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Table 1 Themes identified for explaining why universities establish interuniversity global health partnerships organised by Clark’s elements and a new element

From: The international partner universities of East African health professional programmes: why do they do it and what do they value?

Clark Element

Theme Explaining an Interest in Partnering with Focus Universities in East Africa

Types of Activities

Steering/Managerial Core, includes central administration, Deans and Chairs

Internationalisation by way of “global health”

• Seed funding

• Establish policies

• Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs)

• Prioritize/institutionalize specific partnerships at the department of faculty level.

• Visit international partners

Academic Heartland – research & training

Conduct research

• Access to expertise (knowledge) or an opportunity that their institution or country lacks.

• Essential to mandate

Education – respond to trainee interest

• Towards post-graduate degrees (Master’s & PhDs), publications, expanded research network

• Novel research in tropical medicine

• Secure sites for trainee placements (undergraduate and Master’s) for service placements, exposure to research methods, electives, practicums).

Development Periphery – centres and programmes engaged in outreach

Global Health Centres/Institutes explore, develop, coordinate and support activities and partnerships to achieve stated objectives set by the Steering Core

• International partnerships and networking

• Provide and support opportunities of interest to Academic Heartland

Diversified Funding Base – additional to traditional government sources and overhead from research grants

Funding a

• Second stream – soft money

• Third stream – soft money or discretionary funds

• Grants and contracts from research councils

• Local government, philanthropic, foundations, student fees

New Element

Global Health as equality – belief that quality health care should be available universally.b

Social Responsibility

• Addressing the higher-burden of disease and health inequity in a manner that builds and/or strengthens health professional programmes in LMICs

• Establishment of new degree programmes

• Support the use of new pedagogy institutional-wide

• Fully-funded exchange opportunities for students of their international partner

• Infrastructure development (help secure funding for new buildings (e.g. hospital, laboratories)

• Service delivery (i.e. patient care)

  1. a Federal/national government research grants represent second-stream funding. Clark refers to third-stream funding as, “true financial diversification” [Clark (1998), p. 6)] and states in a later publication “there is no limit to the possibilities of third-stream income in its many substreams” [Clark (2001, p.14]. First-stream funding is government funding from “a governmental ministry” [(Ibid) p. 12]