Stellenbosch University's membership of the International Network of Universities (INU) will open up even more opportunities for students and staff, and enhance existing and create new partnerships. The University joined the network in November 2020.

INU is a global consortium of universities that actively seek international partnerships and experiences to create innovative programming and delivery methods in support of internationalisation. SU's fellow members are the European University Viadrina (Germany), De Montfort and Kingston universities (United Kingdom), Hiroshima University (Japan), James Madison University (United States), Malmo University (Sweden), Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Italy), Universidad Nacional del Litoral (Argentina) and the Parahyangan Catholic University (Indonesia).

Activities of the network focus on advancing the internationalisation of member universities and preparing students for lives and careers as global citizens by engaging students and staff in international mobility programmes. Annual opportunities for students include an internship programme, seminars and conferences on global citizenship as well as the Henry Fong award. Staff, in turn, have access to shadowing opportunities (opportunities for administrative staff to visit partner institutions, share best practice and learn from one another), the Seed Fund (an open call to staff with creative ideas that support internationalisation and global engagement), a researcher mobility programme, the Intercultural Learning and Global Engagement (ILGE) programme, as well as a team award for innovation in global engagement.

Since joining INU, two SU staff members have already received training through the collaborative online international learning (COIL) course called “Virtual exchange capacity-building". Member institutions also use the network as an advertising platform for conferences, research and other learning and collaborative opportunities. In addition, students can look forward to the 9th International Student Conference on Global Citizenship with the theme “Food loss and food waste", which Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung, Indonesia, will be hosting from 22 July to 12 August 2021. Also arranged by INU is the Hiroshima Student Seminar, which will be presented by Hiroshima University, Japan, in August. This year, these events will be hosted online.

The knowledge exchange opportunities created by SU's INU membership help broaden intercultural learning and benchmark research and teaching competencies – an essential component of achieving networked and collaborative research and teaching. And with members on every continent, joining the INU also supports SU's Internationalisation Strategy.

For more information, visit the INU website, www.inunis.net.