India, Canada deepen ties through new innovation strategy

Canada and India are deepening their higher education ties with the launch of a Canada-India Talent and Innovation Strategy that includes 13 new university partnerships and represents more than 20 leading Canadian institutions through Universities Canada and Colleges and Institutes Canada.

The announcement of the new strategy in New Delhi on 2 March comes on the heels of a February 2026 visit by more than 20 Canadian university presidents to India, Canada’s largest academic delegation to India yet, symbolising a new era of deepened partnership and long-term commitment between the two nations, according to a press release.

With nearly 400,000 Indian students enrolled in Canadian institutions, Canada’s education corridors have become one of the most vibrant links between New Delhi and Ottawa.

During a recent conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney underscored the depth of the relationship, describing Indian students as an indispensable bridge between the two democracies.

Emphasising that the number of Indian students in Canada is now roughly double that in the United States and four times that in the United Kingdom, Carney framed educational mobility not only as a statistic but as a cornerstone of growing economic, academic and cultural ties.

Beyond student flows

The strategy aims to move beyond traditional student flows and create a structured, long-term framework for research collaboration, skills development, and innovation-led growth.

However, according to Maria Mathai, founder of MM Advisory Services, with 23 years of experience in the Canada-India education corridor, Indian institutions need to understand a simple fact: Canada has just over 100 universities, while India has over 1,000.

“Canadian universities cannot partner with hundreds of institutions, so India must identify lead institutions in each sector to coordinate research networks and serve as key contact points.

“Institutions must also be prepared for operations that have consistent ethical codes, IP agreements, and administrative systems. Ultimately, successful models matter,” she told University World News.

According to Dr Phil Ollenberg, associate faculty (for education and technology) at Royal Roads University in British Columbia, the initiative aims to expand academic partnerships, support joint research and innovation activity, and create more structured pathways for student mobility and skilled-talent exchange between India and Canada.

“Canada has been a significant destination for Indian scholars, and I believe this agreement signals an interest from both countries for that relationship to continue and flourish. It could include establishing Canadian satellite campuses in India, similar to those we have seen in China, Qatar, and the UAE.”

Ollenberg told University World News he expected to see collaborative degree programmes between the two countries, where students may take the first half of their degree in one country and complete it in the other.

Mathai said the significance of the announcement was the “structural shift” represented by the new agreement.

“Individual faculty-level research collaborations between Canadian and Indian academics go back decades, but this is the first time all those institutions are operating under a single federal framework. That structural shift is what makes this announcement genuinely significant.

“Canada has deep expertise in areas where India has the scale to implement – AI, clean energy, climate-resilient agriculture, and health innovation. When two countries have complementary rather than competing strengths, the conditions for durable partnership are far more favourable,” she said.

Structured collaboration

The new strategy reflects a shift away from what officials call “volume-driven student mobility” towards deeper and structured academic and institutional partnerships.

According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), both sides recognised the need to reassess educational collaborations in the light of recent visa and immigration challenges faced by Indian students seeking to study in Canada.

In recent years, Canada has tightened its international student policies, introducing national caps and stricter verification processes.

This has contributed to a dramatic reset for international recruitment, with the number of new international students studying in Canada declining by 61% in 2025, as Canada issued 177,600 fewer study visas than it had in 2024, as reported by University World News this week. The two largest cohorts by source country come from China and India.

“Student immigration, especially from India to Canada, has been an important growth lever,” said Ollenberg.

“My hope is that this initiative mobilises more pathways for bi-directional exchange and creates additional opportunities for Canadian learners to study at the many well-established and highly regarded universities across India through collaborative programmes.”

Mathai said the strategy marked the first time Canada as a country has announced targeted scholarships specifically for students from India. That is a meaningful signal for how Canada is now perceived – as a destination that values Indian talent rather than simply managing its volume.

Rebalancing two-way mobility

The Canada-India Talent and Innovation Strategy is built on four key pillars: integrating Canada's research and innovation capabilities into India's priority sectors; transforming academic knowledge and talent into measurable economic outcomes; rebalancing and deepening two-way mobility for students and researchers; and demonstrating credibility through timely implementation and concrete results.

A key component of the new partnership is a memorandum of understanding between India's All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Canada’s MITACS, a national research organisation that, in partnership with Canadian academia, private industry and government, operates research and training programmes in fields related to industrial and social innovation.

This agreement will also expand the Globalink Research Internship Programme, which will provide up to 300 fully funded, 12-week research internships annually for eligible Indian students starting in 2027. Participants will work under the supervision of faculty members at Canadian institutions in disciplines ranging from science and engineering to the humanities and social sciences.

In addition, Canada’s Indo-Pacific Scholarships and Fellowships for Canadians programme will support more than 85 Canadian graduate students and researchers from 11 institutions to visit India.

Their collaborative work will focus on strategic areas such as clean hydrogen, artificial intelligence, climate resilience, trade, supply chain security, and sustainable development.

“My expectation is that, if implemented thoughtfully, this strategy has the potential to benefit both countries academically, economically, and culturally over the medium and long term,” said Ollenberg.

Offshore campuses

As part of the strategy, both India and Canada agreed to expand joint, dual-degree, and twinning programmes, as well as support the establishment of offshore campuses of major Canadian institutions in India.

Ollenberg said there is real opportunity for Indian scholars, research partnerships, and centres of excellence to establish meaningful and sustained presences on Canadian campuses.

“We already know that Canada has long been a destination for Indian learners. That mobility pipeline experienced a temporary disruption between 2023 and 2025 and is still recovering, but I expect movement between India and Canada to continue and likely be strengthened by initiatives like this,” he said.

During another recent visit to India, Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the University of Waterloo and Tata Consultancy Services. This agreement reflects a larger trend of linking academic research with commercial applications, accelerating skills development, and increasing cross-border trade.

Modi and Carney reiterated that education and talent mobility remain essential to strengthening bilateral relations.

Social sciences, humanities opportunities

In Mumbai, Carney participated in an innovation showcase and met with university researchers before travelling to New Delhi for high-level discussions. The discussions focused on enhancing partnerships in AI, clean energy, supply chain resilience, and investment.

Mathai said the STEM architecture in the current announcements was solid and well-matched to both countries’ strengths.

“Canada has world-class AI research capacity; India has the urgency and scale of climate vulnerability. Bringing those two things together – for flood modelling, drought prediction, and agricultural resilience – is where the most consequential bilateral research of the next decade will happen.”

She said: “Agriculture also deserves more attention than it is receiving in the headlines. India’s food security challenges are vast; Canada’s applied agricultural research expertise is deep.”

However, she said the “most underweighted opportunity" in the announcement was social sciences and humanities.

“Canada is a global leader in this domain. The new federal framework would do well to recognise that the two countries share intellectual common ground that goes considerably deeper than technology and climate – and that this common ground is, if anything, an underleveraged asset for the relationship.”