Furthermore, the knowledge and teaching methods used are different in every country of the world. I know that I, personally, have learnt an enormous amount from the knowledge and experience that my Canadian peers and professors have shared with me. Similarly, I know that they, and the students that I have had the privilege of teaching in the Department of Earth Sciences over the last four years, have gained from the knowledge and experience that I have brought with me from my home country. Geology is a naturally international subject, given that most of the geological features of our planet were created long before political boundaries. The teaching methods and material in this department are continually enhanced and stimulated by the ongoing influx of international students.
Academic research is, in itself, an international study.
Additionally, we are fortunate, in a democratic society, to be able to speak our minds, and to argue about and discuss various topics at the frontiers of research, for it is only by becoming involved in such debates that our knowledge and understanding will increase. I count myself as enormously fortunate to have been able to come to Carleton to investigate my chosen topic of research in collaboration with colleagues from both Canada and Russia. Seeing and experiencing first-hand the Russian system of scientific education and research, has underlined, for me, the necessity of international openness in academic life. For example, I have met many wonderful and intelligent Russian scientists who are still discussing amongst themselves concepts that western scientists proved or disproved several decades ago. The effects of the previous lack of scientific debate between east and west is heart-breaking to see and, in these days of greater communication, the gulf of experience and knowledge between the two is becoming increasingly apparent.