We just talk about the good stuff

British international schools have seen a further increase in student numbers over the past academic year, a new survey has suggested.

The 2022 COBIS Annual Research Survey, based on responses from 130 schools globally, found that 62% have increased student numbers when compared with the previous year, up from 51% reporting an increase in the 2021 survey.

“This report paints a positive picture of our sector and our member schools, with student numbers continuing to rise, strong examination results, a wide range of opportunities alongside the formal curriculum, and new initiatives around virtual schooling,” COBIS CEO, Colin Bell, said.

The survey also found that increased wellbeing issues, selected by 70% of respondents, and mental health issues, selected by 58% of respondents, were the biggest impacts of the pandemic that respondents said had hit their respective schools.

A further 58% of schools felt that a small proportion of students have fallen behind academically.

“[The report] also highlights some of the challenges and priority areas for our sector, including student wellbeing and mental health; diversity, equity and inclusion in an international school context; and the increasing variety and complexity of higher education routes and locations,” Bell added.

COBIS’s Development Plan 2022-25 articulated the organisation’s commitment to supporting member schools with these priorities, he continued.

“The report also highlights some of the challenges and priority areas for our sector”

The survey identified that 88% of schools have a member of staff with specific responsibility for wellbeing (other than the head), and nearly three quarters of respondents (74%) thought their school had made progress on diversity, equity and inclusion in recent years.

However, 62% of respondents felt that students had increased technology skills as a result of the pandemic, and the report suggested that schools are continuing to retain some practices developed during this time.

Seven in 10 said they still offer virtual parent/teacher interviews (down from 80% in 2021), 66% nodded towards increased use of technology for personalised learning or support (down from 75% in 2021) and 65% indicated an increase in pastoral or wellbeing support (down from 68% in 2021).

“Two thirds of schools felt that teachers were still using technical and IT skills developed during the pandemic most or all of the time (66%),” COBIS added.

Recruitment practices are still being adapted, with increased use of remote/virtual interviews mentioned by 73% of respondents, earlier advertising of vacancies (43%), increased recruitment of international staff who are already in the country (36%) and increased social media usage for recruitment (36%).

Previous research has found that nine in 10 school leaders find recruiting quality teachers ‘somewhat’ or ‘very challenging’.

The report, carried out between October 4 and November 4, 2022, also found that of 2021/22 leavers, 96% went to university.

Those opting for further studies in the UK rose from 42% in 2021 to 44% in the latest survey. However, it remains far from the heights seen in 2019, when 53% of leavers went on to UK universities.

The most common factors respondents said were influencing to choose other destinations were: cost (65%, up from 51% in 2021), preference for a university closer to home/family (41%), Brexit (35%), and lack of access to financial support (34%).

Some 52% of responding schools indicated that the percentage of leavers choosing a UK university stayed the same for 2022/23 compared to the previous academic year, and 29% indicated that the percentage of leavers doing so had decreased (down from 42% in the 2021 report).

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The Taliban’s ban on university education for Afghan women has sparked outrage across the international education sector, with many organisations pledging to do more to help.

FutureLearn announced in December it would offer women from Afghanistan free access to over 1,200 courses on its digital learning platform for the duration of the ban.

In Germany, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has pledged €7 million of funding to support Afghan women by helping them to continue their education in a neighbouring country – Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan or Pakistan.

The scholarship program, developed by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), aims to assist 5,000 people by the end of 2027.

Joybrato Mukherjee, DAAD president, said that the current situation is “catastrophic” for the people of Afghanistan.

“Young women in particular have been hit hard. It is hardly possible for them to participate in social life anymore. Since they have been excluded from universities, they also lack any academic training opportunities,” he said.

The Taliban claims the ban is not permanent, but is instead a postponement which will last “until a conducive environment is created for their education”.

“The new scholarship program is therefore an important building block in enabling young women, together with our international partner organisations, to prepare for university and to support Afghan women refugees with bachelor’s and master’s scholarships at universities in the region,” Mukherjee added.

