A senior delegation from the University of Birmingham, UK, will visit Chicago this week to further strengthen links with two of the City’s major universities.
The transatlantic summit between senior administrators from the universities of Chicago, Northwestern and Birmingham will focus on effective higher education management. It will enable all three institutions to share knowledge on responding to and succeeding in a global environment, on best practice in university management, providing an excellent and distinctive student experience and developing the potential of their staff.
In addition to the workshops, University of Birmingham representatives will spend a day at each university participating in campus tours and further meetings on topics such as global initiatives, facilities management, student recruitment and community relations.
Lee Sanders, Registrar and Secretary at the University of Birmingham, UK, said:
“This summit is one of a number of engagement initiatives by the University of Birmingham with partners in the Chicago area. It is an invaluable opportunity to share our experience of higher education in the UK with our colleagues from two top US universities and sharing practice on operating in the global higher education market.”
“As part of our global engagement strategy, we are continuing to develop our links in Chicago, and also in another sister city region – Guangzhou, China. Regular academic visits to Chicago will take place with further opportunities for our students in the city growing in future years.”
The University of Birmingham has well-established ties with Chicago and is active in promoting the Chicago/Birmingham sister city relationship. Last year, the University of Birmingham was honoured by the Mayor and members of the City Council of Chicago for increasing international collaboration between the two cities.
Additional previous engagement activities include a Science City road show and a symposium looking at the intersection between psychology, neuroscience, and social care in 2010 and, earlier this year, developing links in arts and humanities with the Newberry Library, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.
The Chicago visit will take place from Wednesday 30th March to Friday 1st April 2011 and will include a reception hosted by Robert Chatterton Dickson, British Consul General.
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• A member of the Russell Group of 20 leading UK research-intensive universities, the University of Birmingham is a vibrant, global community and an internationally-renowned institution, in the top 100 globally. With approximately 28,000 students and 6,000 members of staff, its work brings people from more than 150 countries to Birmingham. For further information, visit: www.bham.ac.uk
• Located in Hyde Park, about 7 miles from downtown Chicago, the University of Chicago is one of the top-ranking universities in the USA. It is ranked 9th in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (Jiao Tong) and 12th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. It is a private, coeducational research university with 15,000 students and has a unique academic structure with a single undergraduate college, four graduate divisions and six professional schools. For further information, visit: www.uchicago.edu
• One of the most distinguished private universities in the USA, Northwestern has two campuses in the Chicago area and one in Doha, Qatar. With almost 20,000 students, Northwestern is internationally recognised for the quality of its educational programs at all levels. It is ranked 29th in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (Jiao Tong) and 25th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. For further information, please visit: www.northwestern.edu
• The Birmingham/Chicago ‘sister city’ relationship originated in September 1993. Based on "second city" principles, its original aim was to promote business connections between the Midlands and the US Midwest.
For further information, please contact:
Catherine Byerley, International Press and PR Officer, University of Birmingham
Tel: 0121 414 8254, Email: c.j.byerley@bham.ac.uk