Online toolkit launched for universities to maximise on international collaborations

An open access online toolkit to help universities develop their international collaborations has been launched by The University of Northampton.

The launch of the toolkit was the conclusion of a £200,000 three year funded project by the Higher Education Academy's National Teaching Fellowships scheme.

Dr Dave Burnapp, Senior Lecturer in Leisure Management and Languages, Northampton Business School, project lead and National Teaching Fellowship holder, explains more about the toolkit and why it was launched:

Higher education is now a competitive, global industry. The sustainability of the sector is increasingly dependent on effective and growing international collaborations; universities which engage well in international collaborations will see increased profile and beneficial returns.

Our open access online resource has been developed to ensure that universities can maximise on their international collaborations; guiding them through the process and making sure that all the right steps have been taken to engage effectively.

The tool can be primarily used in two ways: for groups of staff working on an idea which will involve some form of international collaboration - it will help them in their initial planning stages and to identify issues which they must address, plus for senior managers to encourage new streams of activity which may include increased international collaborations - using this tool, perhaps as part of staff development or a team-building exercise, will help to identify the 'wider picture'. Collaboration is not just a management exercise and this tool encourages team-working across institutions.

Dr Burnapp

The open access toolkit INTERCOLLAB is available at http://nbsbitesize.northampton.ac.uk/intercollab-tool/interactivetool-intro.php - users will be guided through a series of questions about their international collaborations, allowing them access to advice and recommendations of how to progress, and who to involve, in their plans.

The project - 'The strategic implications of different forms of international collaboration: creating an interactive online toolkit to analyse the impacts of collaborations on institutional stakeholders' - was a result of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme project strand initiative funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and managed by the Higher Education Academy (HEA). Dr Burnapp received a National Teaching Fellowship from the HEA in 2007.