Extracurricular
University matters International engagement Dr Jennifer Barnes is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for International Strategy Jim Spencer
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n April 2013, in Melbourne, Australia, the Vice-Chancellor delivered the Richard Larkins Oration on the theme “Universities and the Poorest Billion”. The audience, made up of government officials, philanthropists, journalists, business and academic leaders, heard him argue for greater recognition of the role of universities in generating and communicating new understanding. Woven throughout were two strands: the way universities continue to reinvent the interplay between the theoretical and practical; and how universities must extend their contribution across institutions, borders and governments. In order to be a world-leading university, you must make good not only your place in the world, but your responsibility to the world. Cambridge has long been innately international. Over the centuries, scholars, politicians, poets and revolutionaries (often the same person) have come from around the world, seeking to experience the University’s ambience and expectations. Many leave lasting words or equations, such as Erasmus’s translation of the New Testament, the Chinese poet Xu Zhimo’s Farewell to Cambridge, which is known throughout China, or Ray Dolby’s PhD thesis discovering a way to extract ‘noise’ through x-ray microanalysis. That Cambridge brings ideas to the world is well understood. But there is an essential corollary: we need the right partnerships and people around the world, and increasingly this means being in other parts of the world. We start with the premise of understanding of our internal strengths, existing and emerging, and what makes us distinct from other universities. Since 2010, we have established 12 University-wide strategic initiatives and seven strategic networks, each of which have international components. When I travel to meet Cambridge alumni, potential partner organisations, and advocates on every continent, I am aware of how much expectation others have of us, based on their knowledge of the University’s contribution throughout its history, combined with their knowledge of significant developments or disruptive technologies in their own countries. Our approach is not rooted in expansion, but in establishing new work based on the most exceptional opportunities, alliances and individuals around the world. Today, that means working with our international part-
While other universities are establishing overseas campuses, Cambridge is basing its approach on partnerships
ners on clean energy in Singapore, translational medicine in India, or urbanisation in China. In Africa, the Carnegie Corporation has hailed our recent work as the exemplar of how a university should engage, bringing the most advanced research and partnerships together, in-country, to build stronger universities, public policy and government institutions. If we have been reticent in articulating the extent of our international engagement, it is only because we have not, until recently, chosen to present the University through an international lens. Yet our collegiate University encompasses Colleges, departments, a copyright library, College collections, museums, the Institute of Continuing Education, Cambridge Enterprise,
Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press, each of which is international; the last two, in particular, have long been integrated in business and education sectors around the world, and this, too, distinguishes us from other institutions. In discussion, we frequently test emerging proposals through our mission: “To contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.” In defining our international approach, we have gone back to first principles: significant numbers of longstanding international collaborations, often beginning between individuals, across the sciences and humanities. Increasingly we see a pattern of these early collaborations evolving into international teams, which then require additional post-doctoral researchers and create opportunities for PhD students. While other universities are establishing overseas campuses, Cambridge is basing its approach on partnerships, determined by the academics and their in-country partners. Jargon would describe this as “bottom-up meets top-down”. This could be mistaken for a reactive stance, but in fact the University has always been led by academics generating the agenda. Our aim is to identify and support those whose are leading work with an inherently international dimension, then putting in place the infrastructure for sustainable incountry programmes. In all this, our alumni are crucial – helping us build new networks and navigate complex systems. In 2013, we established an India Circle of Advisers, comprised of academic, government and business leaders based in India, to review our projects and advise on future initiatives. It is expected we will extend this approach to other parts of the world. The International Strategy Office welcomes approaches from alumni. If you have not already done so, get a sense of what we’re doing by having a look at the Global Cambridge pages on our website and find out more about what the University is planning in your part of the world.
www.cam.ac.uk/global-cambridge
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