The ACU is launching a new webinar series to showcase innovative university practice across three key policy themes:

• Industry-university partnerships: exploring successful collaboration with SMEs, university spinouts, entrepreneurial incubators, and cross-sector partnerships driving sustainable development.
• Access and inclusion: advancing gender equity, disability inclusion, and indigenous representation in higher education through policies, inclusive environments, and community partnerships.
• Digital access and AI in universities: equipping students and faculty staff with digital and AI skills, leveraging AI for institutional transformation, addressing the digital divide, and redefining academia in an AI-driven world.

If you would like to share compelling case studies, research, or best practice, please contact us by 1 April.

Congratulations to staff at the University of Fiji, and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, who have been awarded our 2024 HR in HE Community grants. Our grantees will deliver training for HR staff on employee burnout and agile succession planning, as well as the use of AI tools for enhancing recruitment, retention, workforce planning and performance management.

Our colleagues Aditya Malkani and Ikita Pokharna look forward to meeting ACU Members at APAIE in Delhi, India (booth B13 from 25 March onwards). If you are looking for space to hold your meeting please contact us and we will endeavour to make our booth available.

Aditya will also be presenting on 'Cultivating equitable partnerships for global citizenship in Asia-Pacific and beyond' (25 March, 15:45 - 16:30). Join the session to learn more about the ACU's Supporting Research Community, and hear more from the expert panel.

Welcome to new members who have joined us in 2025:

• DMI St Eugene University, Zambia
• Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, India
• Royal Global University, India

You can view a full list of ACU members through the link below, where you can filter by region and visit their websites.

ACU Secretary General, Professor Colin Riordan and Aditya Malkani, Regional Director, Membership APAC joined the 25^th International Business Horizons World Summit hosted by Amity University in India. Professor Riordan addressed the audience virtually at the inaugural session and Aditya joined a discussion panel on "cultivating bilateral innovation" alongside academics from the Universities of Birmingham, York, Sussex, Queen Mary University of London and Nottingham Trent.

Our grants of up to GBP 2,000 can be used to improve gender equity and equality at your university. Support women in leadership, create effective gender policies, raise awareness of issues on campus, and more. Closing date: 5 May

Have you ever wondered how to communicate your research to a lay audience and how to pitch and write for the media? This new tailor-made training course is facilitated by Universal Impact / The Conversation, and will provide researchers with the skills to pitch to, and write for, the media. Applications close on 8 April.

Tell us about the HR project that you could deliver at your university with the help of a grant. Up to GBP 10,000 is available for virtual or in-person projects. These can include workshops, training, research, benchmarking, events, policy development, and more. Applications close on 5 May.

These grants fund staff at ACU member universities to organise and deliver training for their early and/or mid-career researchers, including doctoral candidates. The grants fund training that equips researchers with essential skills to enable them to succeed in their careers. Applications close on 8 April.

The Centre for Global Higher Education invite submissions for ‘Access and geopolitics: next steps in tackling the equity crisis in global higher education’, a free one-day hybrid research conference on 3 June at Ruskin College, Oxford, and online. Interested researchers should send a proposed title and a 250 word abstract to david.mills@education.ox.ac.uk by 31 March.

The Association of Indian Universities invites students to participate in AIU Anveshan, an international research competition that offers a platform for students to showcase their innovative ideas and research projects in a range of thematic areas. If you have questions, please email anveshan@projectset.com.