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Globalization Strategies at Universities in Scandinavia

July 18, 2008
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Akiko Matsunobu takes the opportunity of a recent trip to the University of Oslo and Uppsala University to discuss developments in higher education and the role of the Tokyo Foundation in a globalizing world.

One of the programs administered by the Scholarship Division of the Tokyo Foundation is the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund, commonly known as Sylff. Established in 1987, this fellowship program aims at fostering future leaders capable of tackling various challenges with global viewpoints that transcend cultural, national, and other "boundaries" at a time when the world is experiencing ever-faster globalization. Sylff is currently offered at 68 universities in 44 countries. Its overall scheme is unique: the Nippon Foundation contributes US$1 million to each recipient university, and each university manages the fund according to its needs and priorities, disbursing the proceeds of the contribution to graduate students in the form of fellowships.

While every region in the world has its own cultural and social background, the concept of "leader" also differs from place to place. That is the very idea behind the Sylff Program: We believe that local universities are most capable of fostering leaders that can address the situations in the countries in which they are based. Thus we entrust the management of the funds and selection of fellowship students to the discretion of each university. More than 10,000 students have been selected as Sylff fellows (recipients of fellowships) since the first fund was set up at Tufts University in the United States 21 years ago. A significant number of the fellows are now playing key roles in their respective societies and fields of expertise.

I recently had the opportunity to visit Uppsala University in Sweden and the University of Oslo in Norway, two Scandinavian universities receiving Sylff. I would like to share with our readers my observations in the context of the situation of higher education in that region.

The Oldest University in Scandinavia

Botanist Carl von Linné named humankind Homo sapiens and is known as the father of taxonomy. Physician Carl Peter Thunberg visited Japan in the eighteenth century when it was a closed country, collected local plants, and built the foundation for the study of the flora of Japan. Dag Hammarskjöld, the second secretary-general of the United Nations, devoted himself to the cause of world peace, tirelessly working around the globe until his untimely death in a plane crash in Africa during a mission.

All of these people are deeply linked to Sweden's Uppsala University. Linné and Thunberg served as its vice-chancellor, while Hammarskjöld, who received the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously, obtained a bachelor of law and a master's degree in political economy from the university. Established in 1477 in the city of Uppsala, located about 70 kilometers north of Stockholm, it is the oldest university in Scandinavia. Including Hammarskjöld, to date the university has produced eight Nobel Prize laureates and has many eminent graduates in the fields of natural science, humanities, and social science, which speak to its high academic standards.

The Sylff endowment for Uppsala University is the second oldest (set up in 1988) out of the 68 institutions that have received the fund. A commemorative ceremony was held on April 11, 2008 to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Sylff's establishment at the university. This event was attended by the vice-chancellor, department deans, members of the Sylff Steering Committee and Sylff fellows, as well as a large number of teaching faculty and students from the university. All gathered in the convivial atmosphere at the Museum Gustavianum, one of the university's main historical buildings.

Over the past 20 years Sylff fellowships have been provided to 56 people studying international issues at the university, including doctoral students and young post-doctoral researchers. Of these, 10 have become professors and another 10 associate professors. It allows young scholars to devote themselves to research as an alternative to undergoing a period of economic uncertainty at a time when they need to build up their academic achievements.

Norway's Oldest and Largest University

In 1989 the University of Oslo became the twelfth institution to receive Sylff funding. Located in central Oslo, the university was founded in 1811 by King Frederick VI, the Danish monarch who ruled Norway at that time. As the oldest and largest university in Norway, it has played a great role in fostering national identity and establishing modern statehood, in keeping with its mission of fostering leaders. To date it has produced four Nobel Prize laureates in the fields of economics, chemistry, and peace.

