Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program

Guidelines

The Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program aims to increase the number of institutional collaborations and exchange agreements between Canadian post-secondary institutions and non-Canadian post-secondary institutions eligible under the Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP).

The Program will award short-term grants to professors to teach and/or conduct research in ELAP-eligible countries. The primary objective of the exchange should be to create new agreements with host institutions and/or to strengthen existing agreements.

Grant value and duration

Funding for the Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program is made available by Global Affairs Canada through its legal title: the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).

The Canadian post-secondary institution will receive funding in the form of a grant from DFATD and will be responsible for providing the funds to its successful candidates.

The maximum grant value per candidate is CAD 7,000. Recipients may seek additional funding from other sources (private or public).

The duration of the mobility is three weeks minimum and eight weeks maximum. Successful candidates may extend their stay with funds from other sources.

All funds provided by DFATD related to the project must be expensed by March 31, 2023. The actual project end date may extend beyond March 31, 2023.

Eligible expenses

Canadian institutions will provide funds to the recipient to cover the following eligible costs associated with activities:

• Transportation (economy fare, by the most direct route);
• Lodging, meals and incidentals (according to Treasury Board guidelines);
• Required visa/work permits, and
• Insurance costs.

Note: The purchase of equipment (computer, tablet, phone, printer, etc.) is not an eligible expenditure.

Payment procedure

Subject to the terms and conditions of the grant agreement, funding will be disbursed by cheque or electronic transfer to the Canadian post-secondary institution upon receiving the grant agreement signed by both the designated authority at the Canadian institution and the designated authority at DFATD. 

Funds will be disbursed to successful candidates according to the Canadian post-secondary institution’s internal processes and in conformity with the grant agreement concluded between DFATD and the Canadian post-secondary institution.

Eligibility

Candidates must:

• be full-time professors at Canadian post-secondary institutions (part-time professors, lecturers and public servants (federal, provincial/territorial, municipal, or Crown corporations) are not eligible); and
• submit a proposal for collaboration with a post-secondary host institution in an ELAP-eligible country.

Canadian post-secondary institutions must:

• be a Designated Learning Institute (DLI); and
• designate one coordinator responsible for submitting applications on behalf of all its eligible candidates to the scholarship administrator, the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE).

Host institutions must:

• provide an invitation letter expressing their support and confirming that the proposed teaching or research activities will indeed take place; and
• be located in one of the following eligible countries:
  • Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos;
  • Central America: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama;
  • North America: Mexico; or
  • South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Any questions?

Please direct all inquiries regarding the Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program to: scholarships-bourses@cbie.ca.

Deadline for Canadian post-secondary institutions

The program is expected to launch in fall 2021 for the 2022-2023 academic year. A deadline will be announced at that time.

It is the responsibility of the Canadian institution to ensure that the applications, including supporting documents, are received by the deadline. Documents other than those requested will not be accepted.

Notification

The scholarships administrator, the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), will communicate results to the main contact at the Canadian institution.

Participating Canadian institutions will be informed of the final selection and results at the beginning of February 2022, following approval from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).

Candidates are advised to contact their institution regarding the status of their application.

Application process

To be considered for the Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program, the Canadian post-secondary institution must apply on behalf of the candidate(s) by completing and submitting the online application form and providing the supporting documents as requested.

Candidates are encouraged to work with their institution’s International Office (or equivalent) to ensure that the application as a whole, including supporting documents, addresses the criteria outlined in the selection process.

Late or incomplete submissions will not be considered. Applications submitted by email and not through the online application form will not be considered.

Candidates must clearly address the following points in the application form:

1. Briefly explain teaching and/or research activities to be undertaken and whether they will involve direct collaboration with faculty and students at the host institution. For research, give a brief summary of your topic. For teaching, describe the content, level, and approximate number of hours and students involved. All candidates must also specify the overall proportion of time abroad that will be devoted to teaching, researching and building partnerships.
2. Describe any existing institutional agreements or MOUs between your home and host institutions, including scope and expiration date and their intended outcomes (student exchange, research collaboration, field schools, virtual exchange, capacity building, etc.).
   1. If the institutional agreement or MOU enables the implementation of ELAP (incoming short-term student mobility with tuition waiver), how will your teaching/research activities strengthen or expand this partnership?
   2. If the current agreement does not involve student mobility, will your activities contribute to ELAP implementation between the home and host institutions? If not, how will they further the existing institutional relationship?
   3. If there are no formal agreements or MOUs between your home and host institutions, how will your activities lead to one and in which area of collaboration?

Note: The objective of this program is to facilitate the creation and expansion of partnerships in ELAP-eligible countries. However, candidates are not limited to developing student exchange agreements or implementing ELAP with host institutions. Activities with an end goal of establishing other formal international partnerships and agreements will be equally regarded.

To strengthen the candidate's application, the Canadian institution’s International Office (or equivalent) must provide a letter of support explaining how the intended or expanded partnership fits within the institution’s broader internationalization priorities (maximum 2 pages).

Online application

Canadian post-secondary institutions are encouraged to carefully read the instructions below before filling out the online form. Please email questions about the application form to scholarships-bourses@cbie.ca.

Instructions

Canadian postsecondary institutions must:

• Complete the online form;
  • if they do not have an account, they will first need to register an account.
• Once the account is created and activated, they will need to log in. Under "For Canadians" section, they will need to go to the "Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program" and click on "Apply Now".
  • download the Privacy notice statement for the candidate to sign and attach under the "Supporting Documents" section at the end of the application form;
  • print and complete the Budget form;
  • enter data in the fields marked mandatory, following instructions for each item;
  • upload all required supporting documents;
  • upon completion, verify the accuracy of all data and information in the application form and supporting documents prior to submission;
  • print the application form for their records using the print function in the browser; and
  • click "SUBMIT" to provide the form electronically to Global Affairs Canada. The Canadian post-secondary institution will receive a confirmation message and reference number once their form is submitted.