Jo Johnson, who became chairman of FutureLearn after its acquisition by Global University Systems last year, said that “for girls and women who can access the internet and afford the time”, the free access to courses online “could be a lifeline”. However, he acknowledged that it’s an imperfect solution to a complex issue.

“While this is of course no silver bullet – poor connectivity, poverty and language barriers mean many women may not be able to access the material – it can nonetheless play a valuable part in enabling women in Afghanistan to assert their inalienable human right to education,” Johnson said.

Mark Malloch-Brown, president of the Open Society Foundation, a non-profit organisation which financially supports civil society groups globally, welcomed the initiative.

“The Taliban think the world has forgotten them; we mustn’t”

“The Taliban think the world has forgotten them; we mustn’t,” said Malloch-Brown.

“This commendable move by FutureLearn to open up its platform to women denied their rights under this regime will play a useful part in keeping education within reach of those with an internet connection. It is a welcome sign that our commitment to fighting for human rights for all Afghans remains strong.”

A spokesperson for FutureLearn told The PIE that in the first week since the statement launching the initiative was released, FutureLearn experienced a fivefold increase in visits from Afghanistan learners, resulting in some 500 new registrations and over 400 enrolments. It also received over 200 direct enquiries from Afghanistan learners.

“These numbers continue to multiply,” the spokesperson added.

The DAAD announcement comes weeks after leading academic rights organisation Scholars at Risk called for an immediate expansion of international scholarships for Afghans.

In December, the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, the US, and the High Representative of the European Union, released a statement condemning the ban.

They urged the Taliban to “abandon the new oppressive measures with respect to university education for women and girls and to, without delay, reverse the existing decision to prohibit girls’ access to secondary school”.

“A stable, economically viable, and peaceful Afghanistan is only attainable and sustainable if all Afghans, including women and girls, can fully, equally, and meaningfully participate in and contribute to the country’s future and development,” the statement continued.

US-based IIE is continuing its support for Afghan women and girls, through a variety of programs, and said it is “pursuing every avenue to expedite aid to Afghan women and girls banned from accessing higher education”.

“Education unlocks a future. To deny women and girls access to higher education is to deny them basic human rights. Higher education is a pathway to independence, self-agency, and socio-economic mobility,” IIE said.

The IIE’s Odyssey Scholarship, open to refugees and displaced peoples around the world, covers tuition, accommodation and living expenses for students studying towards a four-year bachelor’s degree or a two-year master’s degree.

While the scholarship package is open to Afghans, IIE’s Qatar Afghan Scholarship Project is focused solely on helping Afghans continue their education in the US, with an equal split of male and female recipients.

The project, which is in collaboration with Education Above All, The Afghan Future Fund, Schmidt Futures, the Yalda Hakim Foundation, the Qatar Fund For Development and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, welcomed its first cohort of 250 students during the 2022/23 academic year.

In addition to this, the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund is also open to threatened and displaced Afghan scholars, arranging and funding fellowships at global partnering higher education institutions.

Afghan men working in the education sector in Afghanistan have shown solidarity with their female counterparts and students, with The Guardian reporting that some 60 Afghan men have quit university positions in protest of the ban.

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A renowned Indian musician has called for Indian province of Goa to open a music academy for both “Indian and international students alike”.

Shankar Mahadevan, a household name in India who has composed songs for over 60 Indian films, said at an international school event that Goa should be a “cultural hub”.

“Goa needs definitive performance facilities; academy facilities,” he said during a panel.

“Music should not just be considered as an extracurricular activity. It is an important activity and we should see to it that venues are set up here in Goa, like an academy, or performance venues,” he explained further.

The Gera School, an international school based in Goa, hosted a Meet The Legends series panel which included Mahadevan, sponsored by its parent company Gera’s ChildCentric Homes initiative.

