Six European universities are joining forces in a global education network for Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers to compare and rethink university reforms in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Rim.

Six European universities will collaborate in an education programme for researchers who will be examining the reforms currently influencing universities world-wide.  This new international project, ‘Universities In the Knowledge Economy’ (UNIKE) recently received a EUR 4 million grant from the EU's Marie Curie Actions programme.

"The project has a wide and international scope and involves six European universities and 16 universities from the Asia-Pacific Region. The purpose of the project is to establish a global network for researchers, who can critically analyse university reforms in different parts of the world," says Susan Wright, Professor at Aarhus University and head of the project.

Partnership between Europe and the Asia-Pacific Rim
The UNIKE project will pave the way for brand new international partnerships between universities in Europe and the Pacific Region.

"Globally, power is shifting to parts of Asia, and we are particularly interested in how they are reforming their universities and how they picture the future development of the region. Comparative studies of what is going on in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific Region are therefore vital in the UNIKE project," says Susan Wright.

New collaborations between universities and society
Four companies and four NGOs offer internships to the doctoral students enrolled in the project, who will then examine the collaboration between universities and the surrounding world.

"The researchers are to map the current situation and examine how the universities interact in a landscape with many different organisations and interests at stake. They will also examine how different systems of financing and managing universities are functioning currently. On the basis of this, we hope to come up with alternatives that may influence university development positively," says Susan Wright.

New positions
UNIKE will comprise of 12 new doctoral projects and three postdoc projects.  These positions are advertised on the UNIKE website www.unike.au.dk

Facts about UNIKE
UNIKE will be running over four years - from 2013 to 2016. Each semester, a workshop will be organised across borders for the researchers. One major conference will be held in Auckland, New Zealand, and a final conference in Copenhagen. Denmark.

The European Partner Universities:
Aarhus University, Denmark. Professor Susan Wright
Bristol University, United Kingdom. Professor Susan Robertson and Professor Roger Dale
Roehampton University, United Kingdom. Professor Rebecca Boden
Ljubljana University, Slovenia. Professor Pavel Zgaga
University of Porto, Portugal. Associated Professor António Magalhães
Ecolé Normal Superiour de Lyon, France. Prof. Jean-Louis Derouet and Reader Romuald Normand

Associated project partners – companies and NGOs:

• THE, Times Higher Education, UK, Phil Baty, Deputy Editor
• BB, Berghahn Books, UK/USA, Vivian Berghahn, Managing Director
• ACA, Academic Cooperation Association, Belgium, Bernd Waechter, Director
• GHK, GHK Consulting Limited, UK, Dr Nick Henry, Principal, Regions, Economic and Development Practice
• Routledge,  Taylor & Francis Group, UK, Graham Hobbs, Editorial Director
• APRU, Association of Pacific Rim Universities, Singapore, Prof. Christopher Tremewan, Secretary General
• SDC, Sino-Danish Center, Education and Research, Denmark / China, Prof. Hans Gregersen, Executive Director
• EURODOC, European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers, Belgium, Ludovic Garattini, President
• MCO, Magna Charta Observatory, Italy, Prof. Dr. Üstün Ergüder, President Istanbul Policy Center, Sabanci University, Turkey
• CIRGE, Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education, College of Education, University of Washington, USA, Prof. Maresi Nerad, Director

