Leader column

My career has taken me twice to America – San Francisco and New York – where I worked alongside people of many nationalities; on the last occasion, in a laboratory where 13 people with 11 languages were investigating fundamental aspects of liver cell biology. And as a student in the 1970s I was lucky enough to have an elective in a hospital for black people in (apartheid) South Africa. These experiences were enormously enriching and productive on a number of levels. They changed the way I thought about the world and improved my understanding of the dynamic relationship between diversity and creativity.

People of different nationalities, I discovered, frequently take different approaches to a problem, so a research meeting can be fantastically creative and uplifting, with people from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures and educational systems, offering diverse perspectives and methodological approaches, each one sparking off a new series of thoughts or line of enquiry.

More simply, working in an international context gives you the chance to see how others do things; I learnt how the American work ethic contributes to that nation’s success in research. And it’s also good fun to interact with other cultures.

On the other side of the world, I found at the start of my career in South Africa a dimension to world medicine I had never properly thought about, and realised how context restricts your knowledge and view. In a hospital where clinical standards of students and doctors were truly impressive, I learnt about medicine, of course, but also realised how important was the much wider dimension.

So how does my experience read across to our University’s vision to be ‘world-class’ and ‘internationally recognised for excellent research and outstanding graduates’ and our purpose ‘to make an impact on global society’? How does it relate to one of our key strategic themes – to enhance our international profile?

There is of course a difference between world-class research, and that which has a global impact. I have said we all need to aim for world-class – work commended by international peer review and published in a high quality journal or as a top-class monograph. But where possible we should also be researching issues of global importance, such as climate change or AIDS – I’m sure you will identify other global issues of direct relevance to your discipline.

Intervening in these big questions clearly takes more than the resources of one university – so when Leeds looks at tissue engineering and stem cell research, it collaborates with researchers in Japan, America and with our White Rose partners. Our transport researchers work with institutions across Europe, America and South East Asia on issues from emissions to networks; and the Nuffield has partners in Uganda, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Ghana, Nepal and Swaziland on interventions for tuberculosis, malaria and HIV.

So collaboration and partnerships are key to enhancing not only our profile around the world but also our reach and capability. Our membership of the Worldwide Universities Network is central to this – giving us immediate access to top-class colleagues worldwide who share our values, goals and ambitions.

Staff should take advantage of sabbaticals and exchange programmes to go to other countries (although not all at once!) and learn about other approaches in their field. We will of course welcome visitors on exchange programmes to conferences. One school suggested that external members from other countries on our advisory boards would bring a fresh perspective of how we are seen from elsewhere; a biomedical advisory board I sat on in a Scottish university had two North Americans bringing a formative international dimension to the table.

An international perspective will see more, better-qualified students come to Leeds, while we will give our students every encouragement to broaden their understanding by studying in other countries. Travel will also encourage their concern about international issues, and their willingness to address global problems.

Fostering an international outlook is all about getting your daily thoughts up a plane – about consciously thinking beyond your own immediate area or sphere of influence, and working out how to extend your influence. So when you have choices, you can say – let’s take the option that will enable us to make a truly international impact.

Much of this is not new to Leeds, rather it’s an attempt to articulate support for on-going activities. Distinguished alumni from the 1960s and 1970s tell me how truly ‘international’ they found Leeds, and how meeting people from other countries and cultures helped shape their lives and careers.

We will ensure our current staff and students have the same privilege. We might not have 11 languages in one team. But as the number of languages I hear on the way to a campus meeting – and it’s rarely less than three – reinforces the point that we have an international diversity at Leeds on which to build.

University Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael J P Arthur