The Matariki Network of Universities (MNU) is an international group of universities that focuses on strong links between research and undergraduate teaching. Each member is leading international best practice in research and education based on long academic traditions. The MNU was established in 2010 to enable universities to enhance diversity, to share ideas and expertise, and to learn international best practice from each other, recognising the shared commitment to an ethos of excellence in research, scholarship and rounded education.

Name and activities

''Matariki'' is the name in the

Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...

for the

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Tau ...

star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters. It reflects the seven founding member universities of the MNU. The Matariki Undergraduate Research Network (MURN) ran in 2012 and 2013 as an attempt to foster international undergraduate research. Assessment of MURN found that it had worked well locally but the international element had been less effective, in particular due to differences in time zones and in academic calendars. The academic libraries of the member institutions have collaborated on benchmarking activities to set their performance in an international context and to develop and share best practices. The libraries also collaborated on assessing whether 'flipped subscription' models for open access publishing, where funds previously used for journal subscriptions are flipped to instead pay article publishing costs, were viable for mid-sized research universities. The "Oceans and the Blue Economy" theme brought together researchers from the Matariki universities to identify ways in which the marine economy could achieve economic goals while also building environmental resilience.

Universities

The network was set up by seven universities in 2010. These were joined by an eighth university,

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC; ) is a Public university, public research university in Bellville, South Africa, Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the Politics of South Africa, South ...

in South Africa, in 2024.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Dartmouth College Durham University University of Otago University of Tübingen University of Western Australia Uppsala University International college and university associations and consortia Queen's University at Kingston