International dimensions of higher education in nursing in Canada: tapping the wisdom of the 20th century while embracing possibilities for the 21st century.

New focus on the internationalization of universities occurred in the late 20th century and higher education in nursing has been quick to embrace the opportunities. In this manuscript, writers provide a brief overview of the nursing and more general literature from the late 20th century relating to key dimensions of internationalization, as well as present data from a survey conducted in 1995-96 of the international activities and dimensions at Canadian faculties/schools of nursing. While it is clear that nurses in Canadian universities were engaged in significant international endeavours in the 20th century, the literature and our experience suggest that the extent of such activity has increased substantially in recent years. Discussion centres on examination of how knowledge generated in the 20th century can inform current internationalization initiatives and on identification of key questions that merit consideration as we move forward in the 21st century.