JMU's International Consortium: The International Network of Universities

inu

James Madison University is a member of the International Network of Universities (INU), a consortium of universities which have agreed to co-operate to provide an international dimension to the curricula of their home universities through student, faculty and professional staff exchange, research and service projects. Current members include Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Hungary), Capital Normal University (Beijing, China), Flinders University (Adelaide, Australia), Harbin Medical University (China), Helsinki University of Technology (Finland), Hiroshima University (Japan), Universitas Katolik Parahyanagan (Indonesia), La Trobe University (Melbourne), University of Leicester (England), Malmo University (Sweden), Sichuan University (China), Yunnan University (China) and James Madison University. The oIP is working with INU partners to develop active, long-term collaborative relationships. Current projects include student exchange programs, a student teacher practica site, a psychology doctoral exchange program, and a Student Affairs professional staff exchange program. The International Network of Universities offers a rich array of possibilities for faculty and staff development around the world.

For more information, please contact the oIP Executive Director, Lee Sternberger, at 568-7002 or sternblg@jmu.edu.

The International Network of Universities: Leadership Strategies for a Global Partnership

By Lee Sternberger and Liz Carey

Introduction
During the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, a number of university groups—often with pre-existing relationships—banded together to form official consortia. These consortia—groups such as Universitas 21, the Santander Group, the Worldwide Universities Network, and the International Network of Universities—target and promote a range of group activities including student and faculty exchange, joint research, and online courses and programs. Often, in mission statements and strategic plans, university consortia will identify the provision of more opportunities to faculty (e.g., the shared use of scarce resources including funding, specialized skills, and research technologies), the chance for greater mobility for faculty and students (undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral), entrepreneurship particularly around the development of new technologies and online courses, clear and effective mechanisms for networking and communication, and systematic international engagement as rationales for working together. For example, the Santander Group describes itself as a “network with the aims of establishing special academic, cultural and socio-economic ties and of setting up specific and advanced facilities as well as privileged channels of information and exchange.”(1) Similarly, the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) notes that it is an “international alliance of leading higher-education institutions [which] builds on its partners’ commitment to research quality and innovation to develop collaborations in interdisciplinary areas of global significance.”(2) The increase in the number of consortia over the last fifteen years or so parallels the growing recognition of the impact of globalization on higher education and the need for “internationalized” institutions which better integrate outside perspectives, implement delivery methods accessible to a broader range of students, share scare resources, and systematically engage with international corporations, governments, NGOs, and higher education institutions.

Yet how do consortia actually function? What makes for an effective and efficient set of interrelated partnerships—often among quite distinct universities—that facilitate the missions of university consortia? In the context of this article, the authors—both of whom manage and promote consortium activities—will describe the International Network of Universities (INU) and the processes and strategies employed by the INU leadership for successful consortium management.

The International Network of Universities
The International Network of Universities (INU), founded under the leadership of the Vice Chancellors, Professor Michael Osborne (La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia) and Professor Ian Chubb (Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia) was formally launched in October 1999. The INU currently comprises thirteen members from Australia, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, the People’s Republic of China, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.(3) In launching the Network, INU President, Michael Osborne, noted that its aim was “to allow the member universities to provide a richer array of educational and research opportunities for students and staff than any one university acting alone. The INU would go beyond typical twinning programs by developing global access and mobility to internationalize degree programs by drawing upon the academic range of the partners.” In addition to the foundation of student mobility, current INU priorities include the development of a package of e-courses for member students, faculty, graduate student and professional staff (e.g., Student Affairs) exchanges, discipline-specific, applied study abroad, and collaborative research projects (e.g., the assessment of international learning).

Leadership, Commitment and Communication
So, how does the INU meet these goals? First, the INU is a president’s organization with the subsequent academic and financial commitment that offices of presidents can provide. Moreover, INU President Osborne and the INU Executive Committee have deliberately used communication strategies and meetings to build a sense of teamwork and member commitment, develop intra-group networks, and sign affiliation agreements. Stable leadership, including those serving as president, the secretariat, and member representatives, and regular meetings are crucial in moving from ideas to actual projects and tangible outcomes.

