Principles guide the way we engage with our global partners
ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą is taking a values-driven approach to building global partnerships that are intentional, sustainable, equitable, and mutually beneficial. We acknowledge the complexity of applying these specific principles on a broad, global scale – it requires flexibility and continuous reflection.
Our Guiding Principles
Intentionality
Deliberate ethical engagement with partners, prioritizing cultural humility and respect.
Sustainability
Sustainable partnerships are those that are not only long-lasting but are conscious about the impacts that they have across domains (environmental, institutional, financial, societal, etc.)
Equity
Equitable partnerships promote access and inclusion in all aspects of education, creating a global knowledge community in which all participants, in their intersectional diversity, can bring their perspectives and ways of knowing to global questions.
Mutual Benefit
Mutually beneficial partnerships are reciprocal and bi-directional between diverse communities locally and globally seeking to co-create and co-design partnerships that is rooted in local contexts.
Motivations
Equitable collaboration with our partners is central to realizing the Queen’s Global Engagement Strategic Plan, including, but not limited to, the following objectives:
- Embed Queen’s in the global community through mutually beneficial partnerships to co-create a better university, city, region, and world.
- Cultivate critical and innovative thinkers equipped and committed to creating a more just, inclusive, and sustainable society.
- Create and mobilize knowledge to address the world’s more complex problems.
- Develop a campus environment in which international students, faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and staff are respected, valued and can thrive.
- Enhance university-wide collaboration and capacity on global engagement.
- Demonstrate our impact by telling Queen’s story globally.
By enacting our guiding principles, we will work in tandem with our partners in mobilizing knowledge and creating a sustainable society.
Priority Sustainable Partnerships for ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą
- Engagements with Indigenous knowledge in different contexts (especially in Canada) and with diasporic immigrant communities as a way to make connections between local and global issues, identifying new approaches to Indigenous global engagement.
- Engagements with diasporic immigrant communities at home and abroad to further the principles and understandings of global engagement.
- Global engagement to actively advance the sustainability and stewardship objectives of the UN SDGs.
At Queen’s University, our commitment to global engagement is rooted in the principles of mutual respect, inclusivity, and shared knowledge. As we build and sustain partnerships with universities across international borders to advance knowledge and to provide research and learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, we recognize the diversity of beliefs, cultural traditions, expectations, and knowledge systems that shape the work and lives of our global collaborators. The Office of the Vice-Provost Global Engagement works with units developing international partnerships to ensure they are mutually beneficial while also identifying potential challenges, including participant safety, that need to be mitigated.
Queen’s also acknowledges that the world is not just or safe for everyone. To ensure that participants are empowered to make meaningful and responsible choices, we frame student and postdoctoral fellow mobility opportunities with our global partners—such as exchanges, study abroad, internships, and research placements—through the lens of informed decision-making. We provide participants with the guidance, resources, and support necessary to critically assess the opportunities and challenges of their potential host locations. This includes clear, accessible information on socio-cultural contexts, academic expectations, health and safety considerations, legal and logistical requirements, and the social and political environment of the destination.
The institution has a requirement to protect the safety of students and postdoctoral fellows on university-sponsored programming. By embedding informed decision-making into all aspects of mobility, we seek to ensure that our students and postdoctoral fellows are not only prepared to have a safe and successful experience abroad, but also equipped to be thoughtful, respectful, and engaged members of a global academic community.
The Off-Campus Activity Safety Policy (OCASP) and the accompanying Procedures and Guideline provide specific tools to assist in informed decision-making, including risk assessment, planning, preparation, and support for university-sanctioned international activities. Queen’s does not permit students and postdoctoral fellows to participate in mobility programs in countries or regions under active “avoid non-essential travel” or “avoid all travel” advisories from Global Affairs Canada.
ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą is actively enacting these guiding principles.
Email us at global@queensu.ca if you have questions about this value-led approach to global engagement.
