Graham Carr at CORIM: ‘The time has come to position Montreal as the world leader it is’
Either way, Montreal wins.
On May 1, Concordia President Graham Carr argued that the city realizes far-reaching benefits whether international students remain here or choose to go elsewhere after graduation.
“To understand why, we need to look beyond the direct benefits our universities bring to the city […] Universities also contribute indirectly to Montreal’s economic and cultural growth — through ‘knowledge diplomacy’.”
Carr made these remarks during a keynote speech at an event organized by the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations (CORIM) at the Fairmount Queen Elizabeth Hotel in downtown Montreal.
Addressing the recent debate about international students
Speaking in French before a sold-out crowd of more than 400 people, Carr directly addressed how some media and political commentators have recently portrayed international students as “a drain on Quebec taxpayers,” who leave after graduation.
Carr labelled the claim as “misleading and short-sighted.”
“It’s misleading,” he said, “because at Concordia more than 54 per cent of international students stay after graduation, the vast majority in Montreal. It’s shortsighted because every graduate who goes abroad has the potential to act as an ambassador for Montreal.”
When international students come to Montreal, the economic benefits are enormous, explained Carr. To illustrate his point, he cited a 2022 study from the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM) that found international students inject more than $700 million per year into the local economy.
A newly released independent economic assessment commissioned by Concordia reconfirms the CCMM findings. The analysis shows Concordia contributes nearly $2 billion annually to the Quebec economy, which includes more $176 million generated by the university’s students from outside Quebec and their families alone.
Knowledge diplomacy in action
Over the course of his talk, titled “A study in soft power: how universities tackle big challenges through international partnerships,” Carr outlined some of the ways Concordia and the other Montreal universities are furthering the city’s strategic priorities abroad in new and exciting ways.
First, Carr examined how Montreal’s world-class research ecosystem is the “most visible way” that universities help build the city’s global brand. Citing Concordia’s Volt-age, Canada’s leading electrification research program, he explained how large-scale research initiatives attract top talent to the city and create unique partnership opportunities between local and foreign partners.
Carr then shifted gears to look at what he sees as a new form of knowledge diplomacy — namely, the ability of universities to move beyond student recruitment to help build capacity in emerging economies across the Global South.
Here, Concordia’s Africa Initiative provided a poignant example. Launched in June 2023, the Africa Initiative aims to shrink the gap between graduation rates and youth unemployment by training and supporting local entrepreneurs. To accomplish this objective, Concordia and its regional partners are collaborating on mentorship programs, networking opportunities and start-up infrastructure.
“Such an approach casts Montreal in a different light,” noted Carr. “Yes, it still lays the groundwork for student recruitment in the future, but it also opens new channels for the exchange of knowledge.”
Mobilizing a largely “untapped” network
Carr concluded his talk with a proposal for how the City of Montreal, its universities and other leading organizations could do even more to capitalize on opportunities abroad. The key, according to Carr, lies in alumni networks. Concordia, for example, has approximately 80,000 graduates living in almost every country.
“Multiply that across all Montreal universities, and there are hundreds of thousands of graduates spread across the planet,” Carr said. “Each has a professional network, has insights into local markets, governments, culture. Others have significant influence as leaders and gamechangers in their fields.”
He went on to explain how such a network would have the potential to generate new business opportunities and open new markets for Montreal companies while also mobilizing local alumni contacts ahead of trade missions and reconnecting graduates to the city where they spent a formative period of their lives.
“Our university graduates represent a largely untapped potential for Montreal,” said Carr. “If we rise to this challenge [of building a new alumni network], our graduates could become an indispensable tool for advancing Montreal’s strategic priorities abroad.”
Post-talk interview with former ambassador
Following the formal address, Carr sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Isabelle Hudon, LLD 17, president and CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada and former ambassador of Canada to France and Monaco.
Hudon asked Carr about why universities create such strong bonds with their international students, the role anglophone universities play in protecting and promoting French, and how Quebec universities can better coordinate with governments and companies of all sizes to achieve common goals internationally.
To close, Carr reiterated a key point from his talk.
“The time has come to position Montreal as the world leader it is.”
Check out photos from the CORIM event or watch the video of Graham Carr's speech.