He further mentioned that the proposed facilities Goa needs must be of a level that accommodates both Indians and international students for them to study music as a main endeavour.

Mahadevan also talked during the panel about the popularity of Indian music, and how well-respected it is abroad – and how international students especially would benefit and be interested in learning more about it.

“[Goa needs] a good musical institution to attract international students”

“Goa is the country’s hub for all kinds of development, all kinds of focus on art and culture… while it is already a great tourist destination it should become an artist’s hub.

“You need a good musical institution over here to attract international students,” he added.

Mahadevan himself runs a music academy based in Bangalore – the Shankar Mahadevan Academy – where he has set up comprehensive music programs, and aims to further “champion” Indian music on a global stage.

The academy, which also sponsored the event, offers a varied number of music programs that has been used by over 20,000 students and 100 schools.

The Gera School is one of the few campuses in the province to offer the Cambridge Assessment curriculum, labelled as a Cambridge International School. Set up by the overarching Gera development company, it had also previously developed the Jai Hind Sindhu Education Trust in Pune, which claims to cater to over “10,000 students aged 3 to 23”.

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At least seven British universities paid out over £100,000 in hardship funding to international students during the 2021/22 academic year, with one dishing out almost £1 million to struggling students, but some are now rolling back support despite the cost-of-living crisis. 

Some English universities spent three-figure sums on supporting non-UK students facing financial difficulties in 2020/21, including Leeds (£145,630), Brunel (£155,377) and Durham (£100,611). 

The University of Exeter spent £968,367 on hardship funding for international students, almost double the amount it had paid out the previous year (£534,598). The university received over 1,600 requests for support from non-domestic students, the majority of which were granted. 

Scottish universities also paid out significant amounts, including the University of Aberdeen (£255,180), the University of Dundee (£620,742) and the University Glasgow (£413,231), after the Scottish government relaxed the rules to allow international students to access its higher education covid funding. 

The PIE collected these figures from a sample of universities across the UK via freedom of information requests. The results show uneven approaches to providing financial help to non-UK students, despite guidance from Universities UK International advising institutions to ensure all international students are eligible for some form of hardship support. 

Charley Robinson, head of global mobility policy at Universities UK International, said that universities made “huge steps” to support international students during the pandemic and that levels of support varied due to the needs and demographics of differing cohorts. 

Some universities paid out significantly less than others despite having large international student cohorts. The University of Bedfordshire, where nearly 40% of its 18,000 students are international, paid £13,829 in hardship funding in 2021/22, down from £305,397 in 2020/21. It received 34 applications and approved 14 of these. According to its website, the university’s hardship fund is currently only open to UK students. 

In some cases, institutions invested more in hardship funding in the 2021/22 academic year than they did in the previous year when the pandemic began. Durham University paid £100,611 to 12 international students in 2021/22, compared to £12,728 to three students in 2020/21. The university said the spike was due to Covid-19.

However most of the universities surveyed paid out less than the previous year, such as the University of Leicester (£384,291 in 2020/21 vs £62,711 in 2021/22) and the University of Bradford (£230,472 in 2020/21 vs £35,673 in 2021/22). 

The Office for Students provided extra funding in 2020 for English institutions to distribute to students facing money problems, accounting for the drop in hand outs across most universities. The University of Bedfordshire said it created a Covid Hardship Fund, which was accessible to all students, to distribute additional hardship funding from the government.

Nottingham Trent University said it had allocated £100,000 of this funding to international students in 2020/21, but that future awards were only made for “exceptional reasons”. Similarly, Bournemouth University said that it has returned to supporting students “on a case-by-case basis as and when they approach us for financial support”.

Although most international students have no legal recourse to public funds, UUKi advises that institutional hardship support, which is not counted as public funds, should still be available to non-domestic students. 

The University of Exeter, which had approximately 7,600 international students in the 2020/21 academic year, allows all students to apply for hardship funding, irrespective of fee-status. Similarly, Brunel University’s hardship fund is open to international students, but the institution’s website stipulates that students must be able to demonstrate they “made realistic financial provision” to fund their tuition fees and living costs.

