Constructing global graduate student leaders: towards a paradigm of responsible epistemic leaders

Abstract

ABSTRACT University’s commitment to student leadership development has been progressively globalised and become more nuanced. Nevertheless, studies emphasising the unique possibilities and responsibilities of graduate students as aspiring leaders are scarce. These agendas, often held by non-profits and other organisations external to the university, recognise the graduate students’ role as knowledge producers, and are regularly actualised through competitive international practicum placements and fellowships with a global outlook. By examining the Trudeau fellowship in Canada as a case study, the paper provides a constructivist conceptual framework for reading graduate students as potential epistemic leaders. The paper outlines the opportunities as well as the challenges of this approach by integrating global citizenship with the current inequities of global knowledge production and dissemination.