Universities take a global approach to education

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

Twenty of the world's leading educational and research organisations will be hosted by the University of Adelaide this week to discuss the challenges of higher education in a globalised economy.

AC21 - the Academic Consortium for the 21st century - is an international network of universities from Germany, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Laos, the United States, South Africa and France.

This year it celebrates its 10th anniversary at a three-day conference hosted by the University of Adelaide on 12-14 June, discussing global research priorities, industry partnerships and student mobility, among other topics.

The Federal Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research, Senator Chris Evans, will give the opening keynote address on Tuesday 12 June to 120 delegates.

Other keynote speeches will be delivered by:

• Dr Christian Bode, recently retired Director General of Germany's Academic Exchange Service, one of the largest scholarship organisations for student exchanges in the world, with an annual budget of $530 million and an administration of more than 70,000 scholarships per year.
  
• Madam Zhang Xiuqin, Director General, Department of International Cooperation & Exchanges, Ministry of Education in China. Ms Zhang will discuss China's policy and strategies on international education.
  
• Professor Simon Marginson, Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne. Professor Marginson's address will focus on global implications of the rise of education in East Asia.

AC21 was established in June 2002 at the International Forum hosted by Nagoya University, where the principal theme was "The Role of Universities in the 21st Century".

This year's forum will discuss the challenge of keeping pace with "galloping globalisation" through more academic exchanges and partnerships, more expertise and better funding as well as a new vision of educational goals.

WHAT: AC21 International Forum
WHERE: National Wine Centre (hosted by the University of Adelaide)
WHEN: 12-14 June, 2012

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