Associated project partners- universities

• UoA, The University of Auckland, New Zealand, Department of Anthropology and Centre for European Studies, Prof. Cris Shore
• ESSCA, ESSCA School of Management, France, Prof. Dr Wei SHEN, Professor of International Relations. Director of the ESSCA Shanghai Campus
• UP, University of Provence, France, The Laboratoire Méditerranéen de Sociologie (LAMES), Dr Corine Eyraud, Maître de conferences
• UCSB, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, Department of English, Prof. Christopher Newfield
• UCSC, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA, Department of Anthropology, Prof. Donald Brenneis
• CU, Cornell University, USA, Department of Anthropology, Prof. Davydd J. Greenwood
• DU, Deakin University, Australia, Faculty of Arts and Education, School of Education, Prof. Jill Blackmore, Director
• SU, The University of Sydney, Australia, Faculty of Education and Social Work, Prof. Anthony R. Welch
• HKIE, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, China, Centre for Governance and Citizenship, Prof. Mok, Ka Ho, Joshua, Associate Vice President
• HKU, The University of Hong Kong, China, Faculty of Education, Dr Rui Yang, Assistant Dean ZU, Zhejiang University, China, College of Education, Prof. Gilsun Song, Assistant Dean
• BNU, Beijing Normal University, China, Institute of International and Comparative Education, Prof. Liu Baocun, Director
• SJTU, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, Center on Graduate Education Research, College of Education, Prof. Shaoxue Liu, Director and Vice Dean
• NUS, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Asian Migration Research Cluster, Asia Research Institute, Prof. Brenda S.A. Yeoh, Cluster Leader
• TJC, Tokyo Jogakkan College, Japan, Prof. Takao Kamibeppu
• UKM, The National University of Malaysia, Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA), Distinguished Prof. Shamsul AB, Founding Director
• UBC, The University of British Columbia, Canada, Centre for Policy Studies in Higher Education and Training, Faculty of Education, Prof. Hans G. Schuetze

Further information

Website: www.unike.au.dk
Email: unike@au.dk

Please contact:
Professor Susan Wright
Department of Education (DPU)
Aarhus University
Email: suwr@dpu.dk

Aarhus University will be heading a global education network for PhD students to compare and rethink university reforms in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The young research talents will all be working on an international research project which recently received a DKK 31.6 million grant by the EU.

Six European universities will join forces to educate young researchers who will be examining the university reforms currently influencing the global university development. This will be part of the new international Universities In the Knowledge Economy (UNIKE) project. The project recently received a DKK 31.6 million grant from the EU's Marie Curie Actions Fellowship programme.

"The project has a wide and international scope and is initiated in collaboration with five other European universities and 15 universities from the Pacific Region. The purpose of the project is to establish a global network for researchers, including PhDs and postdocs, which can critically analyse university developments in different parts of the world," says Susan Wright,professor at Aarhus University and head of the project.

Europe can learn from Asia

The UNIKE project will pave the way for brand new international partnerships between universities in Europe and the Pacific Region.

"Globally, power is shifting to parts of Asia, and we are particularly interested in how they are reforming their universities and how they picture the future development of the region. Comparative studies of what is going on in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific Region are therefore vital in the UNIKE project," says Susan Wright.

New collaboration forms with the outside world

Four companies and four NGOs offer internships to the PhD students enrolled in the programme , who will then examine the collaboration between universities and the surrounding world.

"The young research talents are to map the current situation and examine how the universities interact in a landscape with many different organisations and interests at stake. They will also examine how the current financing types as well as management tools and styles are functioning at the universities and, on the basis of this, come up with  alternatives that may influence the university development positively," says Susan Wright.

Facts about UNIKE

UNIKE will be running over five years - from 2013 to 2017 - and will comprise 12 new PhD projects and three postdoc projects. Each semester, workshops will be organised across borders for the young PhD researchers.

Project partners: Times Higher Education, Berghahn and Routledge Publishers, The Association of Pacific Rim Universities in Singapore, The Sino-Danish Center in Beijing and the Magna Charta Observatory in Italy.  

Other institutions involved:

• The European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers
• The Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education at the University of Washington State, USA
• The Center for Graduate Education Research at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.

Several international conferences will be held in connection with the project – among others a two-week summer school in New Zealand in 2015 and a final conference in Denmark in 2017, which will be attended by all project researchers and partners.

Facts about the Marie Curie Actions programme

For further information, please contact:

Professor Susan Wright

Department of Education (DPU), Aarhus University
Email: suwr@dpu.dk