Canada Connect exists as a platform for generating and maintaining strategic partnerships between MSU, the Canadian Studies Center, and Canadian universities that are aligned with MSU's strengths and faculty interests. The Canada Connect platform is based on an acknowledgment of MSU’s longstanding close ties to Canada and the deep social, economic, and geographic ties between the US, especially Michigan, and Canada.  

MSU faculty regularly co-publish academic works with Canadian partners, including over 2,000 jointly published articles with colleagues in Canada between 2015 and 2019. Indeed, MSU faculty co-publish with faculty from Canada more than any other country apart from China. An important thrust of Canada Connect is to identify and build on these nascent MSU-Canada partnerships and help faculty formalize and expand these connections.  

MSU-Canada partnerships generate significant external funding that benefits MSU, including students, the community, and Canadian partner institutions. Existing partnerships in the environmental sciences, including ecology, plant sciences, and marine sciences, are especially well established. Funds and partnerships in these areas further multi-disciplinary and cross-regional approaches to scholarship and knowledge dissemination and generate innovative, global solutions to problems affecting North America and beyond, positioning MSU as a leader in the quest to address and solve real-world problems.  

Current Initiatives of the Canada Connect Platform  

Strategic Partnership Grants  

The Center provides Strategic Partnership Grant funds to core faculty members seeking to initiate or deepen academic ties with Canadian partners. With funds made available by the Provost and Dean of International Studies and Programs (ISP), grants can be used to fund travel to Canada or other research expenses for cross-disciplinary projects, including collaborative research, faculty and student exchanges, the creation of distance learning and collaborative online international learning (COIL) courses, joint degree programs, and other areas of teaching and research that support further collaboration between MSU and peer institutions and partners in Canada.   

Memorandums of Understanding  

Through the Canada Connect platform, the Center seeks to create an MSU-Canada academic network through Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with peer institutions in Canada. While each MOU will be unique, each will outline opportunities for student and faculty partnerships beneficial to both institutions.  

The Center pursues MOUs with institutions where MSU faculty are already working. These agreements not only deepen these existing ties but also allow for further connections between other departments in areas of mutual strength and interest. As part of this initiative, the Center helps to facilitate as part of the MOUs opportunities for meaningful cross-cultural teaching and learning exchanges as well as innovative, solution-focused scholarship, especially scholarship with the potential to generate significant external funding.  

Canada Connect Partners 

The MSU Canadian Studies Center has, or is currently pursuing, Memorandums of Understanding with the following Canadian peer institutions.    

Laval University

Quebec City, Quebec  

A French-language, public research university founded in 1663, Laval (or Université Laval) is one of Canada’s top universities, with nearly 50,000 students. 

Wilfrid Laurier University 

Waterloo, Ontario 

Named after Canada’s seventh Prime Minister, Wilfrid Laurier, WLU is a top public research university with over 20,000 students.   

Ontario College of Art and Design University 

Toronto, Ontario 

OCAD, located in downtown Toronto, is one of Canada’s premier public art universities with several urban galleries where students and faculty can exhibit their work.  

University of Saskatchewan 

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

The University of Saskatchewan has its roots in agricultural education and outreach and is today Saskatchewan's largest university and one of Canada's top research universities enrolling over 20,000 students.