Balsillie School of International Affairs
Balsillie School of International Affairs
The Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) is an institute for advanced research, education, and outreach in the fields of global governance and international public policy. As a hub in a global network of scholars, practitioners and students, our mission is to develop new solutions to humanity’s critical problems, to improve global governance now and in the future, and to contribute to enhancing the quality of people’s lives around the world.
Founded in 2007 by philanthropist Jim Balsillie, BSIA is an equal collaboration among theCentre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), the University of Waterloo (UW), and Wilfrid Laurier University (Laurier). The collaborating institutions bring to BSIA different but complementary strengths, so they have different roles and responsibilities. The two universities employ BSIA faculty and offer BSIA’s academic programs, while CIGI, as a think tank, uses its in-house expertise and its worldwide network of practitioners to help inform and guide BSIA’s outreach and collaborative research. The BSIA is also the home to three research centers with an international profile - the Academic Council for the United Nations System (ACUNS), the International and the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems.
The unique integration of the collaborating institutions’ approaches and cultures gives BSIA an unmatched ability to promote vigorous engagement across boundaries of discipline and practice, to connect today’s experts with tomorrow’s leaders in critical debate and analysis, and to achieve—in all its work—the highest standards of excellence.
Scholarships and Awards
A Commitment to Financial Assistance
The majority of students admitted to the programs based at the Balsillie School receive some form of financial assistance. Graduate students at the Balsillie School are eligible for a variety of scholarships. Internally, students are eligible to receive Ph.D.-level fellowships valued at $25,000 and Master’s-level CIGI Graduate Fellowships at $15,000, as well as additional university-based scholarships and funding. Externally, one of the goals of the School is to have all doctoral students receive some form of outside funding at some point in their Ph.D. experience. To assist students, the Ph.D. program conducts a “Grant Writing Seminar” at the beginning of each academic year. Since 2007, students in the Global Governance Ph.D. program have been awarded more than $3.3 million in external support for their research.
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