I’m still waiting for more information about the Global Governance programme, which I’m starting this fall. Here’s a summary of the information I’ve been able to gather so far, mostly through press releases and news coverage. Then there is a selection of links for further reading. I will write more later about the Global Governance programme specifically when I know more.

• The Global Governance programme is part of a new school called the Balsillie School of International Affairs, a major new joint initiative between the University of Waterloo (UW), the Wilfred Laurier University and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), all located in Waterloo.
• The Balsillie School also has a PhD programme and an MA in International Public Policy.
• The school bears the name of Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the Blackberry phone. Balsillie also founded CIGI.
• Balsillie donated $33 million to the school, and another $17 million to CIGI at the same time. UW and Laurier will contribute approximately $25 million each, totalling over $100 million.
• The school has attracted Thomas Homer-Dixon, one of Canada’s leading political scientists, from the University of Toronto.
• The school will get a new building in downtown Waterloo, to be done in 2009 (I hope so, so I can enjoy it too…).

Am I allowed to be excited?

Links to further information

• Press release: $100 million initiative in Waterloo for social science
• Globe and Mail article: Grand ambitions drew professor to Waterloo
• Embassy Magazine: New School Aims to Breath Life into Global Affairs
• Balsillie School of International Affairs home page
• Global Governance home page