Hilmer appointed U21 chair

UNSW president and vice-chancellor professor Fred Hilmer has been appointed chair of Universitas 21, the leading global network of research-intensive universities, which collaborate to foster global citizenship and institutional innovation. Hilmer said he was delighted to have been appointed chair for 2013-2014. “U21 has been highly successful in promoting research collaboration and a significant flow of students and faculty between members,” he said. Established in 1997, U21 has 27 members with over 1.3 million students and more than 220,000 staff and faculty. Their collective budgets amount to around US$25bn and they have an annual research grant income of over US$6.5bn. The chairmanship of the network rotates on an annually.