ID024 Transnational engagement, collaboration and community building

The Idea

Engagement and collaboration are vital in an irreversibly globalised world, where being global means being local, regional, national and international simultaneously. Our communities are connected physically, digitally and culturally, creating opportunities to learn from one another and address shared challenges collectively.

Transnational engagement embodies this concept of globalisation. It involves exchanging knowledge, building capacity, developing innovative solutions to common challenges, widening access, generating skills and encouraging diversity of thought. Founded on collaboration, transnational engagement is inherently international but is also deeply connected to local, regional and national communities.

When approached strategically, transnational engagement has the power to connect people, overcome barriers and create mutually reinforcing relationships. It broadens communities and fosters understanding in an increasingly polarised world.

This proposal encourages the university to adopt transnational engagement more explicitly as a guiding principle across all areas of activity. It recognises collaboration as essential to supporting the communities we serve and to advancing the university's vision and mission.

Through existing and future partnerships across education, research, knowledge exchange, capacity building, student and staff mobility, commercial activity and service delivery, Keele can create broader and more interconnected networks. The aim is to move beyond single-purpose partnerships and towards multifaceted relationships that bring people together and generate shared value for local, national and international communities.

Why This Idea Should Be Considered

Our world faces significant challenges that are often both local and global in nature. Keele has a strong tradition of civic engagement, acting as a regional anchor institution through education, research, regeneration, skills development and community engagement.

The university recruits students and staff locally, nationally and internationally. It supports mobility, collaborates globally in research and innovation, and delivers education on campus, online and overseas. Through these activities, Keele already operates within extensive international networks and serves a diverse global community.

However, this transnational dimension is not always explicitly recognised or coordinated across the institution. While collaboration is often valued within individual academic and professional activities, there is an opportunity to adopt a more deliberate and holistic approach.

By identifying where connections already exist, building on existing partnerships and seeking opportunities for wider collaboration, Keele can create a more connected global community that generates benefits across teaching, research, knowledge exchange, student experience and civic engagement.

This proposal encourages the university to place collaboration at the centre of institutional activity, positioning Keele, its students, staff, alumni and partners as members of a globally connected, community-driven network rooted in principles of equity, diversity and inclusion.

How We Would Implement This Idea

The university should explicitly recognise collaboration and engagement as core institutional values within its strategy. Staff, students and organisational units should be encouraged to reflect on what these principles mean within their own areas of activity and identify opportunities to strengthen collaboration where appropriate.

Implementation should be flexible and proportionate. In some cases, collaboration may be enhanced through small-scale initiatives, while in others it may require more substantial organisational or structural change. The scale of activity should reflect the outcomes being pursued.

Collectively, the university should establish greater clarity of purpose, stronger communication and increased transparency around existing partnerships, collaborations and opportunities. This could include mechanisms to:

• Map existing partnership activity across the institution
• Identify opportunities for cross-functional collaboration
• Share knowledge and examples of successful partnership working
• Support strategic analysis of challenges and opportunities within different regions and communities
• Inform future partnership development and collaborative initiatives

Examples of transnational collaboration could include:

• Connecting careers teams, employers and recruitment partners across different countries to explore shared workforce challenges and solutions.
• Using existing organisational relationships to develop collaborative research projects and access external funding opportunities.
• Supporting knowledge and skills exchange to address local, regional and global challenges.
• Building capacity through mutual learning and collaborative problem-solving.
• Embedding collaborative skills within the curriculum through interdisciplinary and international learning experiences.
• Expanding opportunities for student and staff mobility, collaborative online learning, volunteering projects and community initiatives.

To support this approach, the university could develop practical tools, resources and guidance to help staff and students identify and establish collaborative opportunities. Governance structures could also evolve towards more flexible, project-based models that encourage participation from a wider range of internal and external stakeholders.

Implementation will necessarily vary across different areas of activity. However, the principle of collaboration should be visible, embedded and continuously strengthened throughout the institution.

What Success Would Look Like

Measures of success would vary according to the nature of the activity being undertaken, but could include the following outcomes:

• A university culture in which collaboration and engagement are deeply embedded across academic, professional and operational activities.
• Increased commitment to collaborative working at individual, team and organisational levels.
• Growth in multifaceted partnerships that combine education, research, knowledge exchange, capacity building, student and staff mobility, service-sharing and community engagement.
• Greater transparency and visibility of collaborative activity across the institution.
• Evidence of local, national and international engagement being integrated throughout university activities.
• Stronger connections between students, staff, alumni, partners and communities across different regions and countries.
• Recognition of Keele as a university known for community-driven collaboration and engagement at regional, national and international levels.