The document discusses the evolution of universities over four phases from medieval times to present. It then examines various partnership models between universities internationally and regionally to promote capacity building. Specific examples of successful partnerships that helped development are provided, such as between Sri Lankan and Dutch/UK universities. Overall, the document argues that partnerships are vital for capacity development at universities in developing countries as they stand to benefit greatly through collaborative arrangements that facilitate staff training, curriculum development, and student/staff mobility.

1. IAU Sao Paulo Conference, July 25-29, 2004
12th General Conference: The Wealth of Diversity
Parallel Workshops – Session II
Institutional linkages, networks and mobility schemes: Which way to capacity building?
H.M.Nissanka Warakaulle, Executive Secretary, Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Directors,
Sri Lanka
Four Phases.
Universities were created in mediaeval times. Britain, France, Italy and Germany were amongst the
first countries to establish universities. We could see four clear phases of evolution if we were to
sketch a broad pattern of university development over the last one hundred years or so. If we take the
Commonwealth of Nations as an example of this evolution, the first phase would be the spread of
modern academic institutions and forms of tertiary education based on a mixture of Oxbridge and
London, the British model of the nineteenth century university.
Then it is the period 1940s to the 1960s, characterized by the consolidation and refinement of the
previous pattern of development, the autonomous evolution of the institutions established and their
substantial expansion. During this period, as far as the external linkages were concerned, it saw the
emergence of a new relationship between countries and universities, especially in the form of
scholarship funding, from both national budgets and development assistance, for undergraduate and
research-oriented graduate studies abroad. We also see as a form of undefined and unconscious
partnership, the huge outflow of outstanding personnel from the developing world to the advanced
industrial countries, the “brain drain” and the “diaspora”.
The third phase from the 1970s to the 1980s saw the massive expansion and democratization of higher
education, and also, unfortunately, in many instances, the lowering of standards. But this phase also
saw the introduction of new subject areas such as Business Management and Communications, and the
widening of academic and research horizons.
In the fourth phase, starting in the 1980s, saw the beginnings of new linkages between countries in the
fields of tertiary education and research, which later became one of the most significant new
tendencies of the 1980s along with the spread of computer usage and computer studies.
It is not possible to say whether effective co-operation exists in, say, the Caribbean, in Africa or the
South Pacific, where transitional university linkages seem to be much more extensive than in South
Asia. It is sadly true that South-South co-operation in the form of active collaborative partnerships is
virtually non-existent. What exists is a large flow of students- largely undergraduates but also a few
graduates- from the smaller countries in South Asia such as Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka to
the well-developed universities in India, and to a lesser extent to Pakistan and South-East Asia.
There are many challenges in formulating and formalizing meaningful partnerships in higher
education. This is the case whether the partnerships are local, national or international. There are some
basic criteria, which are essential to establishing and developing a partnership or linkage. They are
1. The external environment should be collaborative rather than competitive
2. The missions of the partner institutions should be compatible
3. There must be mutual trust between the institutions
4. There must be mutual respect for the strengths of the partner institutions
5. There must be complimentarity in the areas of expertise

2. Collaboration or linkages between partners in reasonably close proximity is more likely to be
successful than other partnerships because of the ease of personal contact and potential for joint
facilities.
Linkages can bring about greater economies of scale in some areas, particularly those with expensive
and highly specific equipment needs, at a time when there is less resource available for equipment.
They will also give more opportunities for interdisciplinary research. Though interdisciplinary
research is often intra-institutional, there are many examples where there is a need to involve both
institutions to put together the most effective research teams.
Europe and Asia.
We will focus attention on an extensive link programme which assists a number of institutions. This is
the Asia Link Programme of the European Commission which is a new initiative to promote regional
and multi-lateral networking between higher education institutions in EU member States and South
Asia, South-East Asia and China. The aim of this programme is to promote the creation of new
partnerships, reinforce existing ones between European and Asian universities, and create new
sustainable links. A key requirement in this regard is the need for reciprocal understanding and to
strengthen the mutual awareness of European and Asian cultural perspectives through enhanced co-
operation in the higher education sector.
This programme, whilst aiming to promote co-operation in the field of higher education between EU
Member States and South Asia, South-East Asia and China, it also serves as a framework for a broad
range of activities aimed towards promoting mutual awareness and understanding, exchanges and
economic co-operation between the two regions
Through this link the aim is for Human Resource Development, Curriculum Development and
Institutional and Systems Development. The co-operation projects aim to upgrade the skills of the
university teaching staff, in particular young faculty staff, postgraduate students and administrators.
Another aspect that this link aims at is to develop curricula, producing new improved courses,
modules or teaching /training materials.
The third aspect of development through this link is the enhancement of the overall management of
higher education institutions through the sharing of know-how between Asia and European
institutions.
Sri Lanka.
In Sri Lanka, we have had universities having link arrangements with foreign institutions, sometimes
between the two institutions concerned, sometimes between a department of a university with an
academically comparable department of a foreign university. Where these links have been with
universities or departments of universities in developed countries, the arm of the link at the Sri Lankan
end has stood to gain by way of buildings, equipment, human resource development or mutual
exchange of teachers and/or students. These link arrangements have been of great advantage to the Sri
Lankan universities in that they have ,at various times, assisted to establish academic departments,
draw up the curriculum and commence new academic programmes, the local teachers to obtain their
postgraduate degrees in the partner university, teachers from the foreign university to do some
teaching on the programmes, etc.
Two very strong link arrangements amongst the universities in Sri Laanka in the early 1980s were that
between the Departments of Sociology and Geography of the University of Colombo and the
Netherlands University Fund For International Co-operation (NUFFIC) in the Netherlands, and the
one between the Department of Statistics of the University and the Department of Mathematics of the

