A total of 20 courses are offered by all 10 IARU partner universities. The courses will take place between June and August 2014. Banco Santander supports the Global Summer Program also in 2014 with IARU-Santander GSP Scholarships. Applications are open until 28 February 2014.
Visit the Global Summer Program webpage to learn more.
GSP 2013 students on the roof of King’s College Chapel during a private visit
The IARU group on "Women and Men in Globalizing Universities" has shared data regarding women and men on the academic ladder, spanning from undergraduate students to faculty. In the workshop that was held at ETH Zurich in the end of October, the group analysed the compiled data. A further meeting highlight was a panel discussion on "Gender Stereotypes in Globalizing Universities".
At the end of September, the alumni directors of the IARU partner universities met at The University of Tokyo to discuss “The Role of Alumni in the University’s Global Strategy”. The directors also shared their best practices of each university and looked into the possibilities of organizing a joint IARU alumni event. On 3 October, all alumni from IARU universities living in Tokyo had been invited to a dinner reception to Restaurant “Goten” in the Sanjyo Conference Hall.
The 2013 IARU Global Summer Program (GSP) season is over. From June to August, a total of 368 students participated in one of the 19 courses hosted by the ten IARU universities.
Preparations for the 2014 GSP have already started. The GSP coordinators met on 9 - 10 September at ETH Zurich to review activities and make plans for next summer’s program. The 2014 GSP courses will be advertised on the IARU website at the beginning of January.
Former GSP participants
On 1 July 2013, the IARU Secretariat was handed over from NUS to ETH Zurich.
ETH President Prof. Ralph Eichler led the annual President’s Meeting in Singapore on 7 - 8 April 2013 which was also his first official meeting as the IARU Chair. About 30 IARU senior officials attended the meeting which served to deepen collaborations in the areas of education, research and institutional benchmarking.
Two new collaborations were approved - the IARU Sports Event for students and the EdTech Horizons workshop which will bring together educational technology experts who are responding to the EdTech tsunami that is confronting higher education.
Presidents and Senior Representatives at the 8th Annual IARU Presidents’ Meeting
From left to right: Prof. Peter Salovey (Yale), Sir Leszek Borysiewicz (Cambridge), Dr. Masako Egawa (Todai), Prof. Zhou Qifeng (Beida), Prof. Tan Chorh Chuan (NUS), Prof. Ralph Eichler (ETH), Prof. Ian Young (ANU), Prof. Thomas Bjørnholm (KU), Prof. Yoichiro Matsumoto (Todai), Prof. Nicholas Dirks (Berkeley) and Prof. Andrew Hamilton (Oxford).
IARU is pleased to welcome ETH Zurich President, Prof. Ralph Eichler who assumes the role of IARU Chairman on 1 January 2013. Prof. Eichler takes over from NUS President, Prof. Tan Chorh Chuan who completed a four-year term. Chief amongst the new chairman's interest for the alliance is to strengthen IARU's focus on Global Education Initiatives which has already benefitted many bright students.
A flagship initiative for IARU is the Global Summer Program (GSP), now in the 6th cycle. GSP2013 features 19 courses from all ten IARU universities. Students get to spend a few weeks at an IARU institution of their choice and discuss with their peers contemporary global issues approached from a multi-disciplinary perspective.
The GSP received a funding boost by Santander for scholarships to enable student mobility.
In the new year, IARU will look forward to its upcoming events - the Academic IP and Collaborative Technology Transfer in Beijing in March as well as the Presidents' Meeting in April which will be hosted in Singapore. In the latter, Presidents will discuss current issues affecting higher education including IT Enhanced Learning as well as the value of Liberal Arts Education.
The 7th Annual Presidents’ Meeting at the University of Copenhagen on 26 & 27 April was attended by seven university presidents and 23 senior representatives from IARU institutions. With the current chairman’s conclusion of his second term, the IARU Presidents unanimously elected Prof. Ralf Eichler from ETH Zurich as its third Chairman. Prof. Eichler will take over the helm of IARU on 1 January 2013.
