Global University Alliance delivers results, one year on

Three globally-renowned institutions are this month celebrating the first anniversary of an alliance that’s delivering teaching and research on some of the world’s most urgent challenges.   

The Universities of Manchester, Melbourne and Toronto (MMT) Alliance draws on the expertise of 45,000 staff and faculty and 187,000 students across the three institutions to develop further learning and research initiatives. These include ‘global classrooms’ offering students the opportunity to engage through joint classrooms with students from other universities and share their diverse global perspectives, exchange programmes, joint PhD and research programmes and trans-continental links to industry research.

While the MMT Alliance is only a year old, it can already count multiple tangible outcomes that are advancing global study and research:

• A trilateral research fund that’s fostered additional bilateral and three-way links, bringing over 50 researchers together
• The launch of the International Centre for Translational Digital Health
• Creating  ‘global classroom’ experiences for students including in areas such as Indigenous studies, history, and sustainability
• In addition to the Melbourne-Manchester PhD programme, and Melbourne-Toronto programme, a joint Toronto-Manchester agreement to support joint PhD supervision will welcome its first entrants in 2023.

The Alliance’s International Centre for Translational Digital Health advances the field of digital health in Canada, the UK and Australia by developing, implementing and translating new technologies, policies and service delivery models. Initially a partnership between the Universities of Toronto and Manchester, the University of Melbourne will formally become a partner of the Centre on 29 November 2022.  

The University of Manchester President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, said: “We are thrilled with the many successes the MMT Alliance has realised in its first year which are a sign of great things to come. The importance of international collaborations in academia are well-documented, but we’ve never been at a more critical inflexion point as the world faces now, grappling not just with recovery from a devastating pandemic but the threat of the climate crisis and unprecedented challenges to health and our social fabric.

“MMT demonstrates and will continue to demonstrate how international academic collaboration can help the world solve some of its biggest challenges. The Alliance set out to navigate the post-COVID landscape, but I think it will realise success for a great many years ahead.”

University of Toronto President, Professor Meric Gertler, said: “The MMT Alliance is a superb example of international collaborations. In the face of extreme global challenges, an alliance that stretches across three continents could not be more appropriate.  Each partner is able to contribute unique and invaluable expertise. We are delighted by the progress the Alliance has made in a single year, deepening networks and paving the way for world-class research and education outcomes. ”

University of Melbourne Pro Vice-Chancellor for Graduate and International Research Professor Justin Zobel said: “The Alliance is already showing how the three universities can work together to achieve major outcomes. It provides our researchers with access to resources and facilities beyond that available at any one institution, and is creating new educational opportunities, particularly for PhD candidates. The MMT collaboration demonstrates that we can jointly address the severe global challenges of our time.”