University of Sydney and Cornell announce new partnership

The University of Sydney and Cornell University, an Ivy-League research university based in New York, have recently signed a strategic cooperation agreement and a university-wide student exchange agreement that will build on and strengthen existing connections between the two institutions. 

Drawing on a long-standing relationship between the universities, the new agreements will promote collaborative research and offer students reciprocal exchange opportunities. 

“This is an incredible opportunity for the University,” Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement) Professor Kathy Belov said. 

“Building on our existing with relationship with Cornell, the new agreements enrich our ability to explore dynamic, interdisciplinary research projects and contribute to student mobility by offering an international experience at one of the world’s leading universities.”

Fostering collaboration across areas of mutual interest, the strategic cooperation agreement will see researchers from both institutions explore solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues – including climate change and sustainability, inequality and social justice, nutrition, and AI and data science. 

The new university-wide student exchange partnership complements an existing reciprocal exchange agreement between the universities. 

Previously available only to students studying law, agriculture, environmental studies, science and veterinary science, the new agreement will now provide University of Sydney students across all faculties and disciplines the opportunity to study at Cornell’s Ithaca campus. 

The two new agreements will also mark the establishment of a new Global Hub for Cornell University, enabling students, staff, and alumni to study, research and teach at the University of Sydney. 

“The University of Sydney is deeply committed to global engagement, so this is an exciting step forward,” Professor Belov said.

“We are thrilled to be able to welcome students – and staff – from Cornell to our campus and to our city, and to have them learn and grow alongside our community.”

Now that international travel has resumed, yearly rounds of joint seed funding through Partnership Collaboration Awards will be established to support ongoing research projects between the universities, along with other academic initiatives. 

Outbound student exchange opportunities will once again be available to University of Sydney students from semester 2, 2022.