Anja Geitmann sees herself as a catalyst.
“I’m here to connect the dots and to support collaborations between McGill and the rest of the world,” said Geitmann, who today began a five-year renewable term as the University’s Vice-President (Global Engagement).
In this role, Geitmann will advance the University’s vision for global academic leadership by pursuing and developing new opportunities for collaboration with peer institutions and enhancing the effectiveness and reach of international activities led by McGill faculties and units.
Opportunities to grow
Geitmann has served as Interim Vice-President (Global Engagement) since January. During that time, she began the “quiet phase” of internal consultations on ways to develop McGill’s international strategy.
“I met with faculties, departments and units to ask people what the strengths of their international activities are, but also how the University could help strengthen their existing relationships and develop new ones,” she said.
Three themes, or “opportunities,” as Geitmann called them, emerged from these consultations:
- McGill’s global presence
This includes the University’s footprint globally, including transnational education and delivery of programs abroad.
“The McGill brand is already strong internationally, but it can always be strengthened,” said Geitmann. “But internationalization doesn’t only mean going out into the world, it also means bringing people in. There are few other universities whose professoriate and student pool are so international.”
- Global partnerships and networks
Global challenges – including climate change, food security and the consequences of population growth – make substantial, international collaborations increasingly important.
“Nobody can tackle these big issues alone,” said Geitmann. “We can only advance if we have significant and meaningful partnerships around the world.”
These partnerships should be driven both by researchers who already have established connections abroad and by administrators who, when they encounter international opportunities, loop in McGill investigators, she said.
Geitmann also wants to increase opportunities for McGill’s young researchers, such as graduate students and post-docs, to travel for collaborations.
“We need to support mobility initiatives, but also open these up to populations who experience barriers in terms of access to these opportunities,” she said.
- Global learning and global citizenship
McGill’s reputation worldwide is enhanced if graduates are trained as global citizens, with cultural skills, awareness, sensitivity and an appreciation for different points of view, said Geitmann.
“We also want to go beyond the immediate on-campus community and leverage the 300,000 alumni around the world who can speak to the benefits of going to McGill or collaborating with McGill, and who can open doors for our current students and recent graduates” she said.
Working to benefit everyone
Geitmann points to the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (AES), where she served as Dean since 2015, as an example of McGill expertise that can be leveraged to the benefit of Quebec, Canada and the world.
“Much of the research being done at AES focuses on agriculture and climate change. It’s an incredibly important expertise, not only in terms of research, but also the training and education of those involved in production of food, stewardship of the environment and ensuring the health of our population. This, and much of the other research being done at AES, is crucial for the several economic sectors of Quebec and Canada.”
‘Une institution québécoise à part entière’
Enhancing McGill’s global impact means working in tandem with the Quebec government. As one of the most prestigious universities in the province, McGill should be a key partner and participant in government missions abroad, says Geitmann.
“McGill, une institution québécoise à part entière,” she said. “We are a Quebec university.”
McGill is part of a diverse collective of Quebec institutions doing important, impactful work, she added. That impact is even greater when universities work together.
“Quebec universities are strong individually but, as a pool of research and innovation, we are stronger together. We are a critical mass of complementary research expertise across not only the four Montreal universities, but all 18 universities in Quebec,” said Geitmann.
“Our real strength is in the collaboration between institutions and the complementarity of our collective expertise. If we highlight that, the world will notice.”
Forging new ties, strengthening others
On top of laying the foundation for the new scope of the Global Engagement unit, Geitmann and her team have been busy forging ties with institutions around the world.
Over the past six months, McGill signed important memoranda of understanding (MOU) with Ghent University in Belgium, Zhejiang University in China and Universitas Indonesia.
The University also signed a MOU with France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), an agreement that can be traced back to Geitmann’s time at AES.
It also reached an agreement with the Ross University School of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine in Saint Kitt and Nevis that offers students in the animal science program at Macdonald Campus an opportunity to take veterinary medicine training, something McGill doesn’t provide.