Internationalization in Canadian Higher Education: Historical and contemporary manifestations

• In Event: Internationalizing Canadian higher education: Critical perspectives on historical and contemporary policies and practices

Proposal

In this paper, Dr. Larsen paints a broad picture of the landscape of internationalization and higher education (HE) in Canada. After providing an initial background about the structure of the Canadian HE system, she will present an historical overview of internationalization of Canadian HE, outlining the roles of various policy actors such as federal and provincial governments, universities, NGOs and individuals in promoting an international education agenda across two time periods: 1950-1990 and 1990-present. In addition to examining a wide range of institutional, provincial and national policy actors, Larsen also examines the current role of international actors such as the OECD and university ranking systems that have influenced the nature of internationalization in Canadian HE institutions. Two arguments are made in this paper. First, Larsen argues against the well-rehearsed claim that Canada has lagged behind other countries in terms of internationalization because of the lack of support from the federal government, fragmented nature of funding, and lack of coordination between provincial and federal governments, NGOs and HE institutions. Rather, Larsen asserts that a uniquely Canadian approach has informed Canadian HE internationalization policies and practices, which have shifted over the last 60+ years from a concern with deepening Canada’s relations with ‘developing’ countries to a model fostered by a desire to use internationalization as a driver of economic prosperity. Second, an argument is made that Canadian higher education internationalization, both historically and in the contemporary era, can best be conceptualized through the lens of network theories where we see the dispersal of forms of governance across a wide range of actors embracing various scales of influence.

Author

• Marianne Larsen, Western University