[BIC-announce] question about grad student applications... no Canadians?

[Louis Collins, Dr.]

Hi all,

Just a quick correction and followup.  I has come to my attention that part of my email might be construed as a criticism of Iranian applicants. I just want to make clear that this is not the case.  I’m impressed by the organization and quality of Iranian students.  Some of the Iranian engineering schools are among the best in the world (I don’t know about other disciplines).  I have collaborated with (and benefitted from) numerous Iranian students in the past - they have been among the best students I've had the pleasure to work with and I hope to continue to do so.

On minimum stipends:  I worked hard to get a minimum stipend policy in place for BBME when I was BBME GPD and I fully support the current policy. In previous grant applications, I requested the maximum amount possible for grad students.  Unfortunately, that amount is now much lower than the current minimums for international students.  This means that I don’t have the money to hire as many international students as previously planned until new funding is available.

A number of people have responded privately that they too are finding it extremely difficult to attract Canadian graduate students and fellows.  In addition to individual PI efforts, I think this should be addressed at the department and GPS faculty levels.

Some have shared their current strategy of investing in senior ugrads and masters students, training them with the hope they stay on for a PhD.  I too have done this in the past and will probably continue to do so in the future.

good luck everyone!

-Louis

On Jan 13, 2024, at 13:27, Louis Collins, Dr. <louis.collins at mcgill.ca> wrote:

Hi all, all the best for the new year!

In early December, I advertised for 2 PDF and 4 PhD fully funded positions in my lab for two (one for AD and one for spine surgery) CIHR projects through LinkedIn, Twitter/X and Mastodon.  I also sent an email to a dozen graduate student societies across Canada, including francophone universities in Quebec, to include the offer in their email lists to their student members.

Response was good - I received almost 100 responses with CV, cover letter and example publications.

the issue? not a single Canadian applicant!  only 3 applications were not from Iran.

I’ve always had a good mix of Canadian and International students. Unfortunately, given the new minimum stipend regulations in FoMHS, it will be very difficult financially to move forward on research.

What is happening? Is anyone else getting Canadian applicants? and if so, how?


-Louis

_______________________________________________
BIC-announce mailing list
BIC-announce at bic.mni.mcgill.ca
https://mailman.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/mailman/listinfo/bic-announce

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/pipermail/bic-announce/attachments/20240115/eff3d336/attachment.html>