McMaster hosts Laura Pritsch, Head of Communication and Public Affairs at the Association of Commonwealth Universities

Last month, the Office of International Affairs (OIA) had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Laura Pritsch, Head of Communications and Public Affairs, from the Association of Commonwealth Universities. The meeting was attended by Baniyelme Zoogah, McMaster’s Global Ambassador and Associate Professor, Human Resources & Management, Martin Horn, Associate Vice-President, Office of the Vice-President, Research and Gisela Oliviera, Associate Director, Career Development, Global Mobility and International Student Success Centre and from the OIA Amira El Masri, Director, Paul Leegsma, Manager, Strategic Initiatives and Special Projects and Adelina Sylaj, Grants and Project Officer. During the meeting, the McMaster’s team had a chance to present McMaster’s Internationalization priorities, current international research priorities, research and global engagement societal impact, and student mobility. Dr. Pritsch shared ACU’s priorities, its member benefits and available resources for engagement on policy and advocacy as well organization’s promotion methods with internal and external partners. The visit ended with a campus tour. 

The Association of Commonwealth Universities, ACU, is a global network of universities with a shared commitment to building a better world through international collaboration in higher education.  As the world’s first and older international university network, it has been bringing universities together from across the Commonwealth for more than 100 years.  

DID YOU KNOW? 

• McMaster University is one of the ACU’s founding members, since 1913 

• In the past few years, McMaster received 4 ACU Grants and Awards and hosted 1 ACU Fellow: 

• 3 Summer School Awards in 2019 were awarded to McMaster’s Alumni 

• 1 Commonwealth Futures Award in 2019 awarded to Ahmednur Ali who attended the workshops in London and India and selected as a rep for ACU at the CHOGM Youth Forum. His experience featured here

• 1 ACU Fellowship joint host in 2017: Fellow was Paul Denny, University of Auckland. His work during fellowship placement is featured here. 

AVAILABLE RESOURCES: 

• Funding Opportunities- The ACU’s commitment to deliver educational opportunities for university staff and students to pursue research and innovation is made through a range of funding opportunities.  For the year 2024-2025, ACU’s is promoting eight funding opportunities targeting a wide range of professionals and academic staff looking to collaborate on research and capacity building training with other members of the ACU across the commonwealth.  Details of each upcoming opportunities is available on the OIA’s webpage. 

• The Equitable Partnerships Toolkit – A collection of practical resources to assist analysis and action for addressing equity in research partnerships.   

• ACU Measures – benchmarking service that provides you with a comparison on policies, practices, and resource allocation that will help support your decision making in key areas – read the executive summary of the most recent ‘supporting research’ survey or request full access to the dashboards. 

• The ACU Roster of Experts – Encourages academics to register their interest to be included on the Roster of Experts to highlight skills and expertise. If you are interested in joining the ACU Roster of Experts, please reach out to oia@mcmaster.ca  

• Higher Education Taskforce – Members of the ACU HE Taskforce, a group of 20 Vice-Chancellors from ACU member institutions, met for the first time in February this year and focused on five key thematic areas where higher education can play a critical role in developing solutions to help governments meet the SDGs. These are:  

• Making the case for sustainable higher education funding and finance 

• Bridging the gap: Improving access and inclusion in HE 

• Fostering sustainable and inclusive research ecosystems 

• Navigating the digital frontier: Digital access and AI 

• Developing future-ready graduates: Advancing employability, entrepreneurship, and skills in HE  

The ACU established working groups for each of these themes, whose key recommendations will help the ACU to define and shape its submissions to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Antigua and Barbuda in 2026 and the Conference for Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) in 2026 in Guyana. McMaster’s faculty with the relevant expertise are invited to join the working groups, all of which have met at least once and subsequent meetings will take place in January/February 2025.  

• Snapshot on the ACU’s Policy & Advocacy work – Read about our the ACU’s advocacy work on behalf of members at CCEM in London and CHOGM in Samoa and top level policy asks for Commonwealth Governments.