INTERNATIONAL FORUM OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES: A CONSORTIUM OF LEADING, RESEARCH-INTENSIVE STATE-SUPPORTED UNIVERSITIES FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE

The International Forum of Public Universities (Forum International des Universités Publiques) (FIUP / IFPU) is a consortium of leading research universities from across the globe. All of the member institutions are state-supported public universities. The schools collaborate in a number of arenas, including programme design and delivery, research output and administrative approaches. The member universities also network extensively with one another, attending FIUP / IPFU events and conferences as well as organising exchange programmes for staff and postgraduate researchers.

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ABOUT

Public universities are universities that are maintained by the governments of the respective states in which they operate. Typically, such universities are open to admissions from qualified candidates at no or, significantly less tuition fees than their private sector peers. As the costs of their programme delivery are supported by the taxpayer (by way of state grant funding or specific research grants, they operate in a different manner to private universities and colleges in many ways. In particular, they may find that they are subject to national and political objectives with appointments to their institutional leadership being subject to approval by the state and grant funding having stipulations about how the nature of research and educational pedagogy must meet the interests of the state. In many countries, education is considered a universal right accessible to any capable student regardless of means, and, as such, state universities are the norm with relatively few private enterprises operating. In other countries, state universities exist only where the private sector does not fill a gap in the marketplace. In many other countries there may only be a few tertiary institutions, typically in the state sector, which operate highly selective admissions policies and have come to be considered as prestigious due to the limited number of admitted entrants. To support the interests of their state benefactor and to advance the national interest, most state universities heavily engage in research-oriented activities and compete against one another to attract funding and the brightest faculty and students.

The International Forum of Public Universities (Forum International des Universités Publiques) consortium was first assembled in 2007 by the Université de Montréal (UdeM), with staff of the university also acting as the permanent secretariat for the organisation until the presidency and secretariat transferred to Nankai University in 2013/2014. The presiding officers shared common concerns about the ongoing competitiveness of their respective universities in an age of increasing global competition and world university rankings. They recognised that many existing university groups were excellent at unlocking research collaboration between peer schools but that they did not reflect the particular quirks of operating at such a high-level whilst navigating the parameters and obligations of being a public university. Indeed, many of the reputable and prestigious consortia were initially founded by private sector universities and colleges.

It was determined that a co-operative group should be established to address these concerns and to ensure that the member schools continued to compete and rank amongst the best universities in the world, regardless of their being public or private. Thus, following some years of talks, the Forum was founded following a conference in Brussels. Previous to the inauguration of the association, a number of informal discussions about establishing such a group that represented the unique and nuanced challenges faced by internationally-focused public research universities. These discussions commenced in 2004 at the behest of the Université de Montréal who had invited the leaders of a number of peer universities from around the world to attend their 125^th anniversary celebrations, at which they would also be bestowed with honorary degrees.

At the outset, the group included 21 full members, many of whom shared close working relationships and a history of collaborative research, particularly through organisations like the COIMBRA group, UNICA or the League of World Universities, founded by NYU in 1991 and which includes many of the same members. Many of the universities hail from Francophone countries and regions and French is the dominant language in IFPU (or, more correctly, FIUP) proceedings and correspondence. Each of the universities is considered to be amongst the best public universities in their respective markets and has achieved international recognition for their research output and capacity to attract students from overseas. Many of the founding universities have regularly ranked in the top 200 internationally in the Times Higher Education rankings and the QS World University rankings. Moreover, the schools themselves recognise one another as peer schools with whom a close relationship has been established. Some of the founding schools are also amongst the oldest in the world.

The founding members included: Charles University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Moscow State University, Nagoya University, Peking University, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidad de Chile, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidade de São Paulo, Università di Bologna, Universitat de Barcelona, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Université de Genève, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Université Mohammed V de Rabat, Université de Montréal, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, and the University of California system (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz). The Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo (better known as the University of Ouagadougou) and the Université d’État d’Haïti have been associate members since the organisation was founded. Over the years, many of the original founding universities have since left the consortium whilst others have joined, such as Nankai University (joined in 2009 and took over the secretariat), followed by University of Auckland and Uniwersytet Łódzki in recent years. All of the universities associated with the IFPU are fully-accredited, state-approved degree-awarding institutions.

The FIUP / IFPU members cooperate across a number of arenas, from common strategic matters, university administration, educational delivery and research programmes. The collaboration, particularly, sees faculty professors , researchers and postgraduate research students working together on internationally important projects. The group have met on various occasions with formal conferences having been hosted by many of the members and less formal networking events and research initiatives having been coordinated intermittently. Every summer, a member university hosts a “summer school” programme for doctoral students centred around a specific theme and reference.

If you would like to find out more about the International Forum of Public Universities, you can find contact details below. Alternatively, you might prefer to get in touch with one of the member institutions as listed hereunder.

If you have participated in any of the schemes, projects or conferences of the International Forum of Public Universities, we are always keen to hear about your experience. Please feel free to share with us in the comments section.

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MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES

CHOOSE LIST VIEW FOR A SIMPLE LIST OF ALL LISTED SCHOOLS. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN SELECT SCHOOLS USING THE MAP BELOW.

FORMER OR LAPSED MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES

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