Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Foreword by His Excellency
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I: Teaching and Training Partnerships
- Part II: Research Partnerships
- Part III: Broader Perspectives
- 20 Faire Mieux Ensemble: A New Approach to Franco-British Research Collaboration for Growth and Employment
- 21 Internationalising Higher Education: The Role of the British Council
- 22 CampusFrance, the French Agency Dedicated to International Mobility in Higher Education and Research
- 23 The Role of the UK Media in the Communications Strategies of France's Grande École Business Schools
- 24 The Franco-British Connections: A Student/Alumni Network Supporting Franco-British Student Initiatives
- 25 A Golden Triangle: Universities, Research and Business. A Comparative Perspective Between the UK and France
- Appendices: Addresses and Speeches at the Franco-British Academic Partnerships Seminar, French Institute, London, 5 February 2010
20 - Faire Mieux Ensemble: A New Approach to Franco-British Research Collaboration for Growth and Employment
from Part III: Broader Perspectives
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Foreword by His Excellency
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I: Teaching and Training Partnerships
- Part II: Research Partnerships
- Part III: Broader Perspectives
- 20 Faire Mieux Ensemble: A New Approach to Franco-British Research Collaboration for Growth and Employment
- 21 Internationalising Higher Education: The Role of the British Council
- 22 CampusFrance, the French Agency Dedicated to International Mobility in Higher Education and Research
- 23 The Role of the UK Media in the Communications Strategies of France's Grande École Business Schools
- 24 The Franco-British Connections: A Student/Alumni Network Supporting Franco-British Student Initiatives
- 25 A Golden Triangle: Universities, Research and Business. A Comparative Perspective Between the UK and France
- Appendices: Addresses and Speeches at the Franco-British Academic Partnerships Seminar, French Institute, London, 5 February 2010
Summary
Introduction
It is often assumed that the tremendous increase in communication, information and communications technology (ICT), travel and the free movements of capital, labour, citizens and services facilitated by the European Single Market over the past few decades have transformed and deepened inter-state relationships. But the evidence does not wholly support this assumption. At the end of the nineteenth century, not only was globalisation as much a real driver of trade and exchanges as it is today, but inter-state exchanges at many levels were intensive and constructive. Between France and the UK there was a level of understanding and respect between the respective national research institutions, albeit often driven by competitive forces evidenced in exploration, discovery, colonial ambition and simple rivalry for prestige and position on a European and global stage.
Today, the mantra of globalisation can lead people to overlook the potential for closer bilateral ties across the Channel. The phrase ‘elevated bilateral relationships’, as used in June 2010 by the British Foreign Secretary, more often refers to links with developing countries than with member states of the European Union (EU). And much of the thrust of French planning and funding under the Grand Emprunt is to provide the country, via a small group of French research centres, with much greater international visibility, attractiveness and prestige.
Examples of Franco-British academic partnerships have, in the main, been informed and sustained by an array of enthusiastic individuals, succeeding often despite an equal array of limitations and barriers. But if France and Britain wish to secure and sustain rank, growth and employment, and be present at the top table in a number of globally important research-informed sectors, it will be necessary for academic partnerships to be part of a much closer interaction of the knowledge-intensive hubs of both countries. The Franco-British Defence Treaty, agreed in November 2010, shows what can be done when goodwill, shared leadership and economic pressures force the pace for historic burden sharing and opportunity shaping. Military affairs are generally marked by some discipline; academic communities share a more individualistic mind-set. But, given similar challenges for both communities, perhaps the time has come for a discipline of serious discourse for future academic partnerships leading to evidence-based shared needs to do things better together.
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- Franco-British Academic PartnershipsThe Next Chapter, pp. 159 - 165Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2011