Global Affairs Canada opened applications on October 21 for the 2027-28 Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program (FMPBP), a small but strategically important grant that funds short-term teaching and research stints abroad. The headline change this year: eligibility now covers all 27 European Union countries, in addition to long-standing partners in Latin America and the Caribbean. The program offers Canadian professors three- to eight-week placements designed to seed new institutional partnerships, joint curricula and reciprocal student exchanges. Grants, worth up to CAD 7,000, cover travel and modest living costs for outbound Canadian faculty; host institutions abroad are expected to provide in-kind support such as office space or lab access. Expanding to the EU aligns with Ottawa’s broader Indo-Pacific and Atlantic strategies, which emphasize talent mobility as a pillar of trade and innovation diplomacy. Universities Canada welcomed the move, noting that EU institutions are keen on co-developing micro-credential programs and leveraging Horizon Europe research funds in tandem with Canadian partners. Administratively, Canadian post-secondary institutions—not individual faculty—must file applications by January 6, 2027. Mobility officers are therefore urging interested professors to surface project ideas before the holiday break so proposals can clear internal approval channels in time. For corporate R&D teams, the program can indirectly boost access to European labs and talent pipelines. Companies that sponsor industrial research chairs, for instance, often embed staff in university projects that later benefit from FMPBP-sparked collaborations.
Source: EduCanada (Government of Canada)
