INU News - October 2007

New Member for the INU Executive Committee
The INU Council meeting approved the nomination of Malmo University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lennart Olausson, as a member of the INU Executive Committee.

This member position was held by the President of Harbin University until April 2007.

Research Steering Committee
The Research Steering Committee met on Monday, 17th September.  The meeting considered amongst other matters the development of research collaboration between Network members.  A donation of $50,000 (Australian) has been presented to the Network from the Riady Family of Indonesia and the Research Steering Committee approved a proposal to use this funding to establish a series of Research Workshops focussing on seven broad areas of common research strength across the Network to be held in the first half of 2008.   Further information will be circulated by the INU Secretariat in the near future.

INU Masters
Following the 2006 INU Student Seminar, the Network decided to pursue the development of a joint Masters program in Peace and Global Citizenship.  The first formal meeting to progress the development of this program was held in Malmo on 17th September.

The INU has agreed on a model for the Masters program and the following institutions have indicated their intention to be part of the program: 

• Flinders University,
• Hiroshima University,
• James Madison University,
• Jonkoping University,
• Kyung Hee University
• La Trobe University,
• University of Leicester,
• Malmo University, and
• Ritsumeikan University.
  
  

Hiroshima and Ritsumeikan University have been successful in their bid for MEXT funding from the Japanese Ministry for Education for the development of the INU Masters.  An Academic Committee for the program is to be set up, and will meet to discuss curriculum development of the Masters program lace in November this year in Kyoto, Japan at a meeting to be hosted by Ritsumeikan University.

Larry Marshall, key academic coordinator for the Student Seminar, has agreed to act as project coordinator for the Masters program.  He will work with Jo Watts in the INU Secretariat to progress the next phase of the program’s development.  For more information on the Masters program, please contact Jo Watts or Larry Marshall.

Special INU Meeting on Advancement and Development
Dr Joanne Carr, the Vice-President of Advancement at James Madison University, has offered to host a special meeting for INU members to discuss issues of Advancement and Development.  It is anticipated that the meeting will be held early in 2008 at James Madison University.  Further information on the meeting together with details of how to register will be circulated by the Secretariat in the near future. 

New INU Career Development Opportunities for non-Academic Staff
The INU Council meeting in Malmo earlier this month approved a new scheme of Job Exchange to enhance career development opportunities and encourage the development of best practice amongst non-Academic staff in the Network.

This scheme is in addition to the already highly successful Administrative Staff Shadowing Program which is now in its second year.

Full information will be published on the INU Website by the end of the year.  Anyone seeking further information on these opportunities can contact Jo Watts in the INU Secretariat in the first instance.

NEWS from INU members

Visiting Professor Opportunity at Hiroshima University
An exciting employment opportunity was made available to members of the INU by Hiroshima University in August 2007.  The University had an opening for a 12-month visiting lecturer or professor in the field of Bioresource Science. Information on the position was circulated to all members and applications were to be made directly o the University. The person appointed will take up the position for semester 2 (April) 2008.

University of Leicester ranks third equal in latest UK National Student Survey
The results of the UK’s National Student Survey have now been released. This is an online survey in which every student in the country is invited to participate. The 2007 survey is only the third to be carried out but it now attracts a great deal of media attention. It measures students' satisfaction with the universities they attend and the courses they are taking. The views of possibly unrepresentative small numbers of students are eliminated, so universities encourage all their students to participate.
 
For the third-year running Leicester has done exceptionally well. This year the University came third equal with Exeter in the overall public-university ranking, just behind St Andrews and Oxford. The INU Council would like to offer its congratulations to Leicester for this outstanding result.

James Madison University’s Master’s Degree Program in Political Science:
European Union Policy Studies, Florence, Italy
In early September 2007, the first group of graduate students, 17 strong, arrived at James Madison University’s newly refurbished 16-century palazzo in Florence, Italy, to begin a new, year-long program leading to a Master of Arts in Political Science from JMU.  With instruction by doctoral-level professors from the University of Siena, the University of Bologna, and the European University Institute, the experience is designed to improve understanding of the European Union as a system of governance and as a multinational actor; to promote awareness and understanding of the growing importance and expanding scope of the transatlantic partnership between the EU and the United States; and to provide students with the necessary research and policy analysis skills to be effective participants in this partnership.

James Madison University’s Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Global Nonviolence Presents Its Highest Honour to Desmond Tutu
On September 21, 2007, the International Day of Peace, the Most Reverend Desmond Tutu visited James Madison University to accept the top honour from the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Global Nonviolence.  The award is bestowed upon an individual in recognition of outstanding work and contribution to the promotion of human welfare and to social, economic, and political transformation through nonviolence and other Gandhian methods.  In receiving the Mahatma Gandhi Global Nonviolence Award, Reverend Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace prize in 1984, addressed the university community in a presentation entitled “Goodness Is Powerful.”  The elaborate ceremony was attended by thousands, including the Indian Ambassador to the United States, the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Tutu’s daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren.  JMU President Linwood Rose awarded Reverend Tutu an honorary doctorate, the 27th in the institution’s 99-year history.

La Trobe University Morning Tea for INU Scholarship winners
In July 2007, La Trobe University held a morning tea for the 14 students who have been awarded scholarships to undertake exchange within INU partner institutions in the second half of 2007.  

The morning tea was presided over by the INU President and Vice-Chancellor of La Trobe University, Professor Paul Johnson.  The students were delighted to be able to thank the Vice-Chancellor personally for the opportunity to study overseas and enjoyed meeting with other winners (past and present) of these prestigious scholarships.  This year’s awards brings the total of INU scholarships offered by La Trobe University to 104.