Universities, with their global reach and increasingly international missions, can use their overseas connections and expertise to improve their state and local economies. That was the argument made by speakers at a panel discussion Sunday on global partnerships and economic development, one of the sessions held on the first day of the annual meeting here of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, formerly the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.
In Wisconsin, the president of the state-university system, Kevin P. Reilly, recently appointed a group of educators, business leaders, and economic-development officials to explore how academic know-how could be used to help attract overseas investment to Wisconsin and expand the stateâ??s presence in global markets. “In a truly global economy, we need to build bridges between our international efforts and our economic-development efforts,” said Gilles Bousquet, one of the Wisconsin commissionâ??s co-chairmen and a speaker at Sundayâ??s session. “International work and economic development,” continued Mr. Bousquet, who is dean of international studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, “are intrinsically linked.”