Our international reputation and standing continues to grow, with 2015 being an active year of engagement with our partners across the globe. Over the past 12 months we have hosted more than 66 high level delegations, including international universities, governments, research funding agencies, scholarship bodies, and NGOs – with the aim of promoting our learning and teaching strengths, research, teaching and learning activities and encouraging international collaboration.
During this time the International Relations (IR) team has worked closely with faculties, key offices and research centres including PACE, the Office of the DVC (Research), CUDOS and the SIMHUB on visit programs for delegations from 29 countries. These activities have included workshops, networking events, symposiums and tours of our facilities.
“International visits play an important role in ‘emboldening the University’s international recognition’ as set out in ‘Our University: A Framing of Futures’,” explained Michele Robinson, Associate Director International Relations.
“They build and strengthen relationships, identify synergies and deliver strong outcomes, including funding to support staff and student mobility, joint research and teaching programs and scholarships,” she says.
Key visits have included the Vice-Chancellors/Presidents of Uppsala University (Sweden), China University of Geosciences-Wuhan (China), and North-South University (Bangladesh), the Hamburg-Fudan research workshop, a delegation of 15 National Universities from Japan, and government delegations from China, Vietnam, Russia, France, Germany, Korea, and the European Union.
In the last week IR has hosted visits from the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, French higher education and research institutes including the CNRS; as well as German organisations, including the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the German Research Foundation.
“Collectively, these organisations administer more than €2 billion [just over $2.9 billion AUD] of funding, making them heavyweights when it comes to international research,” says Michelle.
Macquarie also actively engages with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (in Australia and overseas), Austrade and the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet – all of whom are tasked with promoting Australian higher education and research internationally. The IR team has participated in roundtables and hosted one-on-one meetings with Australian Heads of Mission and Trade Consuls to a number of countries including Mexico, India, the Philippines, Iran, France, the US and China.
“We are looking forward to an even busier year to come,” says Nicole Brigg, Director of Macquarie International. “We would like to thank all of our partners across the University for their support during 2015, which was a great success.”
For further information on past and upcoming events involving the International Relations team, please contact Michele Robinson, Associate Director, International Relations at (michele.robinson@mq.edu.au).