IARU Presidents witnessed the establishment of a three-year partnership with Santander Universities that provides travel grants to Global Summer Program (GSP) students as part of the global bank’s corporate social responsibility. The first IARU-Santander scholarships have been awarded to a number of deserving GSP participants this year. IARU is grateful for Santander’s support which will enable more of our best students to participate in the summer program.
IARU Chair Prof. Tan Chorh Chuan with Santander Vice President, Mr. Salvador Medina (left); IARU Presidents and Senior Representatives (right)
Former Danish education minister and Senior Policy Advisor for the Institute for the Study of Labor, Prof. Jozef Ritzen, was the guest speaker on the issue of "Future Careers and the Impact on Higher Education". Presidents also approved two new initiatives – a conference on Sustainability Science Congress in 2014 (proposed by the University of Copenhagen) and the Academic IP Pooling & Collaborative Technology Transfer workshop (proposed by Peking University). This meeting also saw the continuation of conversations on the Value of Research Intensive Universities.
On 11 – 12 June, IARU librarians met in Singapore for the very first time to discuss best practices as well as to explore the possibility and value of creating a network. Two further Global Education Initiatives were run in Singapore - the 2nd Global Cross Disciplinary Tournament (26 July – 4 August) and the inaugural Graduate Student Conference (28 – 30 June).
Meeting of the IARU Librarians
Looking ahead, the 6th annual Global Summer Program Coordinators’ Meeting on 24 - 25 September will be hosted by Peking University and the 8th annual Senior Officers’ Meeting on 29 – 30 October will be hosted by Cambridge University.
University of Copenhagen will host the heads and senior representatives of IARU universities at the seventh annual Presidents' Meeting on 26 and 27 April. In anticipation and leading up to this meeting, several events are planned on 25 April including the second workshop on the value of research intensive universities and an Alumni Networking reception for IARU alumni currently living or based in Copenhagen. The later is a follow-up on the receptions hosted in New York (2011) and London (2010) that had a very good turnout of international alumni who took the opportunity to meet with their university's senior representatives.
In addition to strengthening networks, IARU will engage in discussions led by keynote speaker Professor Jozef Ritzen, former Dutch Minister of Education and Sciences. Former President of Maastrich University will speak about the future of careers for undergraduates and its implications on universities. Presidents will also discuss the overall direction of IARU initiatives, ideas on keeping the vitality of the Alliance, and elect the third IARU Chairperson for 2013.
With the closing of GSP applications on 2 March, IARU is pleased to report that the Alliance's summer program continues to receive strong interest from students. In particular, GSP attracts amongst the best students who are keen to engage with other IARU students through an intensive international summer program. To keep the strong momentum of this flagship program, Santander Universities will sign an agreement with IARU to provide sponsorship to fund student mobility from 2012 – 2014. The signing ceremony will also be held at the IARU Presidents' Meeting.
Last but not least, The University of Tokyo has reconvened the workshop on Women and Men in Globalizing Universities on 16 & 17 March. Gender and diversity specialists from eight IARU institutions met to share current practices and the state of progress in their individual institutions since the last meeting in 2008. At a separate meeting on 2 – 4 April, IARU Sustainability Officers met at the Australian National University for the third time.
The Alliance is starting the New Year with the much-anticipated launch of 21 Global Summer Program (GSP) courses on 9 January. The success of this initiative reaffirms the Alliance's commitment to bringing innovations in teaching and learning that is truly global in scope, transcending disciplinary, cultural and geographical boundaries. It continues to create opportunities for students from member universities to gain cross-cultural as well as cross-disciplinary exposure and experiences, and for faculty and staff to gain from deep and meaningful collaboration and exchange.
Now in its fifth year, GSP has also built up an alumni base. IARU recognises that GSP students have a valuable network which extends across ten leading global universities.