McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (FAES) and the University of Liège’s Faculty of Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech have signed an agreement that sets the stage for research partnerships, student exchanges and joint degree programs in bioengineering and agri-food sciences.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed April 20 during a visit to Montreal by a ministerial delegation from Wallonie-Bruxelles, representing Belgium’s francophone communities, aimed at strengthening ties in higher education, innovation and research. Founded in 1817, the University of Liège is Belgium’s largest French-speaking public university.
Before the evening signing ceremony, Professor Marie-Laure Fauconnier, Dean of Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, was among the members of the delegation who spent a full day at McGill’s Macdonald Campus, discussing research collaborations and visiting the Macdonald Mass Spectrometry Platform and Food Product Development Lab.
“Strong partnerships with Europe, and Belgium in particular, are essential to McGill’s international mission,” said Anja Geitmann, Vice-President (Global Engagement) at McGill University. “This collaboration with the University of Liège illustrates our commitment to building deep and lasting academic networks capable of training talent ready to take on complex global challenges.”
At the heart of this agreement is a shared commitment to promoting student mobility, through study exchanges and internships, alongside a joint degree program that would combine the institutions’ complementary expertise.
“This agreement opens concrete and exciting prospects for our students and researchers,” said Salwa Karboune, Dean of FAES and Associate Vice-President of McGill University’s Macdonald Campus. “We are creating a unique framework for innovation, research-based training and the development of sustainable solutions in bioengineering and agri-food sciences.”
For Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, the agreement formalizes what has already been a natural academic kinship.
“McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is truly a sister faculty to Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, with which we share many research themes,” said Fauconnier. “Already connected through occasional scientific collaborations, our two institutions are now taking a new step by structuring and strengthening these synergies, while also offering our students the opportunity to pursue a dual degree within a world-renowned English-language Faculty.”