RENKEI (Research and Education for Knowledge Economy Initiatives) is a partnership of 11 universities in Japan and the UK, including the University of Edinburgh. Image Increased engagement with Japanese universities The partnership’s main aim is to strengthen knowledge exchange and research collaboration between the two countries. The network fosters connections between academia, industry, and government to address global challenges and drive economic growth through research and education initiatives. RENKEI supports joint research projects, student exchanges, workshops, and conferences. Of the 11 members, Edinburgh is currently the only Scottish institution. Since joining the RENKEI network, we have seen increased engagement with Japanese universities. RENKEI, standing for Research and Education Network for Knowledge Economy Initiatives, is also the Japanese word for collaboration. Background The origin of RENKEI dates back to 2010 when the then UK Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Japan. Both governments announced that the British and Japanese university leaders would hold dialogues to share best practices in internationalisation and promote student and researcher exchanges. The second Japan-UK Higher Education Symposium was also held in 2010 at Kyushu University in Japan. University leaders identified a need for a new model of international university-industry partnerships as action points. At this symposium, both UK and Japanese universities were openly invited to come forward to form a working group. Twelve universities responded to this call and decided to join an initiative to develop a new strategic bilateral partnership with the British Council Japan as its secretariat. This strategic bilateral partnership was named RENKEI and was formally launched on 13 March 2012 to meet the challenges of living in a complex, rapidly changing and globalized twenty-first century. Current members of RENKEI Japan UK Keio University Durham University Kyushu University University of Edinburgh Osaka University University of Leeds Ritsumeikan University University of Liverpool Tohoku University Newcastle University University of Southampton Related link Find out more about RENKEI This article was published on 2024-06-24
