Equitable Partnerships in an Unequal World

In previous issues of SOAS World, you will have read news of three new educational partnerships between SOAS and institutions in the Global South. These partnerships have been created with a new vision in mind. Here we aim to highlight the thinking and strategy behind these partnerships in the context of how SOAS is responding to the transnational nature of the major issues of today. This is the journey of SOAS; a journey which you are part of as alumni.

When SOAS was founded over a century ago, it was very much an institution of the British Empire. It was established to train officials in the languages, history, religions and cultures of the countries that had been colonised.

It also housed extraordinary scholars interested in the languages and cultures of Africa and Asia who sought and taught knowledge for its own value. Many were committed to making people in Britain more aware about the societies that Britain ruled over. The School soon welcomed students and academics from around the world. In 1920-21, 54 of the 412 students enrolled were from India.

The SOAS of 2025 has evolved from these beginnings although it has not been a sudden shift from a ‘colonial’ to a ‘post-colonial’ institution. It is a university of progression. It houses many differing views, and it is a major contributor to the concept of ‘decolonising’ institutions and their curricula. In the last issue of SOAS World for example, we featured the student-academic co-creation of the Decolonising Philosophy Toolkit.

Today however, SOAS does something different. Africa, Asia and the Middle East are not just areas of study, but a philosophical lens through which we understand the most crucial and inter-connected questions of our time: the climate crisis, inequality, pandemics and political and social polarisation. These are global issues, not just regional questions, though the heaviest burden often falls on the Global South.

As part of its wide-ranging vision and strategy, SOAS conceived a plan to create true equitable partnerships with universities in the Global South. There have been many institutional partnerships between countries in the past, but it would be misleading to think of these as equitable due to an imbalance of influence, power and often finances.

To address this has required a transformation in the thinking about international partnerships. SOAS has a strong record with dual degrees, opportunities to study abroad and with research collaborations, but to create equitable teaching partnerships, SOAS needed a new model, responsive to the nature of the global challenges today.

This model means the co-creation, co-teaching and co-awarding of degrees. The partner institutions share both expense and reward with a single fee for students. The model means partners in the Global North and Global South come together to co-own research opportunities and programmes located and embedded in the societies of the south. It means partnerships that are equitable to both.

Since the creation of this strategy, SOAS has entered into three new partnerships under this model with institutions in the Global South: The University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, The National Law University Delhi in India, and the Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence in Delhi, India. A fourth initiative, with universities in Saudi Arabia, is using the joint programme template to train a new generation of Museum Studies professionals and academics in the region who will eventually undertake part of the teaching. 

University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

The first of the new equitable global partnerships to be created, this course is a joint MPhil/PhD in Applied Development Economics, which aims to give students an understanding in global economic challenges through the lens of Africa.

Delivered in partnership, the programme uses heterodox economics or political economy to focus on the way in which climate breakdown, financialisation and post-pandemic economic and social pressures combine and affect the institutions, norms, policies and practices of everyday life in Africa.

The research programme is explicitly decolonial and critically questions existing practices by drawing on knowledge from across Africa and by placing contemporary events in their historic contexts.

The University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg is recognised internationally for its research, high academic standards and commitment to social justice. It has a history of political and civic activism.

Students are jointly admitted to both universities with access to resources and supervision from both. They can choose to spend their time in London or Johannesburg, and have the opportunity to travel to the partner institution during their studies. Whichever campus is chosen, the programme has a single set fee regardless of the country of origin of the student and on successful completion, the PhD will be awarded jointly by SOAS and University of Witwatersrand.

As the first of the partnerships, this joint degree sends a message of commitment to pushing the boundaries of teaching and nurturing global talent in an innovative, pioneering and more equitable way.

National Law University Delhi

The second equitable partnership was created with the National Law University Delhi and offers a joint LLM/MA in Environmental Justice in South Asia.

The course is aimed at developing critical expertise in the rapidly developing areas of environmental law and policy focussed on South Asia. The climate crisis is one of the most acute planetary questions of our time, and this course will help students to develop the skills to address these challenges in a practical way.

An understanding of the legal, cultural and environmental dynamics of South Asia is crucial to addressing the global challenge. This degree aims to remove barriers to climate justice education and will help equip a new generation of experts able to confront the sustainability issues in their societies.

Students will take their first term in London and the second term in New Delhi working directly with local communities through a law clinic. The third term writing a dissertation can be taken remotely.

One of the factors which the SOAS strategy is aimed at addressing is the large discrepancy in costs depending on where students live. On this course, students will only pay around half of the fees typical for international students reading a Master’s at a British university.

Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, India

The third and latest equitable partnership is the creation of a new joint MA in Global Urban Sociology.

This course is focussed on the global sociology of cities and urban life-worlds. It brings together many of the most pressing concerns of our times from climate, sustainability and extinctions, to mental health, pollution and illness, via issues of governance, policy, and populism.

Taught at SOAS in the first term and at Shiv Nadar in the second, the MA has a global focus on urban sociology and uses case-studies from around the world to understand how social science can be used to tackle the issues stemming from the significant urbanisation of the planet.

As with the other partnerships, the degree will be jointly awarded by both institutions and the fees will be the same regardless of where the student lives.

SOAS also teaches a Joint Postgraduate Diploma in Museum Studies with Effat University in Saudi Arabia. This course is convened by staff from SOAS School of Arts with contributions from scholars, curators and museum professionals in Saudi Arabia and the UK. The first modules are taught in Jeddah and the second part of the course in London, with online elements throughout.

As SOAS’ strategic vision shows, removing barriers to education to address global issues is central to its mission. Its equitable partnerships offer a socially and educationally transformative pathway to education for students and academia globally. They straddle the north-south divide in a way that brings knowledge systems together and positively and progressively disrupts higher education in the