New Association Seeks to Forge Bonds Among Public Universities Around the World

A newly formed association of 21 public universities in 20 countries will hold its inaugural meeting next week at the University of Montreal. The International Forum of Public Universities grew out of the 125th-anniversary celebration, in 2004, of the University of Montreal, where discussions among foreign university chiefs who had been invited to receive honorary degrees led to a subsequent conference in Belgium and the decision to establish a formal association.

“Public universities are publicly funded and work in very different ways,” said Alain Boutet, director of international relations at the University of Montreal. “The idea behind this is to address some very important questions in terms of university management and leadership, new forms of collaboration, and training of students at the graduate level.”

The new group’s members are all “research powerhouses,” and establishing research partnerships among them will be a priority, said Mr. Boutet. The group, whose sole American member is the University of California, also includes two universities in China, the only country with more than one institution represented. Mr. Boutet said the group hoped to add at least one British institution but also intends to limit the membership to 25 universities.

With a growing number of international university organizations, such as the International Alliance of Research Universities, established last year, Mr. Boutet said the new association would seek to differentiate itself based on its affiliation with the University of Montreal, giving it “a perspective that is not exactly coming from the Anglophone world.” —Aisha Labi