THE VALUE OF GLOBAL LEARNING FOR NORTHERN AND INDIGENOUS STUDENTS

I arrived in Canada as an international student from Norway in 2001, seeking to learn more about my Canadian ancestry and history. The most profound lessons about Canada were gifted through my experiences being welcomed into northern and Indigenous communities while working with the joint Master of Governance and Entrepreneurship in Northern and Indigenous Areas (GENI) and the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS) and University of Saskatchewan (USask). These experiences have motivated me to improve access to equitable higher education for Indigenous Peoples and Northern communities. It has also encouraged me to support the decolonization of higher education institutions to uplift Indigenous knowledge, research, and voices. My commitment to reconciliation is deeply intertwined with my research approach and study. This study completed a qualitative summative program evaluation of the GENI that was created with the intent to build capacity for northern and Indigenous communities with relevant programming and learning to encourage sustainable futures. Building on the lessons from Northern graduate programming, the GENI program integrated international field schools (IFSs) to deliver relevant lessons for communities building their own sustainable futures. Though operating for a full decade, the GENI program has not adequately evaluated how the IFSs are relevant to the program’s original aim to build capacity in Northern and Indigenous communities. Concurrently, the program has experienced increased pressure regarding its financial viability due to its small cohorts and resource-intense program delivery structure that includes the maintenance of an international partnership, international mobility, and facilitating community relationships. Recognizing the need to make decisions regarding the long-term delivery plan for the GENI program and the IFS, it became vital to collect data on student experiences and learning. Hence, the overarching objective of the study was to build an understanding of the values of the global learning provided by the IFSs for the GENI students and their Northern communities. In addition, the study was guided by three related secondary questions: What were the IFS learning outcomes for GENI alumni? How relevant are the GENI IFSs in building human capacity in Indigenous and Northern communities? How does the GENI provide lessons for higher education institutions to engage Indigenous students in international study abroad activities? The GENI and MNGD alumni, as research participants, provided a rich dataset collected through semi-structured interviews while also leading the meaning-making of the narratives by participating in an axial coding exercise as a focus group. The study's findings highlight how the IFS offers wholistic learning experiences centred around self-determination, community cohorts of learners, land-based learning, and life-long transformative learning. The research participants identified seven overarching values of global learning provided by their IFS experience. These values encompass outcomes related to appreciating Indigenous worldviews, developing personal skills, and creating community change-makers. Consequently, the study concluded that the IFS aligns directly with the original GENI program objective. Global learning can provide relevant lessons to build capacity in Northern and Indigenous communities by empowering individuals to become community change-makers. The findings of the program evaluation were analyzed using the Gaudry and Lorenz's (2018) Indigenization framework offering that the GENI and the IFSs provide lessons for decolonizing international study abroad activities. As such, the study added to the intersectionality of Indigenization and Internationalization in Canadian higher education, by highlighting synergies in the practice of decolonizing internationalization. With lessons from the GENI IFSs, student narratives and the 4Rs, the study offers seven practical lessons for decolonizing study abroad activities in Canadian higher education.

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