Worldwide Universities Network

Updated on Jan 27, 2024

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Established 2000 Executive Director Professor John Hearn		Members 20
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 Professor Joseph Sung, Chinese University of Hong Kong

The Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) is an alliance of 20 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

National Cheng Kung University

Renmin University of China

University of Rochester

University of Sheffield

University of Southampton

University of Sydney

University of Western Australia

University of York

Zhejiang University

National Cheng Kung 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: Professor Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Board Members

Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, 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 Dr h.c. Andrea Schenker-Wicki, Rector, University of Basel

Professor Stuart McCutcheon, Vice-Chancellor, University of Auckland

Sir Christopher Snowden, 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

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

Professor Hugh R. Brady, 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.

References

Worldwide Universities Network Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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