“The current cost of living pressures are only making these differences more apparent, as some institutions are having to roll back on hardship funds”

Diana Beech, CEO at London Higher, which co-chaired UUKi’s hardship group, said that while there was greater “sector-wise awareness of the need to look out for international students” in times of hardship, not all higher education institutions are able to provide the same level of support “due to differences in resources across the sector”.

Beech added, “The current cost of living pressures are only making these differences more apparent, as some institutions are having to roll back on hardship funds in the face of tightening purse strings.”

So far this academic year, universities have continued to receive requests for help as the cost of living crisis impacts students. The University of Exeter had received 477 applications to its hardship fund at the time data was shared, while Cardiff University had received 232. Exeter has spent £224,710 so far this academic year. 

Anne Marie Graham, chief executive of UKCISA, said, “It’s important that institutions support their domestic and international students through the cost of living crisis. We encourage our member institutions to make hardship funds available to all students, and many international support offices will flag available funds to international students and make clear that applying to these funds is permitted under the terms of their visa conditions.”

Institutions are also providing non-monetary support to international students facing financial difficulties, including supermarket and food vouchers. Nottingham Trent University has frozen the rent at university-owned accommodation in line with last year’s price. 

“Universities across the UK are working proactively to help reduce the financial and mental burden being caused by the current rise in the cost of living,” Robinson said, adding that some universities have doubled or tripled their hardship funding. 

“Universities have to maintain the integrity of the UK student visa system”

“Notwithstanding, universities have to maintain the integrity of the UK student visa system, which requires students to demonstrate they have the funds to finance their studies. Hardship funding is targeted towards those who unexpectedly encounter financial difficulty during the course of their studies, and is not intended to offset or mitigate the cost of study in general.”

Beech called on the government to support universities and struggling students. 

“For as long as fees remain frozen and essential funding such as the London Weighting is withheld, universities in England – and particularly those in the capital – will feel the squeeze and will only be able to offer hardship support for so long. 

“Without an urgent intervention from the treasury to allocate emergency cost of living grants to universities to enable them to support their current student populations wherever they come from in the world, we risk reneging our compassion and duty of care to those who put their trust in a UK higher education.”

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UK-based Dukes Education Group has partnered with the United Lisbon International School in Portugal in a deal that will help the school reach its target of becoming the “best” international school in the country.

The school, which opened in September 2020, recognised that it required a partnership with an education group that has the “experience and scale in the education sector” needed to deliver the offering its founders envisioned.

Dukes Education Group will also benefit as ULIS becomes its flagship location in Europe.

“I am so happy that our first step into Europe is marked with this partnership with ULIS,” said Aatif Hassan, chairman and founder of Dukes Education Group.

The company agreed the partnership with ULIS founders, Chitra and Roman Stern of the Martinhal Group, who acquired a former university and industrial buildings near Parque das Nações in 2017, before opening the school three years later.

“So much has been achieved in a short time and this is truly impressive,” Hassan added. “Our common values and commitment to providing the highest quality education possible will ensure the future success of our partnership.”

“We are absolutely sure that ULIS will be a great flagship for the Dukes family in Europe,” the co-founders of the school said.

“We are absolutely sure that ULIS will be a great flagship for the Dukes family in Europe”

“We have found a common set of values, vision and purpose with Dukes and are excited by the tremendous potential for ULIS to grow with the benefit of their world-class people, reputation and infrastructure,” Chitra and Roman Stern added.

The World-IB accredited school – with 500 students and 89 staff and teachers from over 50 nationalities – will maintain its name. Its first cohort of International Baccalaureate Diploma Program students will graduate in 2024.

The school was also selected as a Microsoft Showcase School in 2021.

