On the day the 2018 World University?Rankings were announced, notable?figures in 中国A片 met?to discuss the way forward for?international research partnerships
A roundtable organised by Times?中国A片 in association?with Jisc, the UK body for digital?technology and resources in?中国A片, asked experts?to consider the future of research?collaborations against the backdrop?of Western populism and shifts in?global power structures.?Professor Peter Mathieson,?president and vice-chancellor of the?University of Hong Kong, argued that?the UK and Europe were becoming?“less and less relevant,” with the?中国A片 institutions of both?facing an “existential challenge”?regarding their dominance in?research and teaching.
“While populism may be sad for?you, it is not entirely sad for us,”?said Professor Tshilidzi Marwarla,?vice-chancellor and principal at?the University of Johannesburg,?describing how political?fragmentation in the West is driving?more student traffic within Africa,?as well as greater collaborations?between African institutions.
“Many of our students used to?go to North America and Europe,?but more are heading now to?China and Japan for postgraduate?study,” he said, describing the?West’s predicament as “a good?opportunity to expand the diversity?of the system”.
Given that Africa’s population?growth is predicted to double?in size by 2050, and with many?Asian nations investing a far?higher percentage of their GDP?in universities than their Western?counterparts, how long can?British and American institutions?realistically maintain their?dominance?
“It’s fair to say Africa?won’t lead research growth anytime?soon but the UK and US need to?engage with Africa, understand?their problems, and how Africa?can help them, else Europe and?other places will run the risk of?being left behind,” said Professor?Mathieson, who takes up the role of?vice-chancellor at the University of?Edinburgh next year.
“The same is true of Asia,” he said,?pointing not only to the scale but?also the “brilliant ability” that both?possess. “If we don’t engage, we will?be left behind.”
For Professor Shearer West,?vice-chancellor designate of the?University of Nottingham, the rise?in anti-expert culture across the?Anglo-American world was the most?worrying aspect of populism in the?West. “It’s completely in contrast to?what I see in Asia and other parts?of the world, which are so very proexpert?and pro-education,” she said.
“If we begin to pull apart in those?ways then we’re in real trouble.”
Integral to any issue in higher?education is finance. With the UK?facing the potential loss of European Research Council funding, could?there be a global council created?for the world, charged with bringing?together research on a global scale?
Professor Pam Thomas, pro?vice-chancellor at the University of?Warwick, agreed that while it would?be a “wonderful ambition”, the idea?of producing anything on a global?scale was “incredibly challenging”.
She argued that there would?need to be a first stage following?Brexit, which involved getting?bipartite funding relationships up?and running.
“Multilateral funding has put?Europe at the forefront of the?research agenda,” said Professor?Ian Walmsley, pro vice-chancellor?for research and innovation at the?University of Oxford, where half of?all institutional research outputs?are published with academic and?industry partners outside of the UK.
“Most research collaborations are?under the radar,” he said, stating?that the threat to UK universities’?research collaborations in the?future “may reflect itself around?immigration quotas; our ability to?exchange people”.
“Students are still within the?immigration cap,” he said. “Training?students, bringing them together, is?a key part of projects [that would]?potentially be challenging.”?
Paul Feldman, chief executive of?Jisc, said that many disciplines were?already operating on a global basis.
“Disciplines such as astrophysics?and particle physics have already?worked out that they need to ignore?national boundaries in terms of the?work they do,” he said. Pointing to
the European open science cloud?as an example of a big multilateral?collaboration that enables other?non-European nations to participate?was a recognition by Europe, he?said, that they “have a unique role?to play in delivering projects with?a multinational capability, in a way?that allows global collaboration”.
He?argued that it was “inconceivable”?that Europe would not want?continued collaborations with UK?researchers, but admitted that it?was hard to see how they could?do that in a Brexit context without?making the research framework?programme global.
“But that will only happen if?researchers act to make it happen. It?won’t happen passively,” he said.
When it comes to European?funding, “we can’t have it as good?as we did”, said Professor Funmi?Olonisakin, of King’s College London.
As research councils will have to?shift the forms of collaboration that?they forge in the future, “it matters?that there are those not around?the table having this conversation”,
she said.?Professor Olonisakin called?for a “truly global conversation”?to take place so that any new?funding arrangements wouldn’t just?continue to “reinforce the power
dynamics of the status quo”, but would allow “new forms of funding?with future power holders”.?