As Norway's leading institute of higher learning, the University of Oslo was designated a domestic Center of Excellence (COE)* in nine fields and as a Nordic COE in two fields, including medicine, natural sciences, as well as humanities and social sciences. As such, the university boasts many excellent researchers and high research standards. The University of Oslo also makes substantial contributions to culture with its three cultural museums. The university's library assets, moreover, include one of the greatest collections of Tibetan mandalas in the world, with vigorous exchange programs underway with Tibet University. To date, 146 graduate students have been provided with Sylff fellowships at the University of Oslo.

* A COE refers to a core institute where top researchers carry out world-class studies in a cutting-edge research environment. Specifically, a COE is required to assign leading researchers to the fields or themes concerned, employ cutting-edge technology to conduct the research and deliver groundbreaking research results. In Japan, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) initiated the Twenty-first Century COE Program in 2002 as a policy aimed at establishing a COE program.

University Initiatives for Globalization

Uppsala University has concluded more than 3,000 joint research agreements with over 1,000 universities throughout the world and has worked out arrangements regarding exchange students with more than 500 universities worldwide. By carrying out proactive joint research, the university intends to further strengthen its five main fields, namely: research on peace, security, and democracy; genomes; drug development; brain, cognitive, and behavioral studies; and energy supply and renewable energy.

In 2006 and 2007 the institution conducted a large-scale review of its university-wide research activities to identify those fields that have the potential to become more competitive in the future and incorporate them into future strategies and draft plans. This project was called Quality and Renewal 2007. Under this project, panels of experts—consisting of prominent scholars at home and abroad—carried out evaluations in their respective fields. The results of the evaluation were compiled in voluminous English reports, identifying the names of all of the researchers involved, and were disclosed to the public. These efforts reflect Uppsala University's enthusiasm for raising its level of research.

Internationalization is acting as a major impetus for the University of Oslo as well. Courses taught in English number 800, student mobility has doubled since 2001, and foreign students constitute 11% of the student body. Furthermore, partners in joint research have become more international, with research themes being set up from a more international and interdisciplinary perspective. The University of Oslo is also expanding overseas, opening research centers in Russia, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, and the U.K. in Europe; as well as three in Asia: in Beijing and Shanghai in China, and Delhi in India.

China and East Asia as Academic Markets

The University of Oslo is currently directing its energies inter alia toward China. The second highest number of foreign PhD students comes from China, after Germany. In terms of research interest and academic exchange, China's presence is rising remarkably. Immediately prior to our visit to the university, the University of Oslo sent a large delegation to China in order to further develop existing partnerships with Peking University, Fudan University,, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and others. There are reasons for this orientation toward China. One of them, according to Rector Geir Ellingsrud, reflects the university's desire to secure a firm footing at an early stage of China's emergence as a fully-fledged research power. Another is the wish to offer faculty members and students at the university greater opportunities for research with and on China. Rector Ellingsrud further mentioned his university is convinced that China will become a major partner in the international community. To create ties of shared values, he said joint studies and projects as well as researcher exchange can be beneficial. Through all these talks, I sensed a strong passion for China.

The University of Oslo also has strong ties with eight leading Japanese universities (e.g. Tokyo, Waseda, Keio, Hokkaido, Tokai Universities, and others), and an increasing volume of research with and on Japan in disciplines ranging from dentistry, biology , nanotechnology and astrophysics to Japanese language and culture, theology, democracy, criminology, education and more. There is also both student and researcher exchange between the University of Oslo and its Japanese partners, and a substantial volume of co-authorship. There is thus a good basis for further developing joint research activity through a research scheme under the Tokyo Foundation umbrella.

Uppsala University, for its part, has appointed an associate professor who has been residing in Tokyo since April 2008 as an academic exchange delegate. This is a research professional working as a direct contact for Japan-Sweden academic exchange. Through this initiative, the university's enthusiasm for creating a substantial joint research scheme was strongly felt.