With a continued focus on entrepreneurship, technology and music and the arts at ULIS under the Dukes deal, students will also “benefit enormously from international exchange and summer camp opportunities, as well as sports competitions”, the partners added.

Head of school, José Azcue, noted that together with Dukes, ULIS will look forward to working closely to “avail of synergies and opportunities offered in this partnership to benefit our community of students, teachers, staff, and parents”.

Dukes also highlighted its “superb” career counselling, internship and college counselling experience and platforms for children wishing to go to universities in the US, Europe or the UK, as well as the “world-class” leadership and professional development offerings for teachers.

“With Dukes, we will preserve our ethos and personality while embracing their collective expertise and renowned strive for quality,” general manager at ULIS, Teresa Monteiro, concluded.

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Over 100 international students have been provided with emergency accommodation over the last two weeks by a Sikh temple in the city of Timmins, Northern Ontario, The PIE News has learned.

Kanwaljit Bains, from the Gurdwara Sikh Sangat Of Timmins said the temple stepped in to support the students who had recently arrived in Canada for the new semester but had nowhere to stay.

Northern College, which has a campus in the city, told The PIE that Timmins and most northern Ontario communities are currently suffering from housing capacity issues and that they are working with community groups to address the issue.

Canada’s challenges with housing have impacted international students recently, with one institution, Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, asking students to defer if they could not find accommodation.

“This isn’t just in Timmins, it is everywhere”

“At Northern College, every semester they have a new batch come in… Now for the January batch, they have, I think, about 500 students coming in,” Bains told The PIE.

“This is the third batch we have experienced, and with every batch there are more and more and more.

“It is a very good thing for Timmins and the community, because we do need these young kids to come in here and get an education and then contribute to our economy here,” she said.

However, Bains explained that Canada’s housing crisis is resulting in a desperate need among students, who are often from India.

“They are struggling to find accommodation, and that is not just for international students. In general housing is in a bit of a crisis. This isn’t just in Timmins, it is everywhere.

“But Timmis, because it’s a small town and it is getting back up on its feet, there is a challenge with respect to housing. Now with the newcomer students… It is a challenging situation,” she said.

Bains added that the city, and the government, are trying to find a solution.

“Not just a temporary solution, but a permanent solution, because as the community is growing, we are all looking for a better way to accommodate the younger generation and growing population of Timmins,” she said.

A spokesperson for Northern College told The PIE that it has employees working at each of its campuses to help students find accommodation within those communities and that they partner with various community groups to “expedite that process”.

“Unfortunately there are always instances where we can’t immediately accommodate students, especially those travelling from overseas to study,” they said.

The spokesperson explained that Timmins and indeed most northern Ontario communities are currently suffering from housing capacity issues and there “simply isn’t enough available housing to accommodate those who require it.”

Northern College said it is working closely with each of the communities it operates in to address what it called a growing issue and to encourage any opportunity for the kind of housing development that helps communities grow to meet demand.

“[There] simply isn’t enough available housing to accommodate those who require it”

The PIE asked Northern College how many international students it currently has enrolled and how these numbers compare with previous years.

The spokesperson said that the exact numbers were not available yet as the college collates enrolment per semester – and gave a ballpark number as around 500.

However, they did say that the numbers have increased in keeping with any Canadian government data on student visa approvals and the backlog from Covid-19 travel restrictions for the past two years.

Issues around accommodation were reported at Canadian institutions throughout 2022.

In December last year, Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia warned international students to stay home if they didn’t have housing arranged before travelling to the country.

The number of international students at the university has dramatically risen in recent years and they now outnumber Canadian students on campus.

CBU has more than 5,000 students in total, two-thirds of them international. It has announced plans to limit international student numbers.

And back in July 2022, The PIE reported that students were facing a “traumatising” search for housing in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with some Students falling victims to scams where they paid deposits of $3,000 or more – only to find that the person advertising the apartment was not the landlord and that there was no vacancy.

While the issues with accommodation haven’t affected all areas of Canada to the same extent, Sikh temples across Canada have been providing students with meals, financial aid and access to counselling.

