Managing Global Universities master class in Malaysia

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An intensive one-week programme for university leaders operating or planning overseas branch campuses is taking place in Kuala Lumpur and at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.

Now in its second year, the International Leadership Conference: Managing Global Universities will provide practical advice and guidance. Senior managers and leaders will meet to discuss global higher education, hear research findings and share experiences of developing and running campuses abroad.

The programme — designed and delivered by professional managers responsible for planning and running Nottingham’s campuses in Asia with contributions from other international experts in HE — builds on this UK University’s leading reputation in global higher education.

Delegates are gathering from seven UK universities, two with campuses in Malaysia, an Australian university with a presence in Malaysia, from Belgium, China, and a US university in Qatar, and other representatives from Singapore and Malaysia.
This specialised conference will present speakers from the Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT), part of Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education; The British Council; the UK’s 1994 Group of Universities and the Higher Education Academy; Boustead Holdings Berhad, Benoy Architects, SERCO Group and the event’s media partner, Times Higher Education .

Speakers from Malaysia, Monash University and Georgetown University — Qatar will give their perspectives on branch campuses and partnerships, and i-graduate, the International Graduate Insight Group, will represent on benchmarking the global student experience.

Speaking about the last year’s conference, the University of Reading’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for International and External Engagement, Professor Steven Mithen, said: “Attending the first ‘International Leadership Conference: Managing Global Universities’ last autumn in Ningbo, China was of considerable value in developing the internationalisation strategy for the University of Reading.

“It was a valuable mix of high-level strategic discussion and knowledge-sharing to gain practical insights from university leaders with experience of building and running campuses overseas.”

The University of Nottingham is a global university with campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia. The International Leadership Conference builds on Nottingham’s strengths as a successful research-led UK university with an excellent reputation for international leadership and management.

Nottingham established its campus in Malaysia 11 years ago and won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade in 2001 for that initiative. It won another Queen’s Award in 2006 to mark its distinction as the first foreign university in the world to receive a license to open a campus in China.

The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) opened in China in 2004, and now has more than 5,000 students. All degree programmes are taught in English and students receive a British-style education and UK degrees from The University of Nottingham.

During the week-long programme a selection of the following subjects and issues will be covered in lecture, workshop and seminar sessions:

• developing university strategy
• different approaches to internationalisation
• enterprise
• effective financial management
• development and fundraising
• capital planning
• building research capacity
• leadership in an international context
• quality, ratings and rankings
• international partnership
• leading innovation in teaching and learning
• marketing on the global stage
• global governance

Nottingham’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Greenaway, as well as the University’s Registrar, Chief Financial Officer, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation, and Directors of and Marketing and Development will all participate in keynote plenary and workshop sessions which will run daily, interspersed with other activities next week.

The University of Nottingham’s links with Malaysia go back 60 years. In 1950, the first group of Malaysian students arrived in Nottingham. That nation’s association with the University has seen Nottingham graduates such as YAB Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, the current Prime Minister of Malaysia, become leading members of society.

In 2000, The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) first opened its doors to just 90 students in Kuala Lumpur. Since then, our student body in Malaysia has grown to around 4,000 — including more than 70 nationalities — based at our 101-acre dedicated campus site in Semenyih. It is celebrating its eleventh anniversary this month.

“We are proud to be hosting this conference featuring global thought leaders in higher education,” said Professor Ian Pashby, CEO and Provost of The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.

“It is appropriate The University of Nottingham should play a lead role facilitating this since internationalisation is a core feature of our strategy. This has resulted in global research partnerships, international mobility for graduates as well as borderless knowledge transfer.”

Find out more about the International Leadership Conference: Managing Global Universities at www.nottingham.ac.uk/internationalleadership , @GlobalHE on Twitter, or The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus at www.nottingham.edu.my .