Fifteen presidents of French universities, along with high-level education administrators and French Embassy personnel, attended a week-long seminar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison last week.
Click here to view a slideshow of the entire week. Click here to read updates about the seminar.
Due to changes in French educational policy which will result in the transformation of leadership and budgetary issues, the visitors came to learn about UW-Madison’s leadership and strategic issues related to the management of autonomous public research universities.
Chancellor Martin welcomed the visitors on the first day of the seminar and later announced their attendance at the Chancellor’s Convocation at the Kohl Center.
Dubbed by former Chancellor John Wiley as perhaps the “most comprehensive briefing” he has seen on UW-Madison, the seminar featured UW leaders in everything from admissions to alumni, facilities to fund raising, research and technology transfer to state relations and entrepreneurship.
UW System President Reilly met with them and hosted a dinner with Board of Regents President Charles Pruitt, among others.
Thanks to our colleagues at Research Park, the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the visitors toured facilities where some of the most entrepreneurial work is housed.
During a panel on university/industry relations, Clay Nesler, vice president for global energy and sustainability at Johnson Controls, Inc., describes how to succeed when partnering with higher educational institutions.
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This program was a result of a visit last year from Bernard Belloc, adviser on education to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, during which he discussed the changing French policies.
This seminar was entirely funded by the Conférence des Présidents d’Université, represented by its president, Professor Lionel Collet, president of the University of Lyon.