Transforming our Global Traction and Profile
Establishing Global Hubs of Practice
Background
This paper outlines a set of ideas underpinning the drive to create a future for Bournemouth
University’s presence in the fast developing global market for higher education (HE). It
draws on the findings and recommendations from a working group established by the
International and UK Partnerships Committee (IUPC) to explore the development of an
innovative in-country presence framework to feed into the emergent Global Engagement
Plan. It proposes an innovative ‘Hub’ based approach to taking our vision of Fusion global.
This vision has been developed by the working group and its proposals endorsed by IUPC
on 24th March 2015.
This paper is divided into two sections:
i)
Conceptualising the academic underpinning for the Hubs
ii)
Contextualising the business model for Hubs
The Academic Model
The Vision for a Global BU
We know that every university is undertaking internationalisation of some form to a greater
or lesser extent. In devising our strategy, therefore, we need to be aware that our
distinctiveness, will come from not just what we do but how we organise ourselves to
generate profile, reach, visibility and impact through our academic proposition globally.
Our strategy is therefore to devise our own innovation map for expanding and enriching our
knowledge portfolio/academic footprint and the resultant impact trail rather than seeking to
compete with other institutions that already have a well-established reputation
internationally. The strategic opportunity we can create involves drawing together the
following key ideas:
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Going global - responding to the global dynamics and interdependencies of the
business world and the challenge for how universities can keep pace in terms of their
offering of innovative products and services to meet the needs of their communities.
Developing and leveraging our global education brand - building on the recruitment
success of BU, grasp the opportunity to ‘raise our profile’ with and through international
business, corporate and community engagements.
Aligning to international government policy and thinking – this is an opportune time
to capitalise on the current government and business agendas on the contribution of
higher education to economic growth and development.
Developing a superior education and research offer that incorporates the ideas above and
which centres on taking our academic footprint global will challenge higher education around
the world. GlobalBU will achieve this by establishing Hubs of Practice.
A Distinctive Proposition
Our notion of Hubs of Practice deploys the concept of ‘hubonomics’ (see Appendix A for a
description). The concept of Hubs of Practice is built around creating a unique regional,
national and global network of partners and collaborators that are connected into business,
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government, community and academia. The Hub will offer access to experience and
expertise in the field of intelligent practice in an organisational, sectoral, themed, or
community/city context.
Most universities tend to hone in on one of these areas of expertise in shaping their research
or commercial Institutes. This we believe can only generate vertical/specialist knowledge
and practice. Our standpoint is that a Hubs-based approach complements our areas of
academic excellence and is a defining feature of the ‘Fusion’ based model for our University.
The key elements of the competitive offering will be:
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A strong and credible unit (for our academic profile): establishing the Hubs to take a
leadership position in driving new and innovative practice in business will help to drive
our research/commercial income and revenue. Hubs will also drive our ‘global fusion’
activity - research and education - that is likely to have significant impact in terms of
changing and innovating practice. This in turn will help with targeting sponsored policy
and profile impact.
Innovative products and services: the Hub will act as a facilitation vehicle and also
provide the delivery architecture for GlobalBU in being able to extend its market,
research and product offering in line with its vision to the global market place without
resorting to a traditional transnational education (TNE) strategy.
‘Practice’ expertise: Hubs will be a defining feature of the rapid build-up of a critical
mass of practice based faculty expertise and will shape our appointments of Profs of
Practice/Execs in Residence and our cadre of Visiting Profs/Fellows and act as vehicles
and a locus for increased staff mobility.
Building a global presence: a mechanism for building a global student and client base
supported by a strong network of international partners that are networked with
business/government/community organisations in key market locations around the UK
and the globe.
The Role of Partners
The strength and reputation of the Hubs will come from establishing a network of global
partners in key international market locations. These locations will reflect existing partners
of our University (e.g. in the Asian region) and also those international markets that are
shaping the development and growth of the global economy (e.g. India).
A partnership mapping exercise was undertaken at IUPC in January 2015 and alongside
discussions at other fora this identified two target regions where Hubs of Practice could
usefully focus initially. In the short-term, it was identified that Hubs of Practice could usefully
focus on China (given the number of BU research and recruitment partnerships and current
activity); and ASEAN member states in South East Asia (given the long standing BU
presence in the region). Both regions are expanding and up-skilling their HE sectors and
contain a mixture of mature and emerging markets.
It is recognised that market conditions change and future calls may focus on different
regions. It will therefore be necessary to continuously revisit these target regions.
Furthermore, exceptions may arise following endorsement of BU from a high profile
corporate partner, which could present an opportunity for a Hub. A fuller description of target
countries/regions considered and the rationale for this is included in Appendix B.
The defining features of a Hub of Practice are summarised in Table 1 overleaf.
