University leaders debate challenges and benefits of HE cooperation: Transatlantic Dialogue Meeting: 20 - 23 June 2008
EUA President, Professor Georg Winckler, was among 30 higher education leaders from Canada, Europe and the United States, who gathered in Vancouver last week for the 11th Transatlantic Dialogue meeting.
Sponsored by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), the American Council on Education (ACE), and EUA, and hosted by Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia, the theme of the meeting was 'Brave New World Revisited: Competition and Cooperation in Higher Education'.
Underlying the meeting was clear agreement that the need for cooperation of all types becomes more acute as competition increases. Partnerships are a central strategy for institutions to increase their capacity, enhance their creativity and meet societal demands. Participants explored the different types of cooperation, including national, regional, and international partnerships (for teaching, research, and technology transfer) and partnerships with the private sector, government, and the local community.
The group highlighted the need for institutions to be clear about their strategic goals so as to select the partnerships that are most closely aligned with their missions and goals and to develop the appropriate institutional human resources and skills to implement them. These resources include administrative and academic personnel who have the appropriate, entrepreneurial, cross-cultural, and multilingual capacities to create and sustain successful partnerships.
The discussion demonstrated that the issues and challenges faced by institutions are becoming increasingly complex and interlinked. When the larger forces for change such as globalisation and competition are experienced by universities, these must be translated into appropriate institutional strategies to connect with local, regional and international partners
The meeting concluded with a discussion of the crucial role of that institutional leaders play in initiating and negotiating partnerships and in communicating their benefits to colleagues and external stakeholders. If higher education is to be even more central to social, economic, and cultural development, its leaders will need a broad range of skills to ensure that institutions succeed in this new 'brave new world'.
Click here to find out more about the Transatlantic dialogue.
Published on: Friday, 4 July 2008 10:34