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Four leading British universities announce global alliance

Posted on 15 February 2000

Four leading British universities have announced their intention to form a partnership with four American universities in order to take advantage of the growing global markets in teaching and research.

The four - Leeds, Sheffield, Southampton and York - are linking up with four major American universities - the University of California at San Diego, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Their intention is to invite other major universities from around the world to join the group to establish a global alliance of leading universities, with a provisional title of Worldwide Universities Network.

The universities have agreed to collaborate initially on research, postgraduate degree programmes, and continuing professional development. They plan to produce common courseware, establish joint PhD supervision and develop common benchmarking standards. The initial focus of the collaboration will be on nine carefully selected areas where the partners already excel, ranging from environmental technology, through systems engineering, knowledge management and bioinformatics to public policy.

Commenting on the announcement, Professor Ron Cooke, Vice-Chancellor of the University of York, said:

"The three research-led universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York have been collaborating successfully for some years as the White Rose Group. This strong alliance, augmented by the like-minded University of Southampton is now seeking to collaborate internationally with comparable universities overseas, first in the US and, later, elsewhere."