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Table 1: The Defining Features of a Hub of Practice
Defining features of a Hub of Practice
A vehicle for the delivery of Global Impact through Global Fusion
Activity/Practice area (e.g. Social Care)
Market and industry sector (e.g. retail)
Geographical region that defines practice (e.g. ASEAN)
Societal themes (e.g. innovation, sustainability)
Scale/Type of organisation (e.g. SME, Corporate)
Have similar values to BU
Potentially provide a physical presence for the Institution in key commercial and overseas markets.
Help establish a programme area of activity that will define the fused education, research and consultancy offering
of the Hub. Illustrative and potential examples of the kind of programme areas that might be established are the
‘Asian Practice Programme’; the ‘Energy Sector Programme’ and so forth.
- There is an expectation to include at least one business/employer/government organisation as a key partner and
normally an HEI partner as well –though the latter may be developed/added over time.
-(For an educational partner) have a portfolio that is complimentary to ours and helps us either widen or
deepen our reach/penetration/profile
-(For a non HEI partner) have the ability to generate impact (e.g. to enable high impact international research
projects of mutual interest, develop staff skills and expertise through professional development activities and
exchange of staff, student placements and internships).
- For this first call of FIF in May 2015-Ideally be located within an ASEAN member state in South-East Asia or in
China
- Ensuring financial and performance sustainability within two to three years
- Establishing a network of 8-12 global partners over the next 5 years
- Demonstrable impact on and enrichment of our core and academic experience
- Generating global impact case studies
A like for like comparison for any one of the following:
- An educational Faculty/Department delivering courses, modules
- A research project
- Professional practice delivery of CPD, business services
The partner
institution/organisation will:
It is:
It could cover one or
more of the following:
The success of a Hub
will be measured by:
It is not:
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The Business Model
Establishing Hubs through the Fusion Investment Fund
In the long-term, the intention would be to have a handful of financially self-sustaining (salary
plus direct costs only) Hubs of Practice that define our expertise in the global knowledge and
practice marketplace.
In the short-term, Fusion Investment Funds will be used to pump-prime the establishment of
Hubs of Practice through the existing competitive strands of FIF (principally Co-Creation and
Co-Production strand, CCCP).
We need a targeted and phased programme for the launch of these Hubs as opposed to a
big bang approach. It is therefore envisaged that proposals would be targeted toward a
region or theme through each successive call so that over the next three years a number of
Hubs can be established. It is expected that each Hub will have to demonstrate the following
within 3 years of establishment, after which the investment funding will cease:
 A viable self-sustaining financial model (make a contribution)
 A profile-raising model with a demonstrable impact and enrichment of our
academic experience-staff and/or students
The principal benefits of this approach will be to:
 Target internationally oriented FIF activity for a Global BU impact
 Directly generate future REF’able international impact case studies
 Establish an innovative in-country presence
Funding and Assessment Criterion
As the Hubs will be funded through the existing CCCP strand of FIF, the promotion,
application, assessment and awarding process will be administered through existing
processes and administrative resources.
In addition to the standard criterion for CCCP proposals, and drawing on the defining
features of a Hub described above, proposed Hubs of Practice for the FIF Round in May
2015 will need to demonstrate that they:
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Include at least two different subject areas which must be included in the proposal
Specify the lead business/employer/government organisation
Specify potential HEI partners (involved or planned)
Ideally include partners in ASEAN member states in South-East Asia and China
(although the next call may feature other regions)
Clearly set out what the Hub will offer, the outcomes of the Hub (in addition to income
generation – see below), and the impact / benefit for BU’s global engagement
agenda
Provide detailed costs for year 1, and estimates for years 2 and 3
Set out the income model from year 2-3 that will ultimately lead to the Hub being selfsustaining by the end of year 3, if not earlier.
Minor adjustments to the existing policies and application form for FIF have been made to
take account of the specific requirements for the Hub.
Management and Monitoring Criterion
The administration of the monitoring of the Hubs would be retained by the FIF administrator
(working within RKEO), working closely with the Head of Operations (Global Engagement).
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Quarterly reports to monitor progress and spend are required from all FIF projects and it is
proposed that the same approach is adopted for Hubs, with the addition that the PVC
(Global Engagement) would review these quarterly reports.
At present, FIF projects must be completed within a single academic year. The proposals
presented here represent a slight departure from this as Hub projects would last for up to
three years. It is proposed that funding would be provided for year 1 of the hub, with future
investment depending on progress made against intended deliverables. In addition to the
quarterly report, an annual report would therefore be provided to the PVC (Global
Engagement) and PVC (Research and Innovation) who would decide on whether funding in
years 2 and 3 would be released.