Furthermore, the INU consortium works because member universities have made a demonstrable academic and financial commitment, identified appropriate administrative and academic coordinators on each member’s home campus, and found effective means to network and communicate within the INU and at home (e.g., via the Secretariat, the administrative wing of the consortium) to find areas of cooperation. Professor Akira Ninomiya, who was appointed in April to serve as Assistant to the President for International Relations noted that the INU has served as a vehicle for dialogue at his home university, the University of Hiroshima. He describes the INU as “wonderful opportunity for the President of the University of Hiroshima to talk about the strategy of internationalization and for everyone of us to discuss our future.” Moreover, most consortia charge an annual membership fee that can range from as little as $2,500 to $35,000 or more. Membership fees—which foster a sense of real investment—can then be used to fund travel to meetings, student scholarships, shared research projects, web maintenance, and promotional materials. In essence, membership fees serve as seed money for the consortium itself.

Strategic Planning
In addition to the facilitation of a stable and committed membership and effective communication channels between the INU and home campuses, consortia leaders need to work together to identify clear goals and objectives and develop a mission statement and strategic plan that reflect the aspirations and strengths of the member institutions. Since its genesis five years ago, the INU is revising its vision statement and short-term work plan to better reflect the current needs of member institutions. Indeed, strategic plans are process-oriented documents that must reflect the dynamic interrelations of partner institutions as well as the changing missions of each partner campus. Consortia—given the complexities of a diverse membership—must work set reasonable time frames for consortia activities, continually evaluate progress toward goals and objectives, and revise framing documents as needed. Issues of quality assurance must be addressed, particularly when developing and marketing shared programs of study.

Targeted Membership
Third, membership in the INU has been a strategic process with the goal of forging ties among a diverse set of institutions. Member schools represent a range of cultures, student bodies, and research strengths including a number of major research-intensive and regional comprehensive universities. Many INU members are relatively “young” universities that aggressively seek international contacts and experiences, create innovative programming and delivery methods, and have embraced the internationalization movement. Other consortia have partnered along shared areas of research expertise (e.g., the WUN focus on the biological sciences, nanotechnology and other disciplines) or joint on-line endeavors (e.g., Universitas 21’s development of a package of e-courses). Of course, the legal and financial details of consortium agreements must be resolved early in the development of the consortium, including membership fees and use of those fees, resources use and intellectual property in shared research projects, licensing agreements, and tuition, and room and board payments during student exchange.

Conclusion: Communication Revisited
As a concluding point, communication between partner universities and the INU leadership, as well as the engagement of key home institution administrators, professional staff and faculty members are crucial to galvanizing individuals to action. Consortia leaders can employ a number of methods to communicate and promote activities including websites, annual reports, newsletters, press releases and articles such as this one to publicize joint ventures at home institutions, nationally and internationally. Sharing consortium activities with faculty, students and staff within each university community, identifying areas of collaboration, and then working between each home institution and the larger consortium group can be a time-consuming challenge. However, the benefits for students and faculty can be transformational. Consortia provide a ready networking mechanism among groups of committed institutions organized around a common set of purposes. As the Provost of James Madison University, Doug Brown, recently noted, “at a time when universities around the world face increasing fiscal constraints, the INU provides a dynamic and innovative set of possibilities for all its member institutions. Individual universities simply cannot provide the range of experiences students and faculty must have in order to excel within a global society. Consequently, our membership in the International Network of Universities is a vital and necessary component of our internationalization strategy.”

Dr. Lee Sternberger serves as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Executive Director of International Programs at James Madison University. Dr. Sternberger also serves on the Executive Committee of the International Network of Universities.

Liz Carey works in the Vice Chancellor’s Office at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia where she manages a number of special projects, including the administration of the International Network of Universities Secretariat.

Footnotes
(1) See the Santander Group website at http://www.sgroup.be.
(2) See the Worldwide Universities Network website at http://www.wun.ac.uk.
(3) Member universities include Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Hungary), Capital Normal University (PRC), Flinders University (Australia), Harbin Medical University (PRC), Hiroshima

This article was originally published online August 2004 on IIENetwork (accessible only via Login) and has been republished here on the oIP web site for your convenience.