As this year draws to a close, we want to highlight some of the brilliant work and achievements that the ACU and our community have created this year.
The ACU is committed to transforming lives through higher education and 2023 saw us celebrate our 110th year on Commonwealth Day on 13 March. We celebrated alongside staff from the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) at a special service at Westminster Abbey. We were also joined at the service by citizens of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Americas, the Pacific and Europe.
Creating fairer opportunities
Access to higher education changes lives and should be a right for everyone. This year saw us work towards creating fairer opportunities for people across the Commonwealth and for minority groups. At the ACU we are proud of our commitment to creating equal opportunities for all. Here are some examples of our work in this area:
- Learn more about our Equitable Research Partnerships Toolkit.
- Read more about our symposium with York University, Canada.
- Find out more about our ACU Summer School at Stellenbosch University.
- Learn more about the inaugural ACU Measures Supporting Research Survey, its findings, and what will happen going forwards.
- See more from our ACU India Roundtables where guests networked and shared their expertise on the Indian National Education Policy 2020.
- Learn more about the CSC's residential workshop on LGBT+ rights in the Commonwealth.
- Hear more about Connect and Collaborate, the CSC’s largest event of the year.
Creating a sustainable future
This year the ACU proudly supported and advocated for higher education’s vital role in working towards a sustainable future. Here are some highlights from our work in this area:
- Learn more about the extension of our Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) Scholarships to universities in ten different countries in Vanuatu, the Soloman Islands , Maldives, Ghana, India, Bangladesh, Belize, Senegal and Mozambique and Sri Lanka
- Find out more about our time at COP28 in Dubai where we highlighted the vital role that universities play in fighting climate change. We co-hosted and participated in several events with our partners, members and scholars and hosted an ACU roundtable which was attended by His Majesty King Charles III.
- See more from the International Forum on Higher Education and the Climate Crisis hosted with University College London.
- Discover more about our second ACU Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort, where we partnered with a number of our members to develop climate research leaders.
- Find out more about our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UN-Habitat to help tackle the urgent issues raised by rapid urbanisation, as part of the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities initiative (CSCI).
- Learn more about the 2023 cohort of the CSC’s Professional Fellows who held their welcome event at the University of Edinburgh in March.
Thriving as an organisation
The ACU celebrated several other successes as an organisation this year including:
- Refreshing our website and creating a new membership brochure.
- We were recognised at the PIEoneer Awards for our Commonwealth Virtual Exchange which celebrates outstanding achievement and innovation in the international education sector.
- We gained 23 new members in 11 countries as we continue to support and champion higher education throughout the Commonwealth.