The Unesp and Queensland University cooperation

Brazil and Australia are two countries of continental dimensions located in regions of the globe that share several geographical characteristics, both being in the southern hemisphere and crossed by the Tropic of Capricorn. In addition to representing the two main economies located in the tropics, these factors provide a solid platform for the growth of bilateral cooperation. Despite recent political, fiscal, and pandemic challenges, Brazil still maintains global economic weight, driven by a vast base of natural resources and a growing middle class with exports and revenues stimulated by oil, gas, and mineral resources, advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, financial services, and tourism.

The two countries have identical climatic zones, including equatorial, tropical, subtropical, and temperate zones. With these synergies, it is logical that the higher education and research institutions of both countries share an interest in research activities aimed at identifying and addressing common social and environmental problems and collaborating in implementing solutions to global problems based on shared experiences.

This text explores the strategies of two universities, in both countries, to expand horizontal cooperation and their results. On the Brazilian side, the São Paulo State University — Unesp, which took advantage of the opportunities offered by the “Science Without Borders” program and more recently the PrInt program to build partnerships with various Australian institutions, with the relationship with the University of Queensland being particularly strategic.

 

Evolution of the Brazil-Australia cooperation

In 2001, according to the Scopus database, only 97 collaborative scientific articles had been published by Brazilian and Australian researchers. By 2020, this number had reached 2,423, representing an increase of about 25 times.

Between 2015 and 2020, a total of 10,839 co-published articles, with a Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) of 4.63, were produced, showing the high quality of collaborative work. Additionally, according to the same source, 16,634 authors from Brazil and 11,678 from Australia interacted in the published articles. Regarding the areas of collaboration, medicine, physics and astronomy, agriculture and biological sciences, biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology represent more than 50% of these publications.

 

Unesp

Listed among the top five outstanding and important Brazilian universities, Unesp stands as an example of extreme success among multicampus institutions worldwide. As one of the three public universities funded by the government of the state of São Paulo, Unesp offers quality free education, conducts strategic research, and interacts with the community through hundreds of projects. Regarding its mission, Unesp is committed to being an international research university, with programs of excellence and with a highly engaged academic community in a set of actions that support the development and economic prosperity of the state and the country. Its areas of greatest prominence in publications are: Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Medicine, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Immunology and Microbiology, and Veterinary Medicine.

 

The University of Queensland (UQ)

A globally renowned university for creating positive changes, providing leadership in knowledge for a better world. UQ ranks among the best in the world, according to several leading independent rankings. It also has an excellent track record of commercializing innovation, with major technologies used worldwide and gross product sales of over US$ 17 billion. Its areas of greatest prominence in publications are: Medicine, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Social Sciences, and Engineering. Therefore, highly aligned with Unesp’s main areas of expertise and production.

 

Establishment of the Unesp-UQ partnership

In 2017, the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel – CAPES (Brazilian federal agency for the evaluation and promotion of the Brazilian graduate system) launched the PrInt call to promote the internationalization of Brazilian HEIs, and Unesp submitted an approved proposal with a budget of US$ 17 million.

The proposal was divided into two initiatives. The first called “International Research Networks” introduced a bottom-up approach and was characterized by the fact that faculty had to propose the creation of international networks with established partners for the development of collaborative research. For this initiative, Unesp allocated 60% of the PrInt subsidy.

The second project, called Global Research Alliances, presented a top-down approach considering institutional interests and potentialities. Academics were invited to develop links with partners who were not yet part of their network. This initiative received 40% of the subsidy and had as its main objective to change the focus of internationalization from an individual (researchers) to an institutional process, centered on partners identified by the university.

Unesp’s 2018 Strategic Plan for Internationalization (SPI) was essential for this by indicating the paths and strategies of the university in expanding its internationalization process, aligning with PrInt guidelines. The SPI was based on three pillars:

Global talent: developing students’ global competencies by redefining learning outcomes for an interconnected world, supporting academics and staff to become individuals with talents to act globally.

Research: focusing on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), improving the internationalization, quality, and impact of produced science, with innovative ideas related to global challenges, increasing the institution’s reputation.

Partnerships: establishing partnerships at the center of the internationalization strategy, consolidating rather than expanding partnerships, to enable deeper and more meaningful cooperation in pursuit of excellence, fostering institutional enhancement.

The three pillars depend on two other elements. The first is related to “Cross-cutting Topics” inherent in an internationalization strategy. Languages and welcoming foreigners are naturally considered. However, topics such as human resources development, streamlining bureaucracy, and interaction with external agents to the university are also part of the proposal. Another essential issue is the indicators of quality and internationalization, as well as their monitoring and continuous evaluation.