The Role of the Tokyo Foundation

Both universities seemed to have a keen desire to ride the wave of globalization and further expand and raise the quality of the education and research they conduct as institutes of higher learning. This can be attributed to the concept of the Bologna Declaration on the European Space for Higher Education, which was signed by 29 European countries in 1999. This is an attempt to raise the quality of education and improve the appeal of European universities by increasing compatibility and fluidity among institutes of higher learning in Europe and through competition among regional universities. The fierce competition unfolding globally has not bypassed the world of higher education, the future of which will depend to a good extent on how each institution can develop its characteristics and appeal.

The Tokyo Foundation conducted a questionnaire survey on globalization at the Sylff Program Administrators Meeting (at the University of Copenhagen) in January 2007. The responses from the 61 universities (from 42 countries) that participated in the meeting were of great interest in that they vividly portrayed their thinking and attitudes toward globalization. All of the universities responded that they are being affected by globalization. Many of their responses referred to positive effects, including the increased mobility of students and teachers and the greater diversity this engenders, higher academic standards, and the possibility of transnational alliances. On the other hand, increasingly fierce transnational competition and brain drain were among the negative impacts mentioned.

It does not seem easy to bring joint research with overseas partners to fruition. Common ways to attract research partners include: taking note of researchers whose works draw attention in academic journals and contacting them at international academic conferences and relying on them as liaisons in their countries to expand mutual partnership. This process often moves slowly due to difficulties in financing research and continuing joint research off-line. Cases are on the rise among young researchers in which experiments are conducted many times with colleagues whom they have actually never met, using IP telephones and the like. The process is a continuous trial and error among experts within their own fields.

These trends can be linked to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's publication in 2005 of the Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-border Higher Education. This can be seen as a step in the long-due standardization of the rapidly globalizing field of education.

The Tokyo Foundation has two pillar activities: policy research and scholarship programs. As such, we are seeking to be a bridge between overseas institutes of higher learning and research and Japanese counterparts in the field of the social sciences. Global issues are now closely interlinked with domestic policy. In this light, it is conceivable that the research reports and proposals that the Tokyo Foundation conducts for domestic policy may provide significant hints for overseas policies, with the reverse of this often being true as well.

If global competition among various policy research institutes contributes to making the world a better place, we are eager to help. Thus we are trying to assist overseas institutions that are seeking partnership with Japanese counterparts. It is in this spirit that we will continue our support for high-quality research and scholarship activities.

Message from the Tokyo Foundation:Why don't you write an article too?

“Voices from the Sylff Community” is a space showcasing the activities and opinions of Sylff fellows and faculty members. We have received contributions from fellows and faculty members all over the world.　We are looking forward to sharing YOUR voices with people around the world, including global issues with local perspective, grassroots issues requiring global attention, and your first-hand experience.
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Reflections on the Sylff Program

July 15, 2008
By null

The Sylff Program’s mission―

“To support the education of outstanding students pursuing graduate- level study in the social sciences and humanities who have high

potential for leadership and a commitment to exercising leadership

in local, national, regional and international affairs, in public as well

as in private endeavors. To nurture future leaders who will transcend

geopolitical, religious, ethnic, cultural and other boundaries and will

contribute to peace and the well-being of humankind.

―recognizes the important role of graduate-level (or postgraduate level) study and its impact and ripple-effect throughout all sectors of societies, including the corporate, education, government and non-government sectors. It targets the social sciences and humanities (and performing arts at specific institutions) rather than the natural and applied sciences which not only receive the bulk of funding but generally more public attention.

While focusing on academically outstanding students, the Sylff mission expects that fellowships will be awarded to students with a high potential for and commitment to exercising leadership in local, national, regional and[/or] international arenas, and in ways that benefit the well-being of all and hence contribute to the common good. In sum, recipients of Sylff fellowships (“Sylff fellows”) are expected to complete the degree or program for which the fellowship was awarded and then pursue their careers and personal lives in socially responsible ways and to lead others in doing so. It is a tall order but one which is filled by innumerable Sylff fellows throughout the world.

