- Times Higher Education’s (THE) survey of over 10,000 academics features internationally oriented universities leading global academic collaboration efforts through knowledge diplomacy.
- Knowledge diplomacy values scientific exchange and diverse, international student bodies and research teams
- Universities in politically insular countries are increasingly working with research partners from around the world.
While the diplomatic world faces many challenges on the political front, knowledge diplomacy, led by many top international universities, “may be our last and best tool for rebuilding a broken world”.
This was the stirring message of Safwan Masri, Executive Vice-President for global development at Columbia University at a keynote speech at Times Higher Education’s MENA Universities Summit in 2021.
Masri lamented that much of the world is grappling with misunderstanding, division, polarization and cynicism. He adds that “We are living in profoundly undiplomatic times. The inability to understand and comprehend one another is turning neighbor against neighbor. Everything seems broken.”
For Masri and other delegates at the THE summit, global research universities are a shining light in difficult times, with Masri stating that: “Universities exist to increase our comprehension of the world and to enhance mutual understanding”.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exemplified the role of universities in addressing major challenges. Through medical schools, at research institutions, in laboratories, and at public health agencies worldwide, the role of universities has been critical in fighting the virus. Masri points out that “The vaccines’ designs are built on decades worth of work from tens of thousands of researchers, crisscrossing the globe between universities, industries and governments”.
In the spirit of Masri’s powerful vision for knowledge diplomacy and the World Economic Forum’s…