As universities increasingly?operate on a global stage, they should not lose sight of their local identities,?vice-chancellors have said.

Speaking on the final day of?Times Higher Education¡¯s?World Academic Summit, leaders of universities in Botswana, Wales, Canada and England urged institutions to balance local and global outlooks in an era of growing international competition.

¡°Whilst you are talking about competitiveness and globalisation, you need to also say, ¡®Where does our culture come in?¡¯,¡± Tebelelo Seretse, chancellor of the University of Botswana, told the event being held at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST):

Reflecting on the need to dismantle ¡°colonial relics¡± in the education system, Seretse said universities must consider: ¡°How do we tell the correct stories now to our children? How do we teach the correct theories?¡±

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¡°When you are talking globalisation, you are talking importing a culture which is not your culture. You are, at the same time, importing best practices,¡± she added. A key consideration, she said, is how to ¡°have these best practices in such a way that they do not destroy the very foundation of the culture that you are trying to teach your children¡±.

Wendy Larner, president and vice-chancellor of Cardiff University, said a goal of the institution was for its ¡°global civic aspirations [to] be embedded in absolutely everything we do¡±, while being ¡°of Wales, not just in Wales ¨C culturally, linguistically, as well as economically and socially¡±.

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¡°We¡¯re working really hard to think about how we embed a proactive approach to the future,¡± she continued. ¡°Futures are co-created, and universities play an absolutely crucial role in co-creating those more just, inclusive, diverse futures¡±.

Bill Flanagan, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta, discussed the Canadian institution¡¯s response to Canada¡¯s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, led by Murray Sinclair, which?.

Alberta must work ¡°to advance reconciliation and become a university that include[s], in a very meaningful way, Indigenous perspectives and knowledge, and Indigenous students, faculty and staff¡±, Flanagan said.

Highlighting the university¡¯s Native Studies faculty, its research institute devoted to the revitalisation of Indigenous languages and its First Peoples¡¯ House for First Nations, M¨¦tis, and Inuit students, he acknowledged, ¡°Of course, much more work needs to be done. The?process of reconciliation?is an ongoing one.¡±

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At Durham University, ¡°over a third of our students come from outside of the UK, and 40 per cent of our staff¡±, said vice-chancellor and warden Karen O¡¯Brien. ¡°Yet we find ourselves in a region of the country which is not especially diverse, and where there is a very significant divergence between the university population and the local population¡±.

Durham, O¡¯Brien said, has previously been seen as ¡°a university that was a little bit isolated from its community: very functional nationally, very connected internationally, but perhaps not so connected locally¡±.

As vice-chancellor, she said, her aim is to ¡°think about ways in which we can bring that international and national outlook together with the place where we are¡±.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com