Dr Sonal Minocha
Pro Vice Chancellor (Global Engagement)
Queries on this paper should be addressed to globalBU@bournemouth.ac.uk
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Appendix A: Hubonomics
The Global Trends report for 2014 (Malnight and Keys, 20141) propositions Hubonomics™
as a trend characterising global business in the future. The theory argues that global
business will be increasingly distributed in its production and consumption and therefore will
require new business models to deliver local value through such dispersion.
This key trend is one for H.E. to capitalise on too, we argue. H.E. sits at the nexus of
business and government, delivery for which could benefit from borrowing from the
Hubonomics™ theory.
As we shape a distinctive and integrative proposition for global engagement to deliver
associated targets within BU 2018 we proposition the notion of a Hub as a key delivery and
conceptual model that will assist the development and delivery of our global engagement
plan and its inherent ambitions.
The underlying principles of Hubonomics™ are not new, in that they build on the notion of
context driven practice (as opposed to content driven). According to Andrew Coulsen, CEO,
Dimensions Data, “What we provide is not totally unique so how we do it makes the critical
difference” (2014).This could not be truer for most HEIs especially in the UK context. All
Universities are competing on the usual metrics of performance, i.e. recruitment, mobility
and so forth, therefore the ‘what’ of our international strategies is not necessarily unique but
how we organise ourselves and position ourselves could offer scope for differentiation. It is
here that Hubonomics™ and the notion of a Hub, offers the potential for distinction in
shaping BU’s global engagement plan.
Malnight,T. and Keys, T. (2014) ‘10 key trends to watch for 2014 from GlobalTrends.com’, Available on
http://www.globaltrends.com/monthly-briefings/60-monthly-briefings/198-10-key-trends-to-watchfor-2014-trends-1-to-5
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Appendix B: Target Countries/Regions
The countries/regions outlined below are for targeting initially and over the medium to long
term. By necessity some regions have not been selected at this stage for prioritisation. The
Middle East and Africa region has not been included as the current BU partnership portfolio
is very limited in this region and compared to other regions experience at BU is more limited.
The number of emerging markets in this region is also more modest compared to Asia or
Latin America.
North America and Australia have also not been included as target regions as they are
mature markets where it will be more challenging for BU to make a distinctive offer
proposition. Furthermore the activity in our current partnership portfolio is mostly limited to
student mobility in North America and Australia, notwithstanding a few exceptions where
there are active research collaborations.
This paper recognises however that market conditions change and that it will be necessary
to continuously revisit these target regions. Furthermore, exceptions may arise following
endorsement of BU from a high profile corporate partner, which could present an opportunity
for a Hub.
Regions that are being targeted for Fusion Round in May 2015 include:
 ASEAN member states in South-East Asia, given the long-standing BU presence
in the region, particularly in Thailand. There are four 2014/15 BU recruitment target
markets in the region: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. And, there are
clusters of active partnerships for research/staff exchange and mobility in Thailand
and Malaysia, a recruitment partnership in Vietnam, and other links that could be
developed in Vietnam and Indonesia. Indonesia has been identified as an emerging
power for strengthening HE relationships with the UK by the UK Government’s
Strategy on International Education. ASEAN includes a mixture of mature markets,
and those that are emerging and worth incubating such as Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar etc. Geographically the ASEAN countries form a convenient transport hub
between India, China and Australasia.
 China (considered as a region given its size and diversity of markets), given the
number of BU research and recruitment partnerships and current activity. China (and
Hong Kong) is a 2014/15 BU recruitment target market; has been identified as an
emerging power for strengthening HE relationships with the UK. There is demand for
expertise in the creative industries and ageing, two of BU’s strengths.
Regions that might be targeted over the medium to long-term i.e. in future FIF calls include:
 South Asia (particularly India): India is a 2014/15 BU recruitment target market; it
has been identified as an emerging power for strengthening HE relationships with the
UK. There is very modest BU partnership activity in the region currently, with a
couple of research partnerships in India and Pakistan, and other partnerships under
development in Bangladesh and Nepal. India will be developing over a thousand new
universities over the coming decade, and presents a long-term opportunity for BU to
develop its profile and expertise in India.
 Latin America: There are no 2014/15 recruitment target markets in this region, but
there are clusters of research/staff exchange partnerships in Colombia after a series
of BU visits, and one research/staff exchange partnership in Brazil. A Fusion project
in 2015 will see a group of academics visiting Colombian partners to develop and
extend the collaboration. There are several links that could be developed in Ecuador
and Brazil. Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico have been identified as emerging powers
for strengthening HE relationships with the UK by the UK Government’s Strategy on
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International Education. This region has emerging HE markets that are worthy of
consideration for incubation over the long term.
These and other potential regions especially Europe will be explored over the coming
months and all feedback is welcome before the next call.
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