A Centenary Reflection: Challenges for Universities and the Wider Commonwealth

Abstract

The Association of Commonwealth Universities has just celebrated its centenary. As with many Commonwealth organisations, it is rich in history, traditions and the diversity of its membership. Yet all of these features can be seen both as strengths and as weaknesses. This article considers ways in which the future Association can distinguish itself from the growing number of international networks that have developed in recent years, and what lessons their approach might have for the wider Commonwealth.

KEY WORDS:

• universities
• Association of Commonwealth Universities
• Commonwealth
• international networks
• professional networks
• membership organisations
• Association of American Universities

Notes

1. E. Ashby (1963[1988]) Community of Universities: An Informal Portrait of the Association of Universities of the British Commonwealth 1913–1963. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, reprinted by ACU, p. 7.

2. Quoted in Ashby (1963[1988]), p. 22.

3. The Economist (2013) The Commonwealth: what is it for?, 16 November 2013, http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21589887-unreformed-commonwealth-deserves-die-improved-it-could-be-rather-useful-what-it, accessed 5 February 2014.