At last week’s G7 summit in Italy, the U7+ Alliance of World Universities called on the heads of state and government to improve global access to higher education, which it sees as a way of accelerating economic growth and stabilizing societies. The U7+ presidential summit welcomed over 80 university leaders from 18 countries to Milan’s Bocconi University. The University of Bonn was also represented at the meeting by its Rector Professor Michael Hoch and its Vice Rector for International Affairs Professor Birgit Ulrike Münch.
At the summit, entitled “Inclusive Education for Inclusive Societies,” the members of the U7+ committed to making access to higher education easier for people at all stages of their academic career and to do so both within their own institution and outside its walls. This also includes fostering an inclusive and supportive culture on campus where all students, faculty and staff can flourish.
Requesting the G7’s commitment in four key areas
A total of 46 of the universities represented, including the University of Bonn, also agreed the 2024 U7+ Statement on Global Access to Higher Education, in which they call on the G7 to get involved and work with the universities in four key areas:
1. Continuing to develop high-quality and inclusive education systems from primary through to higher education
2. Supporting investment in higher education in low- and middle-income countries
3. Providing funding to support students from marginalized communities locally and globally
4. Supporting and prioritizing visas for students and researchers fleeing oppressive regimes, armed conflict or threats of conflict
“It’s a great honor for us as a University of Excellence to be invited to join this extremely prestigious global alliance,” says Rector Michael Hoch. “The network and the opportunity it brings for dialogue with partners from all over the world are of immense strategic importance to us. If we, as leading international universities, all speak with one voice, we’ll be able to do some valuable work together helping to overcome major challenges across the globe.”
University of Bonn among five German members
The University of Bonn is now the fifth German university in the alliance alongside Freie Universität Berlin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the Technical University of Munich and the University of Mannheim. “We hope to gain a lot from the University of Bonn joining the exclusive circle of the U7+,” explains its Vice Rector for International Affairs Birgit Ulrike Münch. “As a member, we’ll now be able to campaign even more fiercely for the alliance’s common aims, such as giving students and researchers forced to flee violence and persecution a place at a German university.”
In particular, the support provided to refugee and exiled researchers has been stepped up at the University of Bonn since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. With the Cologne/Bonn Academy in Exile, the University of Bonn and University of Cologne give exiled researchers from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus the opportunity to continue their work in either of the two cities.
About the U7+
A global network of over fifty universities from twenty countries on all five continents, the U7+ Alliance was formed as a complement to the G7. The presidents of the universities in the U7+ Alliance meet annually in the run-up to the G7 summit to explore ways in which universities might work together to help resolve global challenges.
