I can't see your academic studies in Asia hurting, and it might help if they are looking for someone with that speciality, but even if they aren't the fact that you put in the time to get to know a particular area would be looked upon well I think. Doesn't mean, though, though that you wouldn't be assigned to deal with some place in Africa or such though.
I know of at least one guy that did a degree in Russian studies and then was working at the Canadian embassy in Moscow soon after (this was a while ago, though). But as the other poster mentioned, focusing your studies in one country/area won't preclude them sending you off pretty much anywhere.
If you want to work in Canada (particularly in the Canadian government), the consensus seems to be that the Paterson School at Carleton is your best bet. I don't quite know how it works in Canada, but I'd say language ability specific to a particular region is more important than having an entire degree focused on one region. I'd caution against "pigeon-holing" yourself into a region academically unless you're absolutely positive it's the only region you'd ever want to work with; a more "general" degree with solid language skills would work better if you're not. Keep in mind that your preferences may change as you develop professionally and academically - I wrote my undergraduate thesis on francophone Africa and I was pretty set on working with/in the region, yet I decided to give myself some time to really figure out what I wanted to do. Two years later, I still love francophone Africa, but I've discovered so many other topics/countries that are of interest to me as well, including topics I wouldn't have even thought of focusing on
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Once again, I don't know how it works in Canada, so take this for what it's worth, but I would talk to a professor, a career counselor at your school or somebody you know (who knows somebody who knows somebody) who works in the field you're interested in or at least knows something about it. They would probably be able to help you out by telling you whether studying abroad would help or hinder your career goals. By "hinder" I mean the opportunity cost of it more than anything - I would've loved to go galavanting around the world, but I knew that in order to get a job in DC, I had to intern in DC, which meant I had to stay put in DC for the time being. My experiences are DC-specific and not in the government sector, so again, check with somebody who knows something about the Canadian foreign service
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I am in pretty much the same boat, I want to do an IR masters focusing in Asia. The most important thing for me is to find a program that emphasis language. There are a few programs that give you a general IR degree and let you focus in a region & career track
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Currently my language of choice is Japanese, may switch it to Chinese but I'm not sure.
The overseas vs incountry is difficult, my IR professor highly suggested I go to uni in DC to create those connections & get experience within the US government. Though I am not writing off the Uni of Bristol or UCSD. As you work I would try to pay attention to where people went to school. If you had experience through work and those connections it wouldn't matter so much where you went to school.
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The overseas vs incountry is difficult, my IR professor highly suggested I go to uni in DC to create those connections & get experience within the US government. Though I am not writing off the Uni of Bristol or UCSD. As you work I would try to pay attention to where people went to school. If you had experience through work and those connections it wouldn't matter so much where you went to school.
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