effective collaboration.

They are involved with projects in over 130 countries, and within those countries have built over 1200 partnerships.

McMaster University is actively engaged every year in hundreds of international partnerships and collaborations, and these connections include; faculty exchanges, research collaborations, capacity building initiatives, joint supervision of doctoral students, student exchanges and mobility agreements.

Concordia University has a rich and diverse student base, with the university being home to students from 150 countries. The university also has strong partnerships with a large number of institutions across a wide range of countries helping it to be a truly global university. To find out more about their international partnerships visit their partnerships page.

The U of A has close to 400 teaching and research agreements with governments and partner institutions in nearly 50 countries. Key examples include Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, and Fudan University/Shanghai Medical College in China.

The Helmholtz-Alberta Initiative is an independent research partnership between the U of A and the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres. The U of A’s largest international collaboration, which was recently renewed until 2020, merges scientific and technical expertise to develop innovative solutions for today’s challenges in energy and the environment, terrestrial ecosystem and resource informatics, and health. The initiative is expanding into infectious disease research.

The University of Toronto has a wide range of active agreements with institutions around the globe. They have Eight Axes which form the backbone of their  International Strategic Plan and represent key dimensions for growth to position the University of Toronto for success on the international stage. These include:

1. Recruitment
2. Mobility
3. International Student Experience
4. Academic Partnerships
5. Innovation
6. Entrepreneurship
7. Alumni and Fundraising
8. Reputation and Brand