Martin Henson

JNU-Essex Alliance ...

The Vice Chancellors of the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, Professor B B Bhattacharya (middle) and the University of Essex, Professor Colin Riordan (right) signed an agreement that establishes an institutional alliance between the two universities. 

The Alliance creates a close bond between the universities, integrated vertically from the Vice Chancellors downward, and horizontally across almost all the academic areas that the institutions have in common. In addition the aim is to make connections between areas of professional service too.

 

 

Delegation from the University of Oslo ...

The University hosted a delegation from the University of Oslo on Thursday, 5 February, headed by Professor Knut Heidar, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The main topic of discussion concerned our differing approaches to the delivery of research degrees, in particular the PhD. The visit also provided an opportunity to revisit our existing student exchange agreement, and to consider ways to extend this. A new dialogue has been established between Professor Jay Mitra, who leads our Centres for Entrepreneurship Research and Global Accountability, and Professor Merle Jacob, who heads the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture at the University of Oslo.

JNU delegation at Essex ...

We were delighted to host a visit to Colchester from Prof Vaishna Narang and Prof H C Narang, from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. Prof Narang visited Prof Andy Spencer and Dr Sonja Eisenbeiss in the Department of Language and Linguistics. Prof H C Narang visited Prof Peter Hulme in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies.

Among other discussions, plans for a workshop on common interests in Linguistics at JNU in March were developed. Prof Spencer and Dr Eisenbeiss hope to travel to Delhi in the next couple of months.

Third International Conference on World-Class Universities ...

 

The Third International Conference on World-Class Universities (WCU-3) was held on 2-4 November, 2009, organized by the Centre for World-Class Universities, Graduate School of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It attracted more than 160 delegates from 40 countries, with three keynote lectures and 25 presentations. The conference brought together researchers, university leaders, policy makers, government officials and other stakeholders to discuss major developments and issues in the field of world-class universities.

The conference had four themes, the Role of World-Class Universities in National Systems; Institutional Practices of Building World-Class Universities; Theoretical and Historical Aspects of World-Class Universities; and Ranking and Classification of World-Class Universities. During the conference, academics and scholars from different higher education institutions, research institutions and organizations around the world presented papers and carried out discussions on these themes. National and institutional practices of building world-class universities, highlighted through case studies and related theoretical frameworks, were presented and reviewed. The next conference will be held in November 2011.

via www.arwu.org

Visit to Universitas Gadjah Mada

An excellent few days spent in the company of colleagues at the Universitas Gadjah Mada, one of the most important universities in the region. I gave three talks, two of them informal – to faculty members and to students. I also gave a keynote presentation "The Strategic Management of Research — an international perspective" at the International Conference on Higher Education Management, that took place between 14 and 15 October.

We later discussed many issues of mutual interest, including educational and research opportunities between our two universities, and we are looking forward to welcoming colleagues from UGM to Essex in the near future.

China 60 celebrations ...

The Education Department of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Scholars Association of the United Kingdom hosted a fabulous reception and gala performance to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Republic at Westminster Central Hall.

Dr Hock Meng Tan …

We were delighted to welcome Dr Hock Meng Tan and his wife to the University. Dr Tan is Vice President and Director of the Corporate Performance Manage Center at HELP University College in Malaysia. It was a pleasure to meet and discuss matters of mutual interest and exchange views on Higher Education in the UK and in Malaysia.

Visit from Southeast University, China

 

 

We were delighted to host a delegation of senior academic managers from the Southeast University in China today.

SEU is located in Nanjing, the former capital of China; it was founded in 1902, is one of the top 20 universities in China, in the top 10 for scientific research, and has 5 disciplines ranked in the top 5 within the country, including biomedical engineering and wireless telecommunication. There are over 27,000 students at SEU, of which over 10,000 are postgraduates. So, SEU resembles Essex in having an unusually high proportion of postgraduate students, if not in its overall size!

The Delegation was headed by Prof Wang Baoping, SEU's Vice President; he was accompanied by Prof Shi Lanxin, Director of the Office for International Cooperation; Prof Keting Gui, Executive Vice-Dean of the Graduate School; Prof Jianlong Chen, Dean of the Department of Mathematics; Prof Chen Xiaoshu, Deputy Dean of the School of Information Science and Engineering; and Prof Guo Xiaoming, Director of Personnel.

We all look forward to developing further the educational and research collaborations that we have already established.

I hope to visit SEU towards the end of next month.

Star Awards for International Education

The Language Travel Magazine Star Awards for International Education were awarded at a ceremony at the London Hilton on Park Lane on 5 September. The International Academy of the University of Essex was the main sponsor of the event.

Visit to the University by Professor Olusegun Oke

The University of Essex was delighted to host a visit by Professor Olusegun Oke, council member of the Osun State University in Osogbo, Nigeria -- a new university founded in 2006.

Prof Segun was educated at Reading and Cambridge Universities and has previously spent time as a visitor at Sussex. He was the founding Vice Chancellor of the University of Technology, LAUTECH in Ogbomoso.

We are looking forward to taking our discussions forward into actions that will create exiciting links between the University of Essex and the Osun State University.