Gurdwara Sikh Sangat Brampton, in the Greater Toronto Area, is currently supporting students financially and given them blankets and bed covers. It said it is in touch with local student unions who alert them to students who are struggling.

Rarvinder Signh Dhaliwal, who is part of the management at the Gurdwara, told The PIE over the last month, they have given shelter to two or three students – but it is not something they do regularly.

He added that during regular weekdays, they cook for over 4,000 people and that over 70% are international students.

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India’s University Grants Commission has released draft regulations that stakeholders have welcomed as an “excellent step forward” for international higher educational institutions to establish campuses in the country.

The draft reiterates that institutions should be ranked within the top 500 in global rankings, either overall or for specific subjects.

Beyond rankings, the notice states that “reputed” institutions in home jurisdictions will also be eligible to establish campuses in India.

“These are well-thought and reflect the strategic priorities of India”

“We believe that once these regulations become operational, it will provide an international dimension to higher education in India,” UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said, as reported by Telanga Today.

“It will enable Indian students to get foreign qualification at an affordable cost beside making India an attractive global study destination.”

The initial National Education Policy 2020 had planned to allow top 100 universities to operate in India, and has attracted some interest. A survey of the top 200 THE-ranked institutions in 2021 found that eight would “definitely consider” a branch campus in India.

According to experts, the regulations would clarify a number of questions for higher education providers seeking to enter India, yet some uncertainties remain.

“I think the proposals are in the right direction as they seem to target reducing administrative burden and streamlining the entire licensing process while setting standards to safeguard quality,” Vangelis Tsiligiris, associate professor at Nottingham Trent University and founder of TNE Hub, said.

“The current economic environment, with specific reference to the monetary tightening in western countries, may impact the development of new IBCs in India. However, other factors, such as a potential new pandemic outbreak that will impact mobility, may accelerate the creation of IBCs in India,” he told The PIE.

International higher education consultant William Laughton highlighted that IBC developments in India predate the NEC 2020 by “at least 11 years”.

In an article from 2012 written for the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, Laughton highlighted that the idea of allowing only the best 200 foreign universities to operate in India – especially around joint degree programs – was floated in the 2009 Yashpal Committee Report.

“The proposals have been developing in the background for some time now,” Tsiligiris continued.

“These are well-thought and reflect the strategic priorities of India in regards to the internationalisation of its HE sector. The key problem remains the fragmented regulatory framework and the complexity of the Indian HE sector.

“For a foreign HEI, that is considering an IBC project, it is still extremely difficult to understand and evaluate the regulatory and operational risks.”

Speaking with The PIE, Delia Heneghan, vice president of Global Education Practice at Sannam S4, said since the appointment of a new minister of education 18 months ago, there has been “quite a lot of progress” and the “UGC has become quite active”.

“This is an excellent step forward and I do think it’s very promising. It’s part of that real commitment that the government has to push forward the agenda of the NEP,” she said. But there will still be work to do.

Further consultation with key stakeholders will take place over the next month, before the formal regulations come out. Key areas that need to be addressed include clarity, repatriation of funds and infrastructure investment requirements, she suggested.

“The financial structures will be key for any university looking to set up a campus overseas to put together the business case. There’s lots of different ministries involved, lots of different regulatory bodies that will impact this, so there is still quite a bit of work to be done,” she said.

Tsiligiris also pointed to elements such as the reference to ‘reasonable and transparent fees’ which is subject to different interpretations, and the restriction on online and distance programs, which “may be regarded as barriers by foreign universities”.

The draft notes that international campuses cannot offer online and ODL delivery, and stipulates that qualifications awarded in India must be “equivalent to the corresponding qualifications awarded… in the main campus located in the country of origin”.

“[UGC] wants to start off with a focus on face to face and doesn’t want to be simply looking at online or blended learning delivery,” Heneghan said. “That’s an area where there might be further discussion… You can have fantastically high quality, online and blended experiences.”

