The University of Missouri's historic relationship with the University of Western Cape in South Africa: Working together to make a difference
Monday, March 31, 2008
3:30-5 p.m.
Ellis Auditorium, Ellis Library, MU Campus
Listen to Audio of Event (MP3)
Join MU Chancellor Brady J. Deaton as he moderates the latest in a series of open forums on global topics of interest to the community. This panel discussion provides an opportunity to reflect on the University of Missouri's historic and groundbreaking relationship with the University of Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa.
In 1986 the University of Missouri System approached UWC to begin a cooperative agreement that would include faculty and student exchanges. The University of Missouri South Africa Education Program has since sponsored more than 375 exchange visits, representing more than 40 academic disciplines. One resulting collaborative research effort was awarded a $4.4 million grant recently from the National Institutes of Health to study the effectiveness of traditional medicine in treating HIV/AIDS. Other initiatives have received funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Negro College Fund and the Kellogg Foundation. The success of this program, however, rests on far more than just numbers and grant dollars.
In the late 1970s, like many of their peers across the nation, MU students concerned about apartheid began pressuring the University to divest from companies doing business in South Africa. Eventually the Board of Curators approved a complete divestment. Perhaps even more noteworthy, though, was the Board’s simultaneous decision to seek a collaborative relationship with a non-white university in South Africa. Not only was Missouri the first U.S. university to do so, but from the start, the partnership would chart new territory in fostering a genuinely mutual relationship between a U.S. and an African institution. The linkage between the University of Missouri and UWC is now recognized around the world as a model for international academic exchange.
The Chancellor's forums are free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the Jesse Hall rotunda.
Background information about MU's relationship with South Africa: MIZZOU magazine article "From Contention to Collaboration"
The Panelists
Ron Turner
Executive Vice President Emeritus, University of Missouri System