Ottawa — Canadian educators and the Iraqi government are increasingly frustrated over the Canadian government’s failure to respond to a request that it administer a scholarship program that would send 1,000 Iraqi students to Canadian universities.

“Iraq is putting up the money,” said Jim Fox, president of the Canadian Bureau for International Education, in an interview with The Chronicle here at the group’s annual conference. “However, they’re asking for assistance from Canada to provide support services, to manage scholarships. So far, Canada has not responded.”

Mr. Fox and his organization have been trying to work through the Canadian International Development Agency, a governmental arm that oversees education aid and development projects abroad.

The agency also drew criticism at the conference for failing to send a representative to sit on a panel this morning. That session featured officials from federal departments, such as foreign affairs and immigration, that deal with international-education programs. Canada is the only developed country without a federal office for education, which is regarded, under the Canadian Constitution, as a provincial responsibility. —Karen Birchard