The requirement for degrees to be equivalent to those offered at home universities could cause issues, she suggested.

“If you look at the Graduate Route in the UK, if you’ve studied at the campus in the UK and achieved your master’s degree, you will be able to get your graduate visa. If you study the same course at the campus in India, that won’t necessarily be the case.

“It’s not necessarily within the university’s gift to be able to say that that will be [equivalent]. It cannot be treated as equivalent in every way, but I think these things will be worked through.”

Asked whether recent recognition of qualification developments with the UK and Australia will favour institutions from the respective countries, Heneghan – who has previously spoken of the importance of quality attached to the NEP in the country – pointed to one edge the UK could have.

“What gives UK universities an advantage is the existing reputation for quality, good employability, which is always very important to Indian students, but also the experience in delivering campuses overseas.”

“Lots of other countries are focusing on India”

Yet mutual recognition is an important element in “building blocks that are coming together”, such as the bank of academic credit, regulations allowing for collaboration provision, which are all “making India a far more open higher education sector” and is beneficial for international cooperation.

“But lots of other countries are focusing on India,” she continued. “It’s not just what we would call the usual suspects such as Australia, the US, Canada, etc. but also many of the European countries are very engaged now and looking at deepening their engagement with India.”

Indeed, UGC’s Kumar noted that European countries were keen on establishing their universities’ campuses in India.

“But also what you’ve got to think about is other countries where there will be some sort of cross-border collaboration,” Heneghan said.

“We’ve already seen that the IITs are looking to the Gulf where they will set up. There may be some quid pro quo going on there…

“It’s a question of ‘watch this space’ and be ready to deepen engagement with India because this is now a real opportunity. I think that’s important to note,” Heneghan concluded.

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Montreal-based Concordia University has partnered with Sweden’s centre for artificial intelligence on its new Applied AI Institute.

AI Sweden, based in Gothenburg, has been working with the Canadian institution for over a year to cement the partnership, which will focus on “decentralised artificial intelligence” and “federated learning”.

Specific projects will look in depth at collaborative research, teaching and learning in “areas of common interest” – including scientific information sharing, faculty mobility, and student mobility.

The partnership will also look into collaboration on health-care innovation, cybersecurity and sustainability.

“When we heard that Concordia was starting an Applied AI Institute, we knew that it was spot on for us,” said the head of operations for AI Sweden, Peter Kurzwelly.

“There’s so much potential and such a willingness to collaborate on both sides, which will make the partnership that much easier,” he continued, referring to the 1,000 strong research community at the Québec institution that AI Sweden will now work with.

Kurzwelly will be joined in the project by Concordia International team members, and the co-directors of the Applied AI Institute co-directors Tristan Glatard and Fenwick McKelvey.

“One [line of partnership] is collaborating on industrial projects related to AI adoption and another angle focuses on the training side, because it’s difficult for companies to apply AI if they don’t have the workforce or expertise to do it,” said Glatard.

“We want to make things happen in ways that will measurably contribute to social betterment”

The project started on the heels of Concordia’s existing partnership with Ericsson Canada, which looked at AI research and development.

“As an institute, we strive to act as a conduit between the broad range of programs, faculties and educational mandates that have adopted AI as a strategy. We want to make things happen in ways that will measurably contribute to social betterment,” said Alex Megelas, manager of research innovation and business development at the Applied AI Institute.

“The partnership with AI Sweden is an incredible opportunity for us to position our students, programs, faculty and research in service of international commitments.

“We are coming up with funding strategies to attract students and researchers to Montreal, and for our students and researchers to go to Sweden,” Megelas continued.

“Canada has invested in AI research for a much longer amount of time than Sweden, and we’re not at the same level, in terms of research – but we do have a strong industry and a public sector that has a tradition for gathering data, which is why we want to focus on the value creation of AI,” Kurzwelly added.

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