Knowledge Across Borders
Equitable Mutually Beneficial Partnerships Between African and Global North Universities
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Emerald Publishing Limited
Publishing:16th Dec '26
£80.00
This title is due to be published on 16th December, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Strategic research partnerships and collaborations between universities in Africa and the Global North are growing rapidly. Knowledge Across Borders critically reflects on how African universities and universities in the Global North conceptualize, operationalize, and navigate the imperatives of equality, equity and mutual benefit.
Bringing African universities to the fore and drawing on experience of existing partnerships in over 20 research networks, 50 countries, over 50 universities and 4 continents, this is the first book focused on critical reflections of knowledge networks created and co-created by African universities with universities in the Global North. Addressing how partnerships are often forged in what are asymmetrical contexts and institutions – with imbalances in levels of institutional development, experience in research, academic reputation and unequal resources – chapters focus on how reciprocity can be grounded in the research mission of knowledge networks. Rather than focusing on one sided flows from the Global North to the Global South of staff and students, contributors critically examine strategic and intentional leadership, management and operationalization, power, voice, agency, co-creation and societal impact in the dynamics of research partnering and collaborating in an unequal world, making the argument that if reciprocity in the relationships is not addressed it will undermine principled and ethical research that engenders transformative change in Africa and globally.
This is a rich resource relevant to policy makers, research funding agencies and foundations, university leadership in Africa/Global South and the Global North, research leaders, researchers, senior management and administrators in universities, post graduate students and practitioners of sustainable development in civil society.
This book that reflects on university partnerships between the global North and the global South offers a timely and much-needed strategic engagement in the ongoing conversations based on case studies and experiences of African universities involved in those partnerships. Moving beyond rhetoric, it critically examines the principles of equity, reciprocity, mutual respect, and shared knowledge production that are essential for meaningful collaboration in higher education. At a moment when global academic relationships are increasingly scrutinized for reproducing historical inequalities, this volume challenges institutions and scholars to reimagine partnerships in ways that value local knowledge, strengthen collective capacity, and promote genuine co-creation.
What makes this book especially important is its highlights of the importance of agency for African universities to avoid historical practices of resource transfer that leads to dependency or symbolic inclusion where African scholars are secondary partners. The case studies demonstrate that partnerships can be reconfigured to become transformative spaces for mutual learning, intellectual solidarity, and institutional renewal. The contributors provide nuanced insights, practical examples, and critical reflections that will resonate with scholars, university leaders, policymakers, and practitioners committed to more just and sustainable forms of global engagement. The book is a significant contribution to the body of knowledge on higher education, internationalization, and global development.
-- Teboho Moja is an Emerita Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Administration, Leadership and Technology at New York UniversityKnowledge Across Borders is a thoughtful and timely intervention in contemporary debates on international research collaboration and global knowledge production. Asking how partnerships between African universities and institutions in the Global North might be reconfigured towards more equitable, co-creative and transformative forms of engagement, this volume brings together rich institutional experience, critical reflection and scholarly insight. The diverse contributors, including scholars, policymakers and current and former senior university leaders directly involved in international partnerships, move beyond rhetoric to illuminate both the structural inequalities and the practical possibilities shaping global research collaboration today. This is an important and compelling volume for scholars, institutional leaders and policymakers committed to advancing more just and mutually beneficial forms of engagement.
-- Gerald Wangenge Ouma, Professor of Higher Education and Senior Director: Institutional Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, University of PretISBN: 9781837421244
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
220 pages