Internationalization Strategy

Introduction

University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) was, established by an Act of Parliament (Act, 898, 2015) and inaugurated on August 5, 2020 .It is located at Trom-Somanya in the Eastern Region of Ghana. UESD’s overarching priority is to further enhance our global presence, but our reach and aspirations are international and it is in that context we want be measured.
We want to operate on an international stage and this must reflect in all areas of the University’s life; from our students and staff, to our collaborations that tackle problems transcending national boundaries, and in the important intellectual and societal contributions we make.

Globalization brings new opportunities and new challenges for the next generations of our graduates and academics seeking to prosper in and contribute to an increasingly interdependent world. It will also bring big new markets for providers of higher education, yet significantly greater competition and greater potential volatility.  We intend to carry out our future range of international academic activity in a global environment that continues to be very uncertain. This will mean that we must be able to respond quickly and flexibly to perceived or actual barriers to internationalization. This strategy sets out how we intend to deliver on our aspiration of becoming a place of first choice in the minds of the world. The risks of not embracing this agenda are severe: in this dynamic, exciting and challenging world, to stand still or even to make incremental progress will be to fall behind. But if we are successful, we will see clear benefits in terms of having vibrant, internationally focused staff and students who are open to, and working with, the best minds worldwide. We will have recruited students today who will be the international leaders of tomorrow. We will see enhanced resources so that we can offer our students continually improved learning and living experiences and can make the investments that we need to make to develop our broad range and cutting-edge research agenda over the coming years.

Our Objectives

Our objectives are to become an institution of first choice in the minds of the world in terms of learning, teaching and research. This aspiration puts increasing our international reputation for quality – in learning, research and knowledge transfer at the heart of our future activity. We want to develop our relationships with the best international universities across this spectrum of activity. Enhancing our international reputation will create a virtuous circle.

Scope of internationalization

The Internationalization strategy of UESD focuses on the following areas to increase our visibility and international presence:

• Building bigger opportunities for international research partnerships with other world- class universities and institutions worldwide;
• Enhancing our ability to shape and secure increased levels of international research funding;
• Attract the best minds to work with  the university whether to learn, research or develop commercial opportunities;
• Increase our ability to secure sustainable income flows through offering increased opportunities to international students to study here; and offering all of our students increased international experience and understanding that will support them in building a future in an increasingly interdependent world.

 Becoming a place of first choice is a process, not an end-state, and will require continuous improvement in what we do across a range of areas. Measuring success through the perceptions of others internationally means that we will focus on how we are seen by all the key people we engage with

Key outcomes

To reach our overarching objective of becoming a place of first choice in the minds of the world, we will seek to achieve the following key outcomes:

• Develop web-based materials to act as a gateway to the international aspects of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development, covering areas such as research
  databases; graduates and affiliates; academic engagement and expertise; and student
• We will secure a greater volume of resources from international research partnerships and increase the use of our intellectual property worldwide.
• Ensure strong links are maintained and enhanced with key external stakeholders that promote and fund international knowledge transfer.
• A broad international understanding of what we stand for and what we offer
• Attracting the best students worldwide to study with us
• Conduct world-renowned research that attracts the best academics worldwide to work with us.
• Knowledge that is valued and applied by business and government worldwide.
• We will continue to develop a strong international focus and awareness in all our staff.
• We will focus on building strategic partnerships in a focused number of countries or regions.

Conclusion

The aspiration and reach of this internationalization strategy is necessarily broad, as internationalization touches on a wide range of activities within the University. It is not something that can or should be set in stone – it will need to be refined in the light of what we learn as we take this agenda forward and take account of the inevitably fast-changing external context. Both factors mean that success will be dependent on the energy, goodwill and outward-looking attitude of colleagues throughout the University. Given that support and engagement, building on our existing international strengths and connections, we will be well on our way to deliver on our aspiration to become a place of first choice in the minds of the world.