A new School of Political Studies has been established in the Faculty of Social Sciences. The plan for the School submitted to Senate was approved in December.
“We believe that the creation of a School of Political Studies will permit us to quickly become one of the best universities in Canada for the study of politics and allow the University of Ottawa to fully capitalize on its many natural advantages,” said Claire Turenne-Sjolander who is expected to be appointed the school’s director.
“The creation of a School of Political Studies will offer better visibility for the University, which will increase the possibility of attracting the best students, researchers and professors,” added Turenne-Sjolander, who is an expert in international relations.
This School will bring together under a single administrative structure the Faculty’s programs in political science, public administration, and international studies and modern languages. Facilitating both disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, the School will encourage and strengthen research on all aspects of politics.
“This grouping of disciplinary and interdisciplinary programs constitutes one of the most original aspects of the proposed School,” noted the proponents of the School in the report submitted to Senate. “Even though there are interdisciplinary programs in public administration and in international studies at other Canadian universities, none of these programs are grouped together with disciplinary programs.”
This new structure will promote stronger links between the disciplines of public administration and international studies. “These links represent a very innovative aspect of the proposed School, for rarely do programs in public administration address the international dimensions of public governance. For their part, international relations programs do not usually focus on administrative issues,” the report said.
The creation of the School provides an excellent strategic opportunity to reinforce links between the University and the public sector, thus contributing to the professional component of the School’s teaching activities.
The Canadian Centre for Management Development has expressed interest in negotiating an agreement with the University to promote the existing articulation between training offered by the Centre and the certificate programs in public management and governance. This agreement would also provide public service mentors to doctoral and postdoctoral candidates of the School in order to facilitate their research on the public service of Canada.
In September 2003, the University of Ottawa announced the creation of the Jarislowsky Chair in public sector management. The profile given to public management through the creation of such a research chair reinforces the orientations of the public administration program and gives significant visibility to research activities in the field. The creation of the School of Political Studies could also serve as a lever to attract other research chairs in fields such as international political economy or political ideologies.
The School wants to establish an advisory board composed of prominent individuals from fields relevant to the areas of study covered by the School. This board will support the efforts of the School and the Faculty in establishing research and teaching priorities and will encourage a greater involvement by the external community in the activities of the School.