There are many “stories to tell” of individuals and groups of fellows who are fulfilling the Sylff mission and living its vision―the founder of a scholarship program which enables youngsters from rural villages to attend high school and requires them to return home to teach villagers in their respective dialects during vacation periods; a recent foreign minister and now a leader in a turbulent region; a group of junior university faculty members who have helped transform an impoverished community through an environmental project; young musicians who organize and perform charity concerts to benefit orphanages; and much more. Their stories underscore the fact that Sylff fellows indeed act and have an impact far beyond the Sylff community.

The engine which drives the Sylff Program is its endowment scheme. Rather than the donor (The Nippon Foundation) or the program administrator (The Tokyo Foundation) receiving applications from individuals, universities throughout the world are invited to submit applications to receive endowments or permanent funds of US$1 million each. Selected institutions then invest and manage their Sylff endowments, and use the earnings on their investments to provide Sylff fellowships to graduate-level, enrolled students thus empowering the universities and allowing them to plan over the long-term because they have a sustainable source of revenue. In other words, the endowment scheme generates ownership and takes away uncertainty so a stable program can be planned and implemented.

The Sylffinstitutions also decide on the academic disciplines or themes of their fellowship programs. Examples of theme-based fellowship programs include “Pluralisms, Conflict Resolution and Democratic Governance” (Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia) and “Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Socio-economic, Political and Cultural Dimensions of Human Development” (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India). There are also mechanisms for endowed-universities to alter the academic disciplines or themes of their fellowship programs after a period of time to meet changing needs and priorities.

The lubricants which have helped keep the engine running are the so-called follow-up programs implemented by The Tokyo Foundation for enrolled and graduated Sylff fellows and endowed-university administrators, and online and face-to-face contact which have fostered a sense of belonging and ownership of the Sylff Program by all and mutual trust. Even hybrid vehicles require lubricants to increase the ease of their functioning. In much the same way, the Sylff engine requires lubricants not only to improve its functioning but also to help ensure that the engines power Sylff vehicles to follow a mutual road map (mission) to reach an ultimate goal (vision).

There are currently 68 endowed universities and consortia in 44 countries that make up a colorful parade of Sylff vehicles of different years, makes and models but they share a fundamental commitment to academic excellence and educating and nurturing the next generations to help ensure that the world will be a better place for all. Sylff vehicles travel different roads―some smooth and straight, others filled with pot-holes and sometimes requiring detours―but they are headed in the same direction.

I vividly recall attending a meeting of representatives of African NGOs and U.S. foundations several years ago in New York City. Although I was an observer, I was called upon to introduce the Sylff Program. The first question which I received from a foundation representative was, “Do you actually trust all of the universities to manage their endowments and to administer their fellowship programs?” The second interjection came from a representative of an African NGO who clapped her hands and said, “That’s just what we need, not vast amounts but permanent funds that will enable us to develop and implement strategic plans, and sustain and nurture our organization’s projects. We are responsible people and want to be trusted and encouraged.”

It took some discipline for me to stifle a clap and cheer while first explaining that the foundation and prospective recipient universities engage in considerable discussion about where and how the endowment will be invested, transparent and equitable administration and focus of the fellowship program, participation in the Sylff network, and the submission of annual reports. Then I said clearly, mostly for the U.S. foundation representatives, yes, we trust the universities―the endowment is theirs, in perpetuity, barring any gross mismanagement and the foundations’ (donor and program administrator) commitment to the universities and fellows is life-long.

This and many other first-hand experiences have underscored that the Sylff Program is based upon and thrives on mutual learning, trust and collaboration between and among the foundations (The Nippon Foundation and The Tokyo Foundation), endowed universities and the more than 10,000 Sylff fellows.

