International Collaboration in the Department of Politics Professor Mark Evans

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International Collaboration in the Department of
PoliticsProfessor Mark Evans
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Sighting Shots

• This presentation is organised into three parts.
  Part one will provide a brief overview of the
  Departments international strategy. In part two,
  three case studies are presented that exemplify
  three different forms of collaboration
  bi-lateral teaching collaboration, bi-lateral
  research collaboration, and multi-lateral
  teaching collaboration. The final section of the
  presentation provides an overview of the key
  lessons learned from our international adventures.

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Aim

• The central aim of the Department of Politics is
  to do its utmost to produce the highest quality
  scholarship and teaching through the maintenance
  of an inclusive international academic community.

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International Strategy

• The development of an effective international
  strategy is an important policy instrument for
  achieving this aim in so far as it helps us to
• raise the international profile of our research
  and teaching activities (particularly at the
  postgraduate and professional training levels)
• attract high quality students
• gain access to new forms of research and student
  funding
• develop a genuinely international portfolio of
  research and,
• enhance our portfolio of courses in different
  aspects of international politics e.g.
  international development, post-war
  reconstruction, the politics of transition.

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InternationalStrategic Concerns

• Ensuring that staff publish research with the
  highest quality international peer reviewed
  journals and publishers
• Gaining access to prestigious sources of
  international research funding
• Ensuring that our courses meet the educational
  needs of an international audience
• Developing high quality partnerships to help meet
  our international teaching and research
  objectives.

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Measures of Success?

• 4th largest international graduate school in the
  UK
• Only 20th in terms of size
• Tripled income since 1999
• 60 of research income from international
  sources
• 6th in 2008 Times Good University Guide

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International Partnerships

• Focus on a small number of high quality
  partnerships in strategic markets e.g. China,
  Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Middle-East, Afghanistan,
  Mexico
• Partnerships are either research or teaching-led
  and are resource dependent collaborations (i.e.
  knowledge transfer)
• Given the nature of our research and teaching
  activities these include universities, non
  governmental organisations, governmental
  organisations, international organisations, and
  third sector organisations
• Developing teaching collaborations include 3
  plus 1 (undergraduate to MA), 1 plus 1
  (postgraduate) programming, staff and student
  exchange, and joint doctoral supervision

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Recent international research collaborations

• Member of an international consortium for
  supporting DFID post-war planning and programming
  with Cowie, CMI, and IDS in Birmingham
• World Bank sponsored evaluation of Afghanistans
  National Solidarity Programme
• British Council Higher Education Link Programme
  with ISS in Vietnam on Evaluating the Social
  Impact of Privatisation in Vietnam

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Partnership Building
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Case Study 1 Bi-lateral Teaching
Collaboration1 plus 1 MA in Political Research
with Ritsumeikan University, Japan

• A planned partnership inspired by significant
  recruitment opportunities in Politics and related
  studies and a high quality student market
• Scoping work supported by Sharon Philip in the
  International Office in which five institutions
  were identified as potential collaborators. This
  was determined by the existence of common
  programmes of study and research interests and
  low opportunity costs
• Gave research lectures and departmental
  introductions/or held meetings at each
  institution
• Identified key power broker
• Followed-up meetings with formal proposal within
  two weeks of the meeting
• Conducted further negotiations with Ritz via
  email and convened a final deliberative meeting
  in York to sign-off Memorandum of Agreement
• A parallel process of deliberation was conducted
  with Juliet and Alison

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Challenges

• Remarkably problem-free so far as the programme
  design does not present many complex quality
  assurance issues (largely a 1 plus 1 design
  which draws on our existing MA in Political
  Research)
• Key design issues - ensuring that the programme
  is coherent, reaching agreement on entry and
  language requirements, ensuring that the
  necessary quality assurance mechanisms are in
  place
• Recruiting from this year better marketing
  needed
• Sustainability issues

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Case Study 2 Bi-lateral Research
CollaborationFive Year British Council Higher
Education Link

• An opportunistic partnership in response to a
  funding opportunity we were approached by the
  ISS in Vietnam
• The BC funded a scoping mission which enabled the
  partners to develop a research proposal on
  Evaluating the Social Impact of Equitization in
  Vietnam
• The rationale for collaboration was determined by
  the existence of common programmes of study and
  research interests, the appearance of low
  opportunity costs

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Challenges

• Although there was a significant capacity
  development aspect to the collaboration in the
  initial proposal the programme turned out to be
  extremely resource intensive for York staff and
  the opportunity costs far greater than
  anticipated
• The ISS was run by party-men who had no research
  interest in the programme and were constantly
  attempting to hive-off funding for personal use
• We wrote all the programme reports and
  publications and designed and delivered all
  training programmes with limited contributions
  from ISS staff. Where work was delegated (e.g.
  surveys) it was not completed to specification
  with any degree of methodological rigour.

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Case Study 3 Multi-lateral Teaching
CollaborationErasmus Mundus 1 plus 1 MA in
Public Policy

• An opportunistic partnership in response to a
  funding opportunity and our capacity to respond
  more quickly than Warwick
• Negotiated initial proposal in Budapest went
  for 1 plus 1 double Masters degree in Public
  Policy due to the least quality assurance
  complications and opportunity costs
• The EM degree delivers up to 25 scholarships per
  year for non EU students to study at either York
  or the Hague in Year 1 for a foundation Masters
  degree in Public Administration and then proceed
  in Year 2 to Budapest or Barcelona for a further
  MA in Policy Studies or International Studies.
  The programme also includes a summer school and
  an internship programme.
• The bid was successful after its third
  submission the proposal was refined to meet the
  criticisms of each review.

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Challenges

• Finding the right partners
• Designing a coherent programme which made sense
  intellectually
• Working out the EU politics interdisciplinarity,
  policy relevant, problem-solving, internships,
  professional training, multiple partners
  including new member state
• Responding positively to rejection
• Ensuring equivalent credit weightings, working
  with organisations with different mandates and
  organisational cultures, institutional rules and
  values
• Working out the fee structure
• Developing admissions process
• Controlling bureaucratic costs

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In Conclusion 10 Lessons Learned

• Select the right partners (key indicators
  research and teaching achievement, enthusiasm and
  leadership)
• Note that many developing countries dont do
  research as we understand it and overseas league
  tables can have very different measures to ours!
• Simplicity is the key unless there are huge
  intellectual or financial incentives remember
  that the more complex the collaboration the
  higher the opportunity costs

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In Conclusion 10 Lessons Learned

• 4. Stay focussed on the candle always
  display the appearance of an enthusiastic partner
  even if you have doubts. Remember that you are in
  a highly competitive market and York is not
  always as well known as you think so you need to
  act quickly!
• 5. Do a quick risk assessment before moving
  beyond the exploration stage focusing on a
  calculation of a) departmental collective value
  b) financial investment c) staff time d) impact
  on other priorities e) unintended consequences
• 6. Beware of high opportunity costs there must
  always be a tangible research or teaching
  dividend to ensure collective departmental value.

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In Conclusion 10 Lessons Learned

• 7. Establish milestones that need to be achieved
  by a certain date to justify the investment of
  time and resources.
• Everything will always take longer than you
  expect but patience and perseverance appears to
  pay off in the long-run.
• Ensure broad departmental commitment to the
  enterprise to share the burden of sustaining
  partnerships and protecting markets.
• Develop a strong working relationship with the
  International Office.