McGill hosts Universitas 21

International group to explore how universities can promote UN development goals

McGill University is pleased to be hosting the annual Universitas 21 Symposium, Apr. 19-21, in Montreal. The major gathering of Vice Chancellors, Presidents and senior staff from 21 research-intensive universities in 13 countries will address the theme this year of how university researchers, the international development community and private and public sector actors can better collaborate toward the realization of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

“It’s terrific for McGill and Montreal to be hosting representatives of so many outstanding institutions,” said Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill. “The Millennium Development Goals stand for more than just the good intentions of the international community and the people we’ve gathered for this conference represent precisely the sort of expertise it will take to make them a reality.”

The half-day MDG conference, to be held April 20 at the Hotel Sofitel on Sherbrooke St. W. from 8:15 am to 12:30 pm, will feature a keynote address by Jody Heymann, Canada Research Chair in Global Health & Social Policy at McGill, as well as two panel discussions, moderated by Nicholas Kasirer, Dean of McGill’s Faculty of Law, and Antonia Maioni, Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. The panels will include academics from the U.S., Australia and Europe as well as international development specialists from the UN and the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa.

“The Symposium gives members of the Universitas 21 network a chance to focus on the major challenges of development and to showcase U21 research related to poverty reduction, improved health and sustainable development,” said Jan Jorgensen, Associate Dean at McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management and co-organizer of the symposium.

Established in September 2000 with a commitment from 189 UN member nations, the Millenium Development Goals call for measurable improvements by 2015 across eight areas: poverty and hunger eradication; primary education; gender equality; child mortality; maternal health; diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria; environmental stability; and a global development partnership.

Universitas 21 comprises the following members: University of Auckland, University of Birmingham, University of British Columbia, University College Dublin, University of Edinburgh, Fudan University, University of Hong Kong, Korea University, McGill University, University of Glasgow, Lund University, University of Melbourne, Tecnológico de Monterrey, University of New South Wales, University of Nottingham, University of Peking, University of Queensland, Shanghai Jai Tong University, National University of Singapore, University of Virginia, Waseda University.

On the Web: Universitas 21