Guilford is at the forefront of an international effort to forge partnerships between U.S. and African higher education institutions, a move President Kyle Farmbry says will grow research and increase student exchanges at the College.

The University Partnership Summit, sponsored by Guilford and Cornell University, brought leaders from more than 50 other higher-education institutions and federal agencies to the State Department in Washington, D.C., on April 26.

Kyle and a delegation of students and staff from Guilford spent the day exploring partnerships with other colleges and discussing funding opportunities available through agencies like the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“We’re still very early in the process, but it’s clear there’s interest in collaboration and (funding) resources to make those partnerships happen,” he says.

Kyle envisions collaboration from the one-day event leading to international faculty teaching at Guilford and working with College faculty on research. He also sees the summit as a way to build new student-exchange programs in Africa.

Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Molly Phee told attendees its important for the government to encourage the development of higher-ed programs like these in Africa. "Our world is genuinely, inextricably interconnected, and we in the United States want to assure that Africa assumes its rightful place in a... global conversation."

Guilford Student Body President Jacob Mitchell '25, who took part in the summit, said he was proud of his college’s initiative to bring together so many schools. “To be around all these big universities like Indiana and Alabama and know that Guilford put this together – not just put it together but is leading this project – is something I’m amazed by,” he says. “Our future students are going to benefit from the work we did and that makes me proud.”  

The University Partnership Summit is one of several partnerships that Guilford has begun cultivating since Kyle took over as president in 2022 to strengthen the College and enrich education for students.

In February 2023, College representatives attended the inaugural University Partnership Summit at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. They reached an agreement for Guilford and Pretoria, one of South Africa’s largest universities, to partner on research and professional development among faculty and staff. Last July, Guilford reached similar agreements with two other South African schools, the University of Venda and the University of Pretoria - Mamelodi.

Last week’s University Partnership Summit was designed to expand those efforts beyond South Africa to other African countries. Kyle says he anticipates the summit becoming an annual affair that will grow as more schools show interest.

The next University Partnership Summit will be held in 2025 in Africa (with the exact country to be determined), he says.