ANNUAL CONFERENCE ONLINE
24 - 26 August 2022

WORKSHOP: 'TACKLING POWER IMBALANCES AND INEQUALITIES IN INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATION:
OPTIONS AND WAY FORWARD FOR THE GLOBAL SOUTH

What do we mean by ‘fair cooperation’ in higher education and research in a highly unequal world? What does ‘fair cooperation’ mean for African institutions in a world where the institutions from the global North ‘have accumulated numerous advantages through centuries of colonial relations,’ creating highly uneven power relations that lead to ‘unequal and extractive relationships and an over-representation of Western knowledge systems in both teaching and research’ (Stein & Silva, 2020: 552)? This disparity is often evident in international institutional partnerships, collaboration and engagements between the institutions and funding agencies from the global North, on one side, and the institutions from the global South, on the other side.

The workshop will unpack broader global and higher education and research-specific complexities, challenges and structural inequalities. We will explore international partnerships and collaboration from the global South perspective through a critical and decolonial lens. This will include a critical analysis of global inequalities in funding and international research collaboration in higher education. Through an interactive workshop, we will explore how to promote international research and development on the African continent that address continental interests, ownership and recognition of African knowledges and worldviews (African Union, 2016). Together, we will consider and strategize ways in which fairer and more equal partnerships between the North and South can be promoted.

Space is limited to 30 participants. All participants will receive a certificate of completion.

Date:     Friday, 26 August 2022
Time:     09:00 – 12:00

Dr Cornelius Hagenmeier

Cornelius Hagenmeier is an internationalisation of higher education expert with more than ten years experience and jurist rooted in the German and South African jurisdictions.

Dr Lavern Samuels

Dr Samuels is the current Director of the International Education and Partnerships (IEP)  Directorate at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). He was the Senate Representative on the University Council  and the Council EXCO for 16 years.

Dr Samia Chasi

Dr Samia Chasi is a practitioner-scholar in higher education internationalisation with more than 20 years of experience in this field. She currently serves as Strategic Advisor to the International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) and is a Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, South Africa.

Dr Savo Heleta

Dr Savo Heleta is a researcher, analyst, educator and author with more than ten years’ experience in higher education, academic research, curriculum development, teaching, research supervision and internationalisation. His research interests range from decolonisation of knowledge; higher education internationalisation; conflict analysis and conflict transformation; post-war reconstruction and peace-building; sustainable development; higher education in post-war settings; international migration; xenophobia; to social justice advocacy and activism.

Ms Divinia Jithoo

Ms Divinia Jithoo is a Specialist in International Education at the International Education and Partnerships Office at the Durban University of Technology. Ms Jithoo has worked in higher  education Internationalisation since 2007 and has specialised in study abroad and exchange as well as international virtual engagement.

PROGRAMME OUTLINE:

Welcome and Introduction·      

  • Higher education and international research in a complex and unequal world;
  • Eurocentric hegemony in higher education, research, and internationalisation;
  • Examples of Western domination in international research design and implementation (Nature Medicine open letter and other examples);
  • Looking at international ‘fair cooperation’ through the decolonial lens;
  • Fairness and equality in partnerships in an unequal world;
  • How to decolonise international partnerships and collaboration?

Break

  • The way forward for ‘fair cooperation’: the importance of ‘international research and development cooperation based on continental interest and ownership’ (African Union, 2016)
  • What are you willing to do to try and change things in your spaces to achieve a fairer cooperation in international research?
  • Wrap up and closing

Target Audience:
International education professional staff and academic staff

COST:
– R450 IEASA MEMBERS
– R600 NON IEASA MEMBERS