IIT President Gives Keynote at 2008 International Presidential Forum on Global Research in Seoul
Anderson discusses “Roaming Professorship” in the 21st Century
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) President John Anderson gave a keynote presentation today on “Roaming Professorship” at the 2008 International Presidential Forum on Global Research Universities at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul, South Korea. The conference is being held by KAIST, Korea’s premier science and technology research university.
Presidents of research universities from around the world are attending the conference “aimed at identifying common issues and opportunities in strengthening globalization of higher education and research.”
About 70 leaders from 39 universities in 20 countries are participating in the conference, exchanging views and ideas on how to build and utilize a global research network to promote sharing expertise and facilities, conducting joint research and implementing dual degree and roaming professorship programs.
President Anderson’s presentation noted that the concept of roaming professorship is not new, having its roots in sabbaticals and visiting lectureships.
Anderson said that today a roaming professor receives a substantial portion of her pay from two or more universities, in return for a presence on campus and teaching/research collaboration.
Some of the benefits for the universities include:
- Cross culture inoculations
- Meeting a teaching or research need at one or both universities
- Helping a university in a developing country
- Increasing visibility in the field of the professor
- Retaining the professor by the donor university
The benefits to the professors include:
- Satisfying personal and professional interests of the professor
- Strengthening the professor’s background and advances her career
Anderson also noted the importance of international roaming professorships with an overall goal of benefiting all participants in the relationship. He also cited a current example of an international agreement in which Illinois Institute of Technology shares a well-known professor with a European university, providing benefits to both universities and the professor.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 7,300 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment. Visit www.iit.edu.
