About the School of International Policy and Governance

Research and Scholarship

The Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) is a community of scholars and students working on the broad themes and problems arising from the globalization of economic, political, environmental and social systems. We see collaboration and interdependence in its many manifestations as key to coping with and addressing the emerging challenges of the 21st century. We recognize that no one discipline can fully address all of the challenges arising from rapid social, political, economic and environmental change. As political scientists, economists, geographers, sociologists and legal scholars we are drawn together by our common interests and concerns. We invite you to examine our professional biographies to discover the breadth and depth of our scholarship.

Promoting good governance for the benefit of the majority of global society lies at the core of our research agenda and the content of our programs. Laurier’s core values of civic engagement, global citizenship, justice and sustainability inform all of what we do. We direct our research, our programs and our engagement to the attainment of excellence in the fields of governance, environment, and social and cultural analysis. We are guided by a respect for the public’s investment in postsecondary education, and our obligation to strengthen the vitality of civil society.

All of these ingredients set our students on the path for post-degree success. Our alumni have gone on to form highly successful careers in all levels of government, academia, and the private and NGO sectors, as well as global civil society groups. We invite you to look at the brief professional biographies of some of our graduates so you can assess the program’s success for yourself. Once you do, we hope you'll consider taking the next step toward your successful future, and submit your application. We look forward to hearing from you.

Programming

We offer two graduate programs and one undergraduate option:

The joint Laurier-Waterloo Doctoral Program in Global Governance has exceeded all expectations, becoming in a few short years competitive with some of the best PhD programs in world. Our graduates have gone to secure impressive roles in academia, government and NGOs. Please contact us for further information should you be interested in being one of the 12 PhD students annually admitted into the doctoral program.

We also offer a Master in International Public Policy (MIPP) program to applicants who aspire to professional careers in public service, transnational organizations, and non-governmental civil society organizations. We designed this intense 12-month program to serve as a capstone to your undergraduate background. Our program offers exposure to our world-class faculty through small scale and interactive seminars, as well as integrated hands-on learning and skills development in combination with Laurier’s award-winning ASPIRE program, a professional skills development training program. MIPP students also travel to Ottawa in the spring for an intensive fieldtrip where they meet civil servants and international government representative to learn how policy is formed and how the business of governing is conducted in the nation’s capital.

We also offer an International Policy Option for undergraduate students at Laurier that provides the necessary skills and prerequisite courses to enter the MIPP program.