Thinking and acting outside the box

In the case of the Sylff Program, thinking and acting outside the proverbial box is not simply an exercise but lies within its very essence. In 1986, then The Nippon Foundation President Yohei Sasakawa made a significant leap outside the prevailing box when he transformed his father’s vision into the Sylff Program, then a rare case for a private Japanese grant-making foundation. Twenty-two years later, it is still rare for foundations in and outside Japan to endow universities, particularly in developing countries.

Mr. Sasakawa’s strong commitment and belief in the program led him to take another big step when he led efforts by The Nippon Foundation to establish and fund The Tokyo Foundation in 1997, first and foremost to strengthen and enhance the Sylff Program and secondarily other scholarship activities (by the new foundation’s Scholarship Division), and to engage in policy studies (Research Division). (At the time, the Japanese government was limiting the number of new foundations hence the scholarship and research initiatives were joined into a single organization.)

During the second decade of Sylff, he continued to be a generous source of support and inspiration. Combined with the expertise and guidance of the Scholarship Programs Advisory Board (previously called the International Advisory Committee), the Sylff Program continued to innovate and translate the Sylff vision and mission into follow-up programs and activity, including the building of the Sylff Network, the mechanism that allows the Sylff community to keep the engines running at best levels of performance.

Sylff institutions not only participated in and facilitated follow-up programs but some also initiated and engaged in university-to-university and in some cases, consortium programs and activity with funding from sources other than Sylff. In other words, they too explicitly or implicitly thought and acted outside the box. A dozen universities have also hosted various forums and meetings and thus made incalculable in-kind contributions.

During the same period, a growing number of Sylff fellows actively participated in follow-up programs, including the Sylff Fellows Council. Through their research, social action and networking initiatives, they too innovated, experimented and acted on top of their ongoing academic work, and professional and personal responsibilities. They deserve a loud round of applause not only for multi-tasking but also for leading and serving as role models for others within and beyond the Sylff community.

For all stakeholders, thinking and acting outside the box involved both process and content matters―taking bold steps in making processes participatory and more transparent, and designing follow-up programs and activity to facilitate trans-disciplinary, trans-national research and social action.

Moving forward

The Sylff Program is not perfect nor a panacea for all ills. It is a living system and thus a work-in-progress that requires ongoing reexamination, fine-tuning and transformation if it is to strengthen, grow and mature. There are various mechanisms to reexamine and fine-tune existing programs and activity, such as self-study techniques. However, transformation in the context of higher education, and thus of Sylff, goes beyond the rational processes and substance of assessment and cost-benefit analyses. As Richard H. Hersh recently wrote, “Transformation is about intellectual deepening and broadening; …rigorous and humble introspection; …encountering the great human conversations as a means of learning how to construct meaning in far more defensible and rigorous ways. [And] learning―and the transformation it fosters―is never strictly cognitive….Learning is about being able to link thought and emotion, and all with action, in ways that are humane, caring and responsible” (The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 1, 2008, p. A64 ).

On the world stage, the Sylff family of fellows, universities and the foundations may be a modest company of actors in terms of numbers but together and through individual endeavors the clan can make a difference. A quarter century ago, scientist Lewis Thomas wrote in a collection of essays:

“Altruism, in its biological sense, is required of us. We have an enormous family to look after, or perhaps that assumes too much, making us sound like official gardeners and zookeepers for the planet, responsibilities for which we are probably not grown-up enough. We may need new technical terms for concern, respect, affection, substitutes for altruism. But at least we should acknowledge the family ties and, with them, the obligations. If we do it wrong, scattering pollutants, clouding the atmosphere with too much carbon dioxide, extinguishing the thin carapace of ozone, burning up the forests, dropping the bombs, rampaging at large through nature as though we owned the place, there will be a lot of paying back to do and, at the end, nothing to pay back with.” (Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, 1983, pp. 106-107).

What will the Sylff family choose to do in its third decade? Commit to further mutual learning, collaborative action and transforming challenges into opportunities? Do “good” but in seclusion or for self-serving purposes? Slip into indifference, complacency and inactivity? Do we have a choice?