EL DOCTOR LENIN FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ ZUNIGA, ha cumplido con todos los requisitos establecidos por la Facultad

Lakehead University’s vision and mission statements are published online. The vision references the global context in its final sentence: ‘Lakehead University is a

comprehensive university committed to excellence in undergraduate and graduate education and research. It will build on its reputation as a welcoming, accessible and accountable institution known for enabling students at all stages of life to achieve their potential. It will reflect and serve the Aboriginal and other diverse cultures, institutions and organizations that comprise its unique regional setting as it reaches out nationally and globally’ (Lakehead University, 2005). It is interesting that in its vision, Lakehead perceives itself to be a comprehensive university with emphasis on graduate education and research. This is not typically how third parties would have described Lakehead.

Lakehead’s mission echoes its vision, also mentioning the international dimension, whilst acknowledging its role in north-western Ontario: ‘Lakehead University is committed to excellence and innovation in undergraduate and graduate teaching, service, research and other scholarly activity. As part of this commitment, Lakehead University is dedicated to a student-centred learning environment. Lakehead University values its people and the diversity of their ideas, contributions and achievements. Lakehead University is dedicated

to working with Aboriginal peoples in furthering their educational aspirations. Building on its past accomplishments and recognizing its role in north-western Ontario, Lakehead University reaches out regionally, nationally and internationally. Lakehead University is committed to educating students who are recognized for leadership and independent critical thinking and who are aware of social and environmental responsibilities’ (Lakehead University, 2005).

Lakehead has developed its second Strategic Plan, arranged around seven themes each with its own comprehensive set of strategic goals and recommended actions. The themes are:

1. Academic programming

2. Research and scholarly activity

3. Governance, organization and accountability 4. Resources, facilities and the internal environment

5. Campus communications, recruitment and marketing communications (divided into: A. Campus communications, B. Recruitment and marketing and C. Marketing communications)

6. Community engagement and development 7. Student life.

Strategic goal 12 of the fourth theme is to: ‘Seek and maintain mutually beneficial partnerships and collaborations’ and the sixth recommended action for this goal is to ‘Support the international exchange of faculty and students and foster relations with foreign universities and institutions’.

Within section B of the fifth theme, the second strategic goal is to ‘Explore and evaluate opportunities for ongoing development of non-traditional markets’ with recommended action 1 being to: ‘Evaluate opportunities to increase graduate and international student enrolment; explore the viability of marketing the institution in U.S. Border States and targeted international markets such as China and specific African countries’.

Recommended action 2 for this goal is to ‘Continue to explore ways of increasing enrolment in distributed learning courses in Canada and abroad.’

Strategic goal three of the seventh theme is that ‘Lakehead University should enhance respect for diversity by promoting understanding of the worth and dignity of all students regardless of their race, religion, nationality, sexual preference, age, gender, culture, ability, or socio-economic status’. The tenth recommended action for this goal is to ‘Offer a variety of academic and non-academic programs that provide exposure to diverse cultures (international exchanges)’ (Lakehead University, 2005).

Thus, the global context is mentioned in Lakehead’s vision statement and aspects of internationalisation are included in three different themes that, in summary, are connected with: international faculty exchanges that build partnerships and collaboration; global student recruitment and international student exchanges.

The Strategic Plan document is long (39 pages) and difficult to navigate as themes, strategic goals and recommended actions form seemingly endless lists that are challenging to differentiate.

Also online, Lakehead publishes its first year progress of implementing the Strategic Plan. Of the three particular actions mentioned, it is only the action to: ‘Evaluate opportunities to increase graduate and international student enrolment; explore the viability of marketing the institution in US Border States and targeted international markets such as China and specific African countries’ that reports specifics and these are: ‘We have attended a MTCU sponsored recruitment drive to India in November 05; we have also visited China on a mini-trade-mission where we signed 4 Letters of Intent and have begun talks with Tongji University in Shanghai’ (Lakehead University, 2006c). The other actions’ updates are much more vaguely reported.

As the vision, mission and Strategic Plan include reference to the global agenda, one can assume that this was a priority area for Lakehead. It seemed, however, only to be truly manifest in the context of recruiting international students and Lakehead has ‘An

Internationalization Protocol’ to address this area. This document is not available online but was obtained from the Dean of International and Graduate Studies.

4.2.2.1 An Internationalization Protocol

Lakehead developed an Internationalisation Protocol in 2006 based on the assumptions that:

• Internationalisation is a self-evident goal for most universities

• Internationalisation is a priority in Lakehead University’s Strategic Plan

• There is a need to develop a judicious, well-planned and fiscally responsible protocol by which Lakehead University could achieve its ‘internationalization’ goals.

The protocol proposes the development of two strategies by which deep and abiding relationships can be developed with a limited number of institutions in India and China. The plan is to maintain exchange agreements with institutions throughout the world and to remain open to the possibility of more exchange agreements, but in terms of

when, Lakehead is to expand (e.g. to Brazil, Mexico, or Turkey) these protocols could then be used as templates.

This specific focus allows Lakehead to create a rich and substantial series of relationships that builds on an already thriving informal network of Lakehead faculty members who have personal relationships in India and China. The protocol acknowledges that internationalisation does not necessarily refer to the establishment of international cost recovery programs, international student cohorts or for-profit offshore campuses. It also acknowledges that internationalisation is decidedly not a revenue generating endeavour; on the contrary, internationalisation should be recognized at the outset as an expenditure that purchases intellectual diversity, a global perspective, cultural tolerance and

international exposure. What Lakehead proposes is a protocol by which the expenditure is judiciously made, wisely executed, and carefully monitored (Lakehead University, 2006b).

It is interesting that the protocol has no associated dates or timescales and it has not been disseminated across the institution. The Dean of International and Graduate Studies, who developed the protocol, has subsequently had his responsibilities restructured. The international portfolio is now the responsibility of Admissions and Recruitment and the Dean of International and Graduate Studies remains the international liaison officer but is limited in responsibility to faculty exchanges and institution to institution partnerships.

This suggests that Lakehead does not fully join up its planning across the university and there are some disconnects.