Carefully selected and maintained partnerships are the only viable option for joint programming and student exchanges. The question is how to develop a balanced portfolio. Neither random sampling nor singular focus help us fulfill our mission. So we must look to several options for stratifying the world. Stratification by historical political quadrants East/West and North/South is dated and does not align with current thinking. Because we are ultimately interested in world dynamics particularly as it relates to world food and resource sustainability, we stratify regions/nations according to their stage and path of development, namely:
- developing economies [Middle America, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia],
- emerging economies [China, India and Brazil
- developed economies [Japan, European Union, United States]
Our goal is to partner with a manageable number of key institutions in each of these regions.
Ideal institutional partner
Although University rankings may encourage us to bask in the glow of eminent universities such as Stanford, Columbia, Harvard or Oxford, our attention is drawn to institutions that may help us grasp world dynamics by triangulating their very different views and experience. Within the 3 economic zones, we recognize 6 key elements for sustaining productive collaboration.
- shared mission and profile of academic programs and units
- security to ensure that students and staff can work safely
- prospect of significant student exchange and/or research collaboration
- enthusiastic support by senior institutional officials about prospective partners
- financial means [scholarships, sponsorships] to ensure sustainability
- above all, a champion at each institution committed to making the partnership work
Managing partnerships
Institutional partnerships must be much more than academic tourism. Hosting reciprocal visits must quickly transform into real collaborative engagement.
Partnerships often have unexpected beginnings and evolve in unanticipated directions so flexible formal agreements are necessary. We usually begin with a general cooperation agreement that simply states that the two institutions would like to explore opportunities together. No commitment of resources is usually made at this stage.
The general cooperation agreement identifies the liaison officers and provides full contact information. The initial exploration is followed by specific work plans that are attached as appendices. Expiry dates [five years after signing] provide a decision point. Liaison officers are required to file activity reports annually.
Our current portfolio of active agreements includes representative institutions from each of the three economies. Partnerships in China and Mexico currently dominate. We now have a foothold in India and West and East Africa. There are fewer in the developed world but mainly because formal agreements usually are not necessary for collaboration. The tendency, rather, is to join university networks such as World Universities Network. Undergraduate student recruitment from Europe and the United States has been ineffective but we have realized opportunities for student work experience through programs like TransFor, IASTE and ISAEC.
Although we are happy to facilitate research partnerships identified by departments and individual professors, the faculty office focuses on opportunities for student recruitment and undergraduate student exchanges. Of the many contacts that have been made, several show significant promise.
