Universities can deliver leadership for a better world

If the world came into the coronavirus pandemic unequal, then Covid has ruptured the fault lines, deepening inequality to a staggering degree.

While the extremely wealthy have prospered – the world’s 10 richest men more than doubling their fortunes in the first 20 months of the pandemic to $1.5 trillion (£1.3 trillion) – by the end of this year, we’re likely to see 860 million people living in extreme poverty. And, as food and fuel prices soar, driven by climate crisis and the war in Ukraine, the international poverty threshold of $1.90 a day gets you even less than before.

Decades of progress in development is beginning to unravel before our eyes. A triple crisis of hunger, climate change and inequality – all complex, intertwined global challenges – puts us in desperate need of new leaders with the skills and vision to shape and deliver a better world.

But universities are uniquely well placed to develop the bold, joined-up leadership needed, not through ad hoc initiatives or add-on programmes, but through embedding purpose, seeing the big picture, nurturing internationalism and shifting power.

First, universities should put purpose at the heart of their institutions, embedding real-world impact, connecting every degree and programme to the bigger picture, focusing not on studying the world and describing its challenges, but on changing it for the better. Manchester University’s director of social responsibility, Julian Skyme, described this recently as prioritising “what we’re good for, rather than just what we’re good at”.

In the early days of the pandemic, universities were key to the rapid development of Covid vaccines; the role they played was a triumph. But, since then, the grossly inequitable distribution of vaccines has meant that four times as many people have died due to Covid in low-income countries than in rich. Wealthy governments have hoarded doses, even chucking unused batches when they reached their expiry dates, and the UK and EU continue to block efforts to waive IP on Covid vaccines, allowing a handful of pharmaceutical companies to control supplies and dictate prices.

The role of university researchers and leaders – so instrumental in the early days – could have extended to join calls for life-saving vaccines to be treated as global public goods. If they are to be truly purpose-driven, universities must engage with the long-term real-world impacts of their research and reassess how they relate to governments and the private sector, developing these relationships in ways that protect and benefit humanity.

Second, I would challenge universities to join the dots: to bring their transdisciplinary academic insights and abilities to bear on tackling the major systemic challenges facing our world. We don’t just need scientists helping us to install emergency clean water supplies for communities facing disaster; we need their expertise behind efforts to fundamentally remodel our global climate and humanitarian financing architecture, to build a system that is anticipatory, fit for purpose and premised not on notions of charitable compassion but on a deep commitment to justice.

Of course, there are numerous examples of universities already engaging in this kind of approach. The first global effort to transform the impact of humanitarian research and innovation launched in March of this year, its first phase global mapping exercise bringing together a consortium of researchers from Lebanon to Australia, the US to Pakistan. But we need many more academics to be at the table of a broad coalition of actors looking to the longer-term.

Third, I believe universities have a key role to play in nurturing internationalism, fostering dialogues within and across societies. Nationalism is on the rise. Increasingly, the kind of narrow self-interest that saw rich countries stockpiling Covid vaccines, or cutting aid budgets, reneging on life-saving commitments to the world’s poorest, are stymieing efforts towards a better world. Tackling the global challenges of our time must be a collective effort, one that recognises how deeply interconnected we are and understands that our responsibilities don’t stop at our borders.

My fourth challenge would be for universities do what they can to shift power to the Global South, prioritising Southern-led knowledge economies, nurturing diversity in and between organisations and investing in resilient and diverse actors close to the ground. Of course, recent cuts to the UK’s major funds for international development research and overseas research grants are a hugely regressive step in this area. There is no doubt that, if we’re to solve our biggest challenges, the UK government needs to be investing in growing talent around the globe, not stepping back from this role.

Knowledge economies are still predominantly Northern-led, although some universities are already taking great strides towards shifting power to the Global South in support of a more equitable global landscape. Last month, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine announced new funding for PhD scholars in Gambia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and Imperial College London has unveiled new research projects in 10 African countries that will see UK and African academics working in partnership. Key to both these new initiatives are conscious efforts to avoid inequitable “parachute research”, but instead to focus upon building research capacity in African institutions themselves.

The world needs universities, academics, students and leaders who can rise to these challenges; that can put purpose at the heart of their mission; that can find creative, innovative ways to join the dots to deliver real progress against our biggest systemic challenges; that can nurture and celebrate internationalism; that can play their part in deconstructing some of the entrenched power systems that exist today, ensuring power is more equally shared and a plurality of voices is at the table.

The young people I talk to say they want to work for organisations that care, whatever sector they are in, including academia. What matters to them – and should matter to us all – is a commitment to leaving the world in a better state. By 2025, 75 per cent of the global workforce will be comprised of millennials. Universities can nurture this next generation of values-based leaders: leaders who aim to make decisions informed by principled beliefs – in equality, human rights, solidarity with others, good stewardship of the Earth for future generations; a belief that a better world is possible and a sense of responsibility in shaping that.

Danny Sriskandarajah is chief executive of Oxfam, a global development charity that spent about £284 million on humanitarian causes in 2020-21. THE’s three-day Global Sustainable Development Congress, which will bring together higher education, governments, industry and civil society to ensure a more sustainable future, begins today at the University of Glasgow.