The starting point is that changes in the world around us have made international academic collaboration more complex.

Factors that have contributed to increased complexity are:

• geopolitical changes,
• security policy conflicts,
• decline of democracy, and
• reduced scope for academic freedom.

Institutions of higher education need a solid basis to manage changes and to make strategic decisions regarding international collaborations. Risk assessment needs to be strengthened, exit strategies designed and security awareness increased.

By exchanging knowledge and experience, using each other's competences, and coordinating external monitoring and analysis, the idea is that CASI can streamline and ensure the quality of international work. The idea is also to create a better opportunity for rapid information sharing and analysis in the acute stages of events.

What does CASI do?

Since 2020, the CASI project has developed a framework with a checklist to identify various challenges and risks in connection with international collaborations. Expertise and existing processes have been mapped, benchmarking in relation to other countries and universities has been carried out, and workshops around various case studies have been designed.

The CASI project has also conducted webinars in 2022 open to all higher education institutions in Sweden, one on prerequisites for academic cooperation with Russia and one on cooperation with East Africa.

CASI plans to conduct the following webinars for Swedish universities

What responsibility do Swedish universities have for working globally for principles of democracy and academic freedom?

Webinar: 25 September at 15:00-16:30

This CASI webinar will discuss the role of academia in strengthening international collaborations without renouncing demands for academic freedom, democratic principles and respect for human rights is raised. For instance, how do we relate to collaboration with universities in countries where academic freedom may not be mentioned in legal frameworks, where homosexuality risks leading to the death penalty, where women are not allowed to study or where the government keeps its citizens in an iron grip in various ways? Is a deepened academic collaboration a way of supporting individual researchers in these countries or perhaps the contrary: an expression of an emerging attitude towards authoritarian regimes? How should we reason when we assess different international university collaborations "case by case"?

Participants

• Astrid Söderbergh Widding, Vice-Chancellor, Stockholm University
• Ole Petter Ottesen, Professor University of Oslo, former Vice-Chancellor at UiO and KI
• Johanna Brismar Skoog, Director Government Affairs, Business Sweden Americas, former Ambassador to Indonesia och Brazil
• Stefan Östlund, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Global Relations, KTH
• Sylvia Schwaarg Serger, Professor at the Department of Economic History, Lund University

Moderator: Åsa Petri, Head of International Office, Stockholm University

The webinar will be held in Swedish. Pre-registration is required.

For more information and registration

Information will be distributed through the colleges and universities' network for strategic internationalisation (UNSI/HÖNSI).