NOTE: Canadian post-secondary institutions will have the possibility to save their application and complete it at a later time. Both saved and submitted applications will appear on the Canadian institutions’ profile homepage. Once an application is submitted, it can only be viewed or printed. The online application system does not allow it to be modified at this stage.

Supporting documents

The following documents must be uploaded and attached to the online application form in one of the following formats: .pdf, .jpg, .doc, .docx, .txt or .gif. Each document must be smaller than 5 MB in order for the application to upload successfully. All supporting and additional documents must be submitted in English or French.

1. Completed Budget form outlining how the scholarship will be used to cover the eligible expenses of the candidate with respect to the proposed activities.
2. CV of the candidate listing academic and partnership-building experience, professional experience, the most recent and relevant publications, knowledge dissemination activities and other relevant achievements. CVs longer than six pages will not be accepted.
3. Letter of invitation from the host institution explaining the potential for the activities to create or advance a partnership between both institutions.
4. Letter of support from the Canadian institution’s International Office describing the institution’s internationalization experience and explaining how the proposed activities address the institution’s broader internationalization efforts and priorities (maximum 2 pages).
5. Signed Privacy notice statement.

Note – for all applicants: Applications and documents that are not submitted in English or French and/or do not respect the maximum number of pages specified will result in the disqualification of the applicant.

Post-award requirements

Within 30 days of the termination of the project, grant recipients must produce a narrative report of maximum five pages, including:

• The summary of undertaken activities, their results and number of beneficiaries
• The impact of mobility on creation or advancement of a partnership between the host and home institutions
• Plans to formalize the collaboration through an institutional agreement (if applicable)
• Plans to publicize the completed activities (if applicable) and/or to acknowledge Global Affairs Canada support

Selection process

All online applications received by the competition deadline will be pre-screened to ensure they meet eligibility requirements established for the program.

Eligible and complete applications, including the supporting documents, will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Potential for the activities to create and/or advance institutional partnerships between the home and host institutions (50% of score)
  • institutional scope of the proposed collaborative activities
  • alignment of the activities with the Canadian institution’s internationalization efforts and priorities
  • the Canadian institution’s preparedness for establishing a partnership
• Evidence that the planned partnership-building activities will be carried out successfully (25% of score)
  • the candidate’s relevant experience, leadership and language abilities
  • feasibility and accuracy of timeline and budget
• Overall quality of proposed activities (25% of score)
  • clear articulation of activities and expected outcomes
  • foreseeable impact both in Canada and in the host country

Priority may be given to first-time candidates, institutions developing new partnerships, and institutions with limited previous experience in international collaborations.

Conditions

Only applications submitted directly by Canadian post-secondary institutions will be considered.

The scholarship administrator is not able to provide feedback to unsuccessful candidates.

These grants are subject to the availability of funding from the Government of Canada.

Frequently asked questions about the Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program

1. Is the program funding only for creating new partnerships or can it be used to strengthen existing partnerships?

The aim of the program is to increase the number of institutional collaborations and exchange agreements between Canadian and non-Canadian institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. Submissions based on existing partnerships will be considered eligible as long as they advance and enhance the ongoing collaboration.

2. How will applications be evaluated?

The applications will be evaluated according to the criteria listed in the selection process tab. The most important criterion is the activities' ability to create or advance a partnership with the host institution.

3. Must the proposed activities lead to the implementation of ELAP with the host institution?

No, candidates are not limited to implementing ELAP with host institutions. Activities with an end goal of establishing ELAP or other formal international partnership collaborations and agreements (student exchange, research collaboration, field schools, virtual exchange, capacity building, etc.) will be equally considered.

4. How many applications can a Canadian post-secondary institution submit as part of this competition?

There is no maximum number of applications that may be submitted. However, the maximum grant value per project is CAD 7,000.

5. Can multiple trips be undertaken under the same grant?

Yes, they can. However, the funding amount per successful candidate will not exceed CAD 7,000.

6. Can the activities take place in more than one country?

Yes, but only in ELAP-eligible countries. Furthermore, the maximum funding amount per successful candidate remains the same regardless of the number of countries.

7. If a candidate travels to the partner institution before the results are announced, is the application still eligible for the grant?

There is no guarantee that a candidate will receive funding before the adjudication is completed. Successful candidates who have incurred eligible expenses prior to the release of competition results will receive funding retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year (April 1).

8. I am a full-time professor on sabbatical. Am I eligible for this program?

Yes.

9. I am a part-time course lecturer at a Canadian postsecondary institution. Am I eligible for the program?

No. Only full-time professors are eligible to apply.

10. I am a non-Canadian professor at a Canadian post-secondary institution. Am I eligible for the program?

Yes. All full-time professors at Canadian post-secondary institutions are eligible to apply, regardless of their citizenship or permanent resident status.

11. Can the activities include both teaching and research?

Yes.

Background

In 2017, the Government of Canada created the Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program to support the efforts of Canadian post-secondary institutions to expand and diversify their international collaborations. The program enables Canadian professors to pursue short-term research and/or teaching activities in Latin America and the Caribbean as a means of exploring, creating and advancing institutional partnerships in the areas of research, student mobility, joint programming, capacity building, and others.