I am pleased to announce that STINT’s new website is now online. I hope it will provide a better, clearer overview and will be experienced as more modern. One of the aims of the redesigned website is also to highlight STINT’s role as a knowledge resource on strategic internationalisation of higher education and research.
Our trend analysis initiative, particularly in China, has proven to be timely. Internationalisation has become a complex tool requiring both knowledge and strategic planning. I was recently interviewed by Universitetsläraren about this. At the start of the year, I had the opportunity to participate in AIEA, a large US conference on internationalisation. This year there was a focus on strategic internationalisation, and the lack of data and analysis to support university leaderships in internationalisation was noted.
The need for trend analysis and knowledge on internationalisation is also highlighted by Dr Agneta Bladh in the final report of the Internationalisation Inquiry. Here Dr Bladh regards the office that STINT recently launched in Shanghai, with its Sweden-based component, as being in line with the pilot offices the Inquiry recommends establishing to support the strategic internationalisation efforts of higher education institutions. It is further positive that the Inquiry emphasises that STINT, as an independent actor, has the opportunity to act as an intermediary between different public agencies. STINT’s response to the inquiry will focus on our role as an intermediary and knowledge resource in supporting the strategic planning at higher education institutions through trend monitoring and analysis.
The independence STINT and its sister foundations enjoy allows us to be more dynamic than the large government funders. We therefore complement each other well in the larger landscape. The Swedish Research Council has for example chosen to co-fund our large bilateral programmes with Japan and China through IntSam. Our bilateral South Africa programme is co-funded by the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas), the Swedish Research Council for Heath, Working Life and Welfare (Forte) and the Swedish Research Council.
Our new website now also features video interviews. Higher education institutions soon have to nominate teachers for our Teaching Sabbatical programme, and we have therefore interviewed Dr Louise Berggren from Uppsala University. Dr Berggren relates her experiences of participating in the programme and teaching at one of STINT’s partner institutions, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I hope that this will inspire more teachers to apply to the programme. There is also an interview with Prof Per Warfinge from Lund University. Prof Warfinge tells us more about the programme he has established between Lund and the University of Queensland, Australia, and which is financed through STINT’s Grants for Double Degree Programmes.
Arizona State University (ASU) is a new partner in the Teaching Sabbatical programme and the first STINT Fellows will go there in the autumn. ASU is an interesting institution, which has been ranked as the most innovative university in the USA four years in a row, ahead of both MIT and Stanford. Michael Crow, the president of ASU, is regarded as one of the leading university presidents in the US. With its New American University vision, ASU has become a new type of public research university. ASU focuses on broad-base recruitment, inclusion, high academic standards, innovation, entrepreneurship, partnerships with industry and social relevance, and therefore has much in common with Swedish higher education and research. ASU is therefore an exciting addition to our partner institutions. We will highlight ASU more over the coming year.
Andreas Göthenberg