An international conference and workshop on "Building Capacity for International University Cooperation and Research Collaboration" kicked off at UJ on Monday, June 24.
The event was organized by the U.S. - Jordanian University Cooperation Network (UCN) under the support of the U.S Embassy and in cooperation with the North Carolina State University.
Held at the Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II School of International Studies, the conference saw a number of knowledgeable speakers from universities and agencies from Jordan and the USA.
The three-day conference comprised of presentations and workshops, with a host of topics explored involving the U.S. - Jordanian research priorities and opportunities for partnerships, strategies to internationalizations and research collaboration, grant administration, and research funding areas and application.
The first day focused on policy issues and leadership. The participants agreed that every public university needs to have a robust international office.
The second day included "break out" meetings into six working groups assembled according to research interests, in order to study priorities of research cooperation and identify areas of common research interest.
The third day involved a "training" focused on raising standards and establishing more consistent policies and procedures in university offices of research administration delivered by experts from NCURA (National Council of University Research Administrators). The overall aim of the meetings was to outline the "infrastructure" needed for universities to be competitive for major US research grants from US Government agencies.
At the end of the conference, the participants agreed to continue the network, to add new US members, and to open it up on the Jordan side to leading private universities.
UCN includes 16 Jordanian and American universities. It has a liaison office at both the University of Jordan and Virginia Tech University.