Federalism, foreign policy and the internationalization of higher education: A case study of the International Academic Relations Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada

This thesis provides a historical case study of the International Academic Relations Division within the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and fills a gap in the existing literature on the internationalization of Canadian higher education.;The International Academic Relations Division has engaged in the internationalization of higher education in one form or another, albeit its specific role and mandate and its program and policy approaches have changed over time. These changes were highlighted through three historical time periods. Several of the initiatives and policy approaches discussed in this thesis, in particular the successes of the Canadian Studies Program Abroad, have not been addressed in the literature on the internationalization of Canadian higher education.;The three country comparison highlighted the importance of the overall framework of a country's foreign policy, the presence or absence of ICR, and a country's unique historical and cultural context, in directly impacting its approach to international education. In addition, it suggested that higher educational policy is a result of a nation's federal structure and the presence or absence of federal-state level coordination mechanisms.;The thesis concluded that the internationalization of higher education policy agenda although influenced by ICR in a country's foreign policy is much more directly linked to a country's higher educational policy structure and mechanisms, and challenged the accepted view that DFAIT should provide leadership in developing a national strategy for internationalization. It proposed a range of policy, program and research recommendations, the most important being the need to further understand internationalization as a broader Canadian higher education policy issue.;The research questions focused on understanding the mandate and role of the Division since its inception in 1967 to 1995, the changes in its policy and program approaches over time, the strategies or mechanisms developed for national policy coordination, and more broadly how the Department's foreign policy framework influenced the Division. A comparative analysis of the Canadian case with the departments of foreign affairs in Australia and Germany assisted in highlighting the uniqueness of the Canadian approach. Literature on federalism and internationalization and globalization provided a theoretical framework for the study.