Worldwide Universities Network

Worldwide Universities Network
Worldwide Universities Network logo
Established	2000
Members	18
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania,
Countries	Australia, Canada, China, Ghana, Hong Kong, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States
Chair	Dr Max Price, University of Cape Town
Executive Director	Professor John Hearn
General Manager	Nicholas Haskins
Acronym	WUN
Homepage	http://www.wun.ac.uk

The Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) is an alliance of 18 research-intensive universities. WUN provides financial and infrastructural support to member universities to foster international research collaboration and facilitate academic mobility.

Introduction

Founded in 2000, the Worldwide Universities Network is a nonprofit group of research universities from Australia, Canada, China, Ghana, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.

WUN originally comprised ten universities, but has since expanded. The current members are:

• University of Alberta
• University of Auckland
• University of Basel
• University of Bergen
• University of Bristol
• University of Cape Town
• University of Ghana
• Chinese University of Hong Kong
• University of Leeds
• Maastricht University
• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• University of Rochester
• University of Sheffield
• University of Southampton
• University of Sydney
• University of Western Australia
• University of York
• Zhejiang University

The network is funded principally by its member universities, who each pay an annual subscription fee.

Structure

WUN is managed by a Secretariat, which is responsible for the operations, communications and strategy implementation of the network.

Partnership Board

The Partnership Board provides entrepreneurial leadership of the company. The Board sets the strategic direction and vision of the company. The Board comprises the Presidents, Vice-Chancellors or Rectors of the member universities and the WUN Executive Director.

Chair: Dr Max Price, Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Town

Board Members

• Professor Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor, University of Ghana
• Sir Keith Burnett, Vice-Chancellor, University of Sheffield
• Professor John Hearn, WUN Executive Director
• Professor Paul Johnson, Vice-Chancellor, University of Western Australia
• Professor Koen Lamberts, Vice-Chancellor, University of York
• Sir Alan Langlands, Vice-Chancellor, University of Leeds
• Professor Wu Zhaohui, President, Zhejiang University
• Professor Dr Antonio Loprieno, Rector, University of Basel
• Professor Stuart McCutcheon, Vice-Chancellor, University of Auckland
• Professor Don Nutbeam, Vice-Chancellor, University of Southampton
• Professor Dag Rune Olsen, Rector, University of Bergen
• Professor Dr Martin Paul, President, Maastricht University
• Dr Indira Samarasekera, President, University of Alberta (Vice-Chair)
• President Joel Seligman, President, University of Rochester
• Dr Michael Spence, Vice-Chancellor, University of Sydney
• Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy, Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• President Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor, Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Sir Eric Thomas, Vice-Chancellor, University of Bristol

Academic Advisory Group

The Academic Advisory Group is responsible for overseeing the academic portfolio of the Network and advising the Partnership Board on strategic direction. It is made up senior administrators, usually at the level of Vice-President or Deputy Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for the research or internationalisation priorities of the member universities.

Institutional Coordinators

Each WUN member university appoints an administrator to manage the implementation of the WUN strategies and programs on campus and to serve as the main contact point for network initiatives. This group shares information on collaborative opportunities and develops WUN’s research programs.

Global Challenges

WUN has identified four Global Challenges as the focus for its thematic research areas. There are numerous research groups within each Global Challenge. They are:

Responding to Climate Change

The Responding to Climate Change Global Challenge encapsulates a number of research projects that address scientific, cultural, health and social issues relating to climate change. Broad themes of the research include:

• Drivers and pressures of climate change
• States of and impacts on systems affected by climate change
• Managing a response to climate change.

Public Health and Non-Communicable Disease

The Public Health and Non-Communicable Disease Global Challenge emphasizes a life-course approach to opportunities for addressing non-communicable diseases, especially in low and middle income countries and transitioning populations, as well as developed societies where there are social disparities in risk. There is a particular focus on:

• Health of family and migrants across the lifecourse
• Resilience of adolescents in different cultural contexts
• Schools as a setting for reducing risk factors associated with NCDs.

Understanding Cultures

The Understanding Cultures Global Challenge focuses on how globalization trends are challenging national, regional and individual cultural practices. These trends include A more integrated transnational economic system, the rise of global communications networks, increasing levels of population mobility, the advent of international consumer brands and widening social inequalities. There is a particular focus on:

• Global Migration and Population
• Generations in Global Context
• Chinese Culture in the World.

Global Higher Education and Research

The Global Higher Education and Research Global Challenge addresses the sources, mechanisms and social structures that give rise to higher education challenges, and proposes reform policies for international research and education. There is a particular focus on issues of access and equity of higher education.