 

Diagnosis

Unesp’s strategy, whose proposals were contemplated in the PrInt, started from an initial diagnosis: despite being the 13th nation among those that publish the most scientific articles in the world, the majority of academic missions visiting Brazil did not seek academic partners. Their priority was recruiting students, even without knowing that the public institutions visited (responsible for most of the mentioned scientific publications), for offering free education and maintaining a mass access program via quotas, were poorly suited for recruitment actions.

This situation identified long before the approval of SPI and the start of the project funded by PrInt, Unesp began seeking alternatives that would allow building symmetrical institutional partnerships, looking at other parts of the world. This movement was initially facilitated by the “Science Without Borders” program (CsF) which increased the number of “recruitment missions”, showing that there were international institutions interested in concrete partnerships with good universities in the country. During the CsF, several “recognition” missions were organized for HEIs in various countries, and Unesp was always present. Australia was one of the countries visited.

To explore collaboration possibilities in the country, visits were scheduled to member institutions of two existing alliances, the Group of Eight – Go8 and the Australian Technology Network of Universities – ATN. In these visits, representatives from Brazilian universities realized that the visited institutions were open to partnerships. Besides showing excellent academic performance, they wanted new collaborations in Brazil.

It is worth noting that the choice of Australia for the development of strategic partnerships was closely linked to the interest and enthusiasm of the best Australian institutions in working with Brazilian institutions.

 

Results

In the last five years (2015-2020), Unesp’s faculty co-authored 719 publications with researchers from Australia from 102 collaborating institutions. The institution currently maintains eight agreements with 7 HEIs in Australia, including a trilateral agreement with UQ and the Technical University of Munich to develop a Global Alliance for Bioeconomy. There is also an agreement with the aforementioned ATN network.

From the Australian side, UQ identified a series of priority countries for targeted engagement, and Brazil presented itself as ideal for academic and research collaboration. In the last five years, UQ has established a strong relationship with Brazil, driven by involvement with academia and industry, covering sectors in which UQ and Brazil have mutual priorities and complementary expertise — agriculture and veterinary sciences, environmental and earth sciences, biotechnology, bioenergy, urban planning and food systems, tropical and infectious diseases, and psychology.

UQ currently maintains eleven agreements with ten research and higher education institutes in Brazil, including the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), to promote collaboration in research and mobility between UQ research institutions and those in São Paulo.

A comprehensive partnership plan was developed to boost engagement and ensure a clear understanding of key performance indicators. An assessment of converging disciplinary interests was conducted, and academic connections were identified. The key to the success of the partnership was the high-level support provided by senior executive team members of both institutions. Organizing high-level delegations allowed Presidents and Vice-Presidents to see firsthand the energy behind the partnership and to speak authoritatively about the value of collaboration.

UQ has collaborated with Unesp to participate in three Capes-PrInt-Unesp Global Research Alliances in the areas of Tropical Agriculture and Forest Production Systems, Animal Production, and Bioeconomy. UQ signed a Research Cooperation Agreement in 2016, with the aim of implementing scientific and technological cooperation between UQ and the State of São Paulo, through funding joint research initiatives.

The activities carried out and presented show that this trend can be modified, as international relations offices can and should be involved in building international partnerships aimed at developing joint research and broad academic connections.

 

Lessons learned

Top-down and bottom-up approaches: Cultivating engagement from top to bottom and bottom to top is crucial for fostering collaboration and ensuring buy-in from senior management and academic staff. Similarly, international cooperation developed by researchers through personal contacts (more widespread in HEIs) should be supported by the international relations office through specific programs to foster it. The proposal of International Research Networks mentioned in Unesp’s strategy contributes to this approach by offering a bottom-up approach. In it, institution professors form networks with established international partners for the development of collaborative research. It was essential to identify academic leaders in both institutions who could see the value of the partnership from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

Data-driven decision-making: It is essential that meticulous planning be developed. The institution’s characteristics, strengths, and strategic research interest areas must be known and explored. Likewise, areas where the institution has not yet developed critical mass or areas where it needs to grow must be identified. For this, the use of a data-driven management strategy is fundamental. Tools for collecting data from publications, interaction with industry, and international collaboration are essential. Our experience shows a direct relationship between the success of the process and the involvement of different actors.

Expanding geographical perspective: Exploring “new frontiers” by seeking the evolution of international partnerships. However, the openness with which many Australian institutions viewed proposals and new partnership ideas, as well as the willingness to explore strategic and symmetrical cooperation with Unesp, make this region perfect for expanding Unesp’s internationalization.

Investing in a mechanism to bring employees together: Organizing co-funded research workshops by partner institutions represents an opportunity for students to experience international engagement at home and engages the entire community in the process.

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