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A winning teamBoth Monash University and King’s College London are benefiting from their bond, writes MELANIE GARDNER With a British vice-chancellor leading Monash University and an Australian principal at the helm of King’s College London, it is hardly surprising that a strong link exists between the two institutions.
The relationship between Monash and King’s grew, helped along by much academic common ground and synergy. The institutions excel in research and teaching in many of the same fields, including medicine, law, arts, sciences, education and nursing. King’s, established in 1829, is one of the oldest and largest colleges of the University of London, with 12,200 undergraduate students and more than 4500 postgraduates in 10 schools. The college is in the top group of five British universities for research earnings. From Monash’s perspective, the relationship with King’s College sits well with its defining themes of innovation, engagement and internationalisation and its aim of cooperating with other leading higher education institutions, both in Australia and overseas. And for King’s, the partnership fits its strategy of having a series of bilateral agreements around the world. A 10-year agreement between Monash and King’s signed in 1999 paved the way for the establishment of the Monash Centre London. Based at the King’s Waterloo campus, the centre aims to promote the scholarly work of both organisations. Monash vice-chancellor Professor David Robinson and King’s principal Professor Arthur Lucas are building on the relationship by enabling academics to add to their international prominence through travelling fellowships and staff exchanges. Professor Robinson says the relationship is important because Monash is seeking to develop a small number of multi-stranded collaborations with leading universities in other countries. Professor Lucas says the partnership between the two institutions offers exciting and unique opportunities. “Research collaboration and staff exchanges benefit both our universities as well as the wider community. We have already had a number of successful exchanges and I look forward to many more,” he says. Under the partnership, a seed fund has been created to fund support development of research projects, with the aim of assisting academics to plan projects involving both institutions. A number of four-week travelling fellowships have already been undertaken by King’s staff, including Dr Jonathan Steed, a reader in chemistry and one of Britain’s best young chemists. He came to Australia last year to work with Professor Colin Raston of Monash’s Department of Chemistry. In addition, more than 50 fact-finding visits have been undertaken by staff from both organisations, and research links are beginning to build between a number of departments, including chemistry, geography and medicine. The first exchange between general staff also began this year, with a Monash Public Affairs staff member and a King’s Public Relations officer swapping jobs for three months. Visit the King’s College website at www.kcl.ac.uk or visit the Monash University website at www.monash.edu.au |
The
early association was forged through involvement with the Menzies
Centre, established within the University of London in 1982. The centre,
long supported by Monash, promotes Australian studies in British and
European universities and provides a highly regarded forum for the
discussion of Australian issues. It became formally incorporated into
King’s with assistance from an Australian government endowment.