Making a Difference in the World
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Addis Ababa University (AAU) in Ethiopia, and to join in celebrating the remarkable success of the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC), which is a brilliant example of the kind of international partnerships we seek to develop at U of T.
TAAAC began in 2003 as the Toronto Addis Ababa Psychiatry Project. The initiative, which U of T’s Dr. Clare Pain helped to found, aimed to build and sustain the first psychiatry residency program in Ethiopia. It was intended to address the chronic lack of psychiatrists in Ethiopia by developing the educational ecosystem needed to train Ethiopians at home. That initial partnership between U of T and AAU reaped huge gains. Not quite 15 years ago, there were only nine psychiatrists in Ethiopia. By the end of this year there will be more than 80 — and there are now five departments of psychiatry throughout the country, led by graduates of the collaboration.
The success of this partnership led to its expansion in 2008 to embrace a wide range of fields in medicine, other health sciences, engineering, social sciences, and various graduate programs. As a result, TAAAC is contributing to the rapid development of Ethiopia’s knowledge infrastructure. A new generation of very talented young Ethiopians — over 200 so far — have joined the faculty at AAU and other universities in Ethiopia, and more than 150 current students are preparing to join them. With a retention rate of more than 90 per cent, a ‘brain drain’ in Ethiopia is rapidly being turned into a ‘brain gain.’
At the same time, since this partnership began, more than 250 U of T faculty, staff, residents, and students have gained invaluable international experience through teaching trips to AAU. They include faculty member Dr. Jane Philpott, who is now Canada’s Minister of Indigenous Services, and Dr. Lynn Wilson, the Faculty of Medicine’s Vice-Dean of Partnerships. Another frequent instructor from U of T is Dr. Brian Hodges, a crucial figure and advocate of our collaboration from the beginning. The insights these volunteers acquire greatly strengthen our own capacity to understand and contribute to the world around us.
Our commitment to TAAAC is part of a larger, strategic priority to strengthen our international partnerships. This includes a specific plan to strengthen our ties in Africa, with AAU, and other outstanding institutions across the continent. More and more in the 21st Century, the challenges we face as humans on this planet are global in scale and scope. To make our full contribution, great universities must be truly global institutions, extensively networked with other leading universities around the world. This is crucial to the mutual exchange of knowledge and insight that is at the heart of our academic mission.
In preparing for my trip, Dr. Hodges told me about a wonderful speech given by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie in 1963. On receiving an honorary doctorate from Georgetown University, Selassie — who was known as the “Education Emperor” — said:
“Education is the means whereby the potential contained in the nation’s ultimate resource — its people — is realized and brought to full flower for the good of all. The task of ensuring that all people enjoy the gifts of education is the task of us all; it knows no boundaries and transcends all barriers.”
This is what we are doing, through TAAAC and other international collaborations. By working together to promote higher education and advanced research, we are building up our own countries, while making each other stronger. And, we are increasing our shared potential to make a positive difference in the world.
Meric Gertler
President
University of Toronto
