In Canada, a fight over research dollars

Facing global competition, many countries have contemplated centralizing public funding for research in a handful of institutions, ensuring they have the resources to stand up to anyone. But what's that mean for the economies of regions and provinces that would be assigned a lower priority?

This is the subject of a heated debate in Canada, where the leaders of the five largest universities have called for greater "differentiation" between the missions of big research institutions (like their own), regional research universities, and what could become small undergraduate colleges. But what's that mean for, say, Atlantic Canada, a region that is home to exactly none of the so-called "G5"universities and where economic development strategies are tied to university R&D and innovation?

My piece from Canada on all this recently posted over at The Chronicle of Higher Education, which just launched a global edition.