- Monash Warwick Alliance enters a rolling, ongoing agreement – meaning that the partnership can make wider, long-term plans and boost intercontinental opportunities for students and researchers
- The Alliance created a new model for higher education collaboration: a co-developed partnership that extends to every layer of university life, seamlessly fusing the best elements of two institutions together
- Over 100 collaborative research projects, and over 500 co-published journal papers published – as well as over 1000 student mobility exchanges
- The Alliance has appointed joint professorships, and offers joint PhD & double MA qualifications
The Monash Warwick Alliance — which pioneered a new model for global higher education partnerships when established in 2012— is entering a bold new era, as the two universities sign a rolling agreement with no end date, enabling more deeply embedded collaboration and wider transnational opportunities for students and staff.
The Alliance will jointly invest in several major challenge-led initiatives which have the potential to produce truly transformational research. We are identifying fields of research which are of strategic importance to both University partners, and we will unite our complementary expertise to achieve vital breakthroughs. We are confident that organisations, both within and external to the HE sector, will join our effort to tackle these global challenges and make a real difference. We are proud to announce that the first two areas that have been identified are Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Particle Physics.
Established in 2012 by the University of Warwick (UK) and Monash University (Australia), two research-intensive institutions of a similar age and global reputation, the Alliance goes far beyond standard collaborative agreements in the sector, because it is fully integrated into every layer of university life.
From co-published interdisciplinary research, to joint innovations in teaching and learning, vastly increased international mobility for members of the Alliance community, and shared practice throughout professional services, the Alliance has been co-developed from its inception by colleagues on both Universities, combining the different complementary strengths of each institution.
This new bold era for the Monash Warwick Alliance, beginning February 2020, will see the two Institutions going from signing a new agreement every five years, to a permanent collaboration – cementing the Alliance's successes so far, and allowing for more enduring shared plans and investments around research and education.
The Alliance has won several awards, such as the Australian Financial Review 'Higher Education Award for International Education', and the 'Excellence in Innovation in Partnership and International Engagement' prize at the Victorian International Education Awards in Melbourne, Australia.
Some highlights of what the Alliance has so far achieved include:
- Over 100 collaborative research projects involving more than 600 academics
- Over 500 co-published journal papers — focusing on issues from improving women's rights in war zones and making big business more environmentally friendly, to eliminating drug-resistant superbugs and 3D-printing human tissue
- Over 1000 student mobility exchanges have taken place between the two Universitie
- Jointly appointed Monash Warwick Alliance Professors – uniting shared expertise in wide-ranging fields, including antimicrobial resistance, nanotechnology, energy, and healthcare improvement
- Joint PhD students working in disciplines such as medicine, arts, engineering, and social sciences; and a Double Masters in Journalism, Politics & International Studies
- The annual (and award-winning) International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR), led by Warwick and Monash, has enabled over 1,700 undergraduate students to share and discuss their research with peers, in real time via video link, across the globe
- 'Reinvention', a peer-reviewed journal of undergraduate research, has been established - currently at 29 online issues
- Attracting significant external co-funding
Professor Stuart Croft, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick, said:
"Although our campuses are geographically far from each other, the Warwick and Monash communities are united in our shared commitment to producing world-leading research, to creating new ways of teaching and learning, and to accelerating the movement of people and ideas.
"Together, we have a combined scope and capacity for research output greater than one institution would have alone – and in that collaborative spirit, we actively seek to solve emerging twenty-first century challenges and to improve life for citizens in the UK, Australia, and across the globe.
"Our Alliance broke the mould, testing a new type of international partnership in the sector, and our experiment has been an exponential success. This new phase of the Alliance will enable us be more ambitious, more inventive, and even more collaborative. Together, we will continue to write the future of higher education, to the benefit of our students, our staff, and the regional communities we serve."
Professor Margaret Gardner AC, President and Vice-Chancellor of Monash University, said:
"In a time of great change for the higher education sector globally, I am delighted that our alliance has proved a successful framework through which universities across the world can collaborate more closely to produce ground-breaking research and a quality education embedded in internationalism.
"Grounded in the unique model our relationship is founded on, we have harnessed our collective knowledge, and brought it together with partners in government, industry and the community to conduct interdisciplinary research and education that enacts real change for a better future.
"As we move to an ongoing partnership, the purpose and values of both universities and the alliance remain clear: to provide independent, rigorous scholarly research, education and expertise to better understand and contribute to solutions to the challenges of our times and our world."
Notes:
The University of Warwick
By 2030, Warwick will be one of the world's exceptional universities, helping to transform our region, country and world for the collective good. As one of the UK's top ten universities, and one of the top 100 in the world – the only UK University of its generation to achieve such progress – it is our responsibility to bring together our unique strengths of academic excellence, industrial partnerships, creativity and enterprise to plan with confidence for a more impactful future.
Monash University
For more than 60 years, we've been working to change the world. Our work improves health, solves complex global challenges and empowers whole communities. We're working every day to create real, lasting global change and we encourage and challenge our students to be at the forefront of innovating for a better future. Combining world-leading teaching, research, facilities and experiences, Monash University ranks in the world's top 100 universities.