3. University of Reading in the UK. These two links helped the University of Colombo tremendously by
way of postgraduate training for young faculty in the Netherlands and the UK, enhancement of
teaching equipment, setting up of new courses, etc.
Regional Groupings.
There are regional and international groupings of institutions to foster institutional growth, human
resource development and student mobility. Two recent regional groupings of this nature to come into
existence are the University of the Indian Ocean and the Indian Ocean Rim Academic Group. Both
these groupings focus on student mobility, regional growth and human resource development. These
regional groupings have benefited the University of Mauritius by opening it up to the region and
fostering new international liaisons and improving collaborations. A multi-university degree
programme will be a future goal for the University of the Indian Ocean, focused on a topical subject
area such as diaspora, whereby all participating students attain the same recognized level of education,
leaving none at a disadvantage in terms of mobility potential.
The International Network of Universities(INU) is another group of universities in which the
institutions are collaborating to provide a global dimension to their courses and to increase student and
staff mobility by offering study opportunities at partner institutions. This programme concentrates on
international rather than regional movement at undergraduate level. At present there are eight
members in Australia, China, Finland, Indonesia, Japan and Spain. The value of INU lies in the
opportunity it offers English speaking students to travel and gain first hand experience of other
cultures and to develop the practice of building networks which over a period will feed into
international business practices.
Then we have the Universitas 21 which is an international network of comprehensive, research
intensive universities spanning North America, Europe, and East and South-East Asia, and established
to achieve the kind of practical outcomes that none of the individual members would be able to
achieve independently or through traditional bilateral alliances. The objective of this network is to
assist the capabilities and aspirations of its members to become global universities and to advance
their plans for internationalization. This is a major step towards the creation of a global e-education
enterprise.
The links and partnerships between universities, whilst assisting to bring the universities closer to each
other , they also help to bring about mobility of teachers and students between universities. Staff and
student mobility between partner universities is a vital aspect of link arrangements.
Earlier, mobility of students was confined to those going out to obtain postgraduate qualifications. In
the case of countries such as Sri Lanka , these persons were sent to either the United Kingdom or the
United States for this purpose. But unfortunately it never happened the other way except in very rare
cases such as when Fulbright scholars from the USA came for short periods. But with the link
arrangements there were movements of teachers and students in either direction. I am not sure whether
there is effective co-operation amongst universities in say, the Caribbean, in Africa or the South
Pacific, where transitional university linkages seem to be much more extensive than in South Asia. It
is sad but true that active collaborative partnerships between universities in South Asia is virtually
non-existent. What exists is a flow of students, mostly undergraduates but also a few graduates, from
the smaller countries of South Asia such as Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, to the well-
developed and partly privatized universities of India, and to a much limited extent to Pakistan and
South –East Asia.
Mobility of students in regions or even within a country could be achieved successfully only if there is
a common credit transfer system amongst the universities. This is something that has to be put in place
for greater numbers of students to move from one university to another, and may be back to the
original university to complete the course. Even with Universitas 21, a protocol for student exchange
arrangements has been drafted and a related project is exploring mutual recognition arrangements to

4. simplify the recognition of course credits between member universities to take parts of their courses in
other countries.
A very successful example of student and staff mobility is the European Union’s Socrates/Erasmus
Programme where more than a million people have taken advantage of the programme since its launch
in 1987, to pick up new skills, learn another language and see new ways of working. There are
approximately 2500 universities in 29 European countries involved in the programme, which
introduces persons to new ideas and another culture.
However, an analysis of student flows have shown an imbalance towards countries where the language
of instruction is English. Thus the UK receives more than double the number it sends, while Bulgaria,
for example, receives only one incoming student for every 20 that it sends. This imbalance has to be
rectified as a key objective of Erasmus is to promote balance and equity.
Swedish Initiatives.
There is much to be gained, especially to a small country, from a high level of student mobility, even
if the student settles in another country upon completion of training. Take the case of Sweden, which
is not small geographically or in terms of GDP, but its population is only nine million. The higher
education and research system is finding it difficult to cater to the needs of Sweden’s industries,
especially in producing highly skilled scientists and engineers in sufficient numbers.
Mobility has been encouraged in Sweden by changing the student loans system so that Swedish
students can study at any accredited institution in the world; and by establishing agreements with other
countries so that , for example, 1400 Chinese staff and students study in Swedish universities. Sweden
has found that the experience of developing countries is valuable to students from developed
countries, especially in the medical fields. With a view to assisting in this, the Linnaeus-Palme
Programme has been launched which enables Swedish faculty and students to gain experience in
Africa and other regions. There are scholarships which fund students from emerging market
economies to undertake Master’s programmes in fields such as engineering, public health and
economics in Swedish universities, in the hope that they may step on to do their PhDs or work for
international Swedish companies after returning to their home country.
For a small country in a global climate, there is no real alternative to stimulating student mobility.
Both inward and outward mobility generate vital networks and this can also help to counter the
shortage in human resources pool which industry desperately requires.
Partnerships a vital link.
It is quite clear that institutions stand to gain through linkages, networks and mobility. In the case of
all three systems, it would mostly be one way, with one of the two partners gaining and the other
partner only assisting. But now with the establishment of networks amongst universities, it has been
possible for all participating partners to gain. It must be admitted that it is mostly the institutions and
personnel of developing countries, which benefit from these programmes, and some of them have
stood to gain immensely, especially during the period when only a link arrangement was possible.
Such institutions developed their departments as well as their teachers through this experience.
Therefore, these partnerships are vital for universities in developing countries, as they stand to gain
immensely by these collaborative arrangements.
Bibliography
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Fielden, John, [2000] The World of Partnerships.

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