Four insights to set your university’s international strategy champion up for success

Universities across the globe have collaborated for decades to increase student mobility, expand research impact, and solve global challenges. However, as the number and complexity of these collaborations have increased, so have the number of parties involved. This often this leads to a proliferation of MOU’s with little coordination or strategic oversight. Institutions are unaware of the full scope of collaborations, potential risks, and opportunities for growth. To help minimize risk and maximize the impact of their global partnerships, institutions are increasingly turning to a centralized, international strategy champion to advance their collaborations. An international strategy champion is a senior leader (e.g., Vice President of Global Engagement, Vice Chancellor of Global Affairs) that directly oversees international activities and/or coordinates with other leaders to execute an institutional international strategy.

EAB interviewed over 50 international strategy champions and their collaborators to better understand what allows them to effectively manage their institution’s partnerships.  Continue reading to learn the four most important insights for success.

Insight #1: Create a partnerships database to help your champion manage partnerships and evaluate performance.

First, provide your champion with a high-profile title such as Vice President for Global Relations or Associate Vice Provost for Global Affairs that gives them the standing and the clout to make decisions. Second, ensure your international champion has access to senior leaders through a seat in the cabinet, a direct reporting line to a senior leader (e.g., Provost, Vice President of Research), or a regular convening of senior leaders that the champion chairs. Third, when budget allows, provide the champion with FTEs that can perform specialized tasks such as creating partner intelligence reports for faculty, auditing partnership data, or developing foreign interference and other educational material for campus stakeholders.

Insight #3: Create an administrative structure that easily interfaces with partner institutions.

International champions in-seat report that having a fellow international strategy champion at their partner institution(s) drives partnership success. Conversely, partnerships with institutions that lack an international champion or possess a very decentralized structure are much harder to collaborate with. Evaluate how your peers and partner institutions structure their international offices to learn how your institution can best interface with them. Aside from an international champion executive, consider how to structure positions that manage the day-to-day partnership operations, such as partnership managers or regional managers, to ensure these roles can coordinate and collaborate between your campuses.

Insight #4: Seek both academic and administrative experience in your hire.

While international champions often possess strong academic qualifications (e.g., PhD, tenured faculty member), champions should also possess administrative experience to effectively manage extensive international portfolios. Consider hiring a champion with international administrative experience, such as managing an internationally-focused institute or serving as an international dean. Administrative qualifications may include the following experiences:

• Collecting and monitoring data to evaluate performance
• Making financial decisions to support growth
• Setting and communicating strategy
• Communicating results to stakeholders.