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ACU provides additional services to its members.
Management, Leadership and Advisory Services
The ACU is firmly committed to supporting higher education institutions develop and improve their management and leadership capacity. Over the many years of its existence the ACU has built up a rich base of knowledge and understanding of the challenges confronting the management and leadership of higher education internationally. In an era of mass expansion, growing diversification, greater international connectivity and increasing global competition, the services and insights of the ACU have never been more relevant. The ACU is not only able to draw on extensive internal expertise but is also able to call on a vast network of international experts located both within and beyond its member institutions.
The ACU has particular expertise in the areas of research, library and human resource managament. It also has longstanding experience of benchmarking management processes across international groups of universities and has for many years run a successful programme to strengthen and promote the participation of women in the leadership and management of universities.
For more information on our current programmes from the list below, or contact us for further details.
Current Projects
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International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS)
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ACU-AUF collaboration on the African Institute of University Governance
Higher Education Management Benchmarking Programme
The ACU has run a higher education management benchmarking programme for over 10 years. The benchmarking programme was developed specifically for higher education institutions to help them compare their management processes and share their experiences within a setting of international peers. Each year the programme addresses three areas of higher education management. The ACU Programme is unique in its approach to benchmarking with a highly qualitative and discursive methodology for assessing university management processes. Over the years it has attracted participation from over 40 institutions from across the Commonwealth.
Click here for more information about the ACU Benchmarking Programme
Research Management Benchmarking Programme
Anecdotal evidence suggests that university Research Management processes are still in a state of evolution - and it is likely therefore, that much is to be gained by sharing experiences and good practice in this area. The ACU seeks to facilitate this process amongst universities by using its benchmarking process, which is unique to the ACU, and designed specifically for use in university management processes.
The current Research Management Benchmarking Programme runs from 2010 until 2012.
ACU's Gender Programme
For over 20 years the ACU's Gender Programme has addressed the imbalance between men and women in the leadership and managment of higher education institutions. The programme aims to enhance the career profiles of, and prospects for, women academics and administrators by providing opportunities for management training, gender sensitisation programmes (for both men and women), seminars and workshops; and by maintaining a database of women who have the potential for advancement.
Click here for further information on the ACU's work on gender issues
Research Africa
Research Africa is a membership programme designed to strengthen and deepen research capacity in African universities. With initial support from the Department for International Development (DFID) in the UK, the ACU is working together with the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) and ResearchResearch Ltd. in developing this service, providing linkages and helping to share information between African and global research communities.
Membership to Research Africa includes access to a world-class database on research funding oppotunities, access to policy news affecting research across Africa and the world, as well as the ACU-designed Research Management Policy e-Library.
Click here for more information about Research Africa
The Carnegie Programme to Strengthen Research Management in African Universities
The Association of Commonwealth Universities has worked closely with the Carnegie Corporation of New York since 2007, to strengthen Research Management in African universities. While Carnegie’s focus is its (Carnegie) member institutions, Carnegie-funded projects are often open to other ACU members – with best practice, reports and lessons learned, being disseminated to the wider ACU membership via activities of the ACU’s research management programme.
We are currently running the 2nd consecutive Carnegie-funded project to strengthen Research Management in African Universities. This project, which runs from 2009-2011, will assist African institutions in converting their awareness of research management issues into robust, sustainable structures, and in developing appropriate professional standards within the established structures. The participant institutions will also be partnered with 'mentor' universities from developed countries, who will assist in the development of specific proposals and provide guidance on identifying their institutional strengths and weaknesses.
The International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS)
The ACU is one of the founding members of the International Network of Research Management Societies. INORMS' establishment, in 2001, reflected both the proliferation of national and regional research management organisations throughout the world, and the clear need for international collaboration and common standards in the global market for university research.
In recent years, the ACU is working to develop research management societies for all the major geographic regions of the commonwealth. A recent example is the DUIS-funded project to develop a Research and Innovation Management Association for West Africa (WARIMA). The ACU aims to run similar projects to establish research management societies for India, East Africa and the Caribbean.
INORMS holds a congress every two years - the next congress will be jointly hosted by the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) and the ACU, and will take place in Cape Town, South Africa in 2010. INORMS 2010 will provide an opportunity to reflect on the status of our profession as a whole, benchmark the standards of countries throughout the world and encourage the progress of research management in Developing regions.
Further details of the congress will be available shortly.
Policy Index
The ACU Policy Index is a key resource for higher education professionals looking for examples of policies and strategic frameworks from a diverse range of universities around the world. It draws on policies from around 80 institutions. It is a particularly useful resource for those looking to develop new policies within their institutions.
NB: The policy index is currently undergoing development and some links may not be accessible at this time.
ACU's Response to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic
In the late 1990s already 34 million people were infected with HIV/AIDS. Nearly two-thirds of those people lived in Commonwealth countries.
In November 1999, the ACU and the University of Natal, South Africa, co-hosted a Symposium to set in motion a crucial dialogue about the AIDS pandemic, which at that time was widely recognised as the greatest threat to development in many parts of the Commonwealth. It was essential that every possible effort be made to draw attention to the impact of HIV/AIDS on universities themselves, and of the responsibilities of universities to respond to the pandemic.
Follow this link to the part played by the ACU, and to the reports and publications which emerged from a fairly intensive period of activity between 1998 and 2002.
ACU-AUF collaboration on the African Institute of University Governance
In 2009 the ACU and the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) began work on the establishment of an 'Institute of Governance' for African universities. There is widespread recognition of the critical importance of effective governance and management in the success of universities, and the challenges faced by many African universities in this area. The ACU and AUF collaboration sets out to facilitate the exchange of ideas, experience and good practice across the continent and identify new approaches to governance and management based on local needs and circumstances. This unique partnership represents nearly 250 universities in sub-Saharan Africa in both Francophone and Commonwealth countries and has further support from the Association of African Universities, the African Union and UNESCO.
Click here for further information about this project
Improvement of Research and Innovation management capacity in Africa and the Caribbean for the successful stimulation and dissemination of research results (RIMI4AC)
This project is funded by the EU's ACP Science and Technology Programme and runs for three years from 2009 until 2012. The specific objective of this action is to strengthen the capacity of research institutions in the regions, to sustainably and effectively manage research and innovation activities. Another related objective is the improvement of dialogue between university-based researchers and policy makers, to inform evidence-based national and regional policies feeding into the sustainable development agendas of the five regions (Caribbean, west Africa, central Africa, southern Africa, and east Africa). The project is led by the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) and has a total of 10 partners - including the ACU.
Please click here for details of ACU-led activities. For details of the project as a whole, please visit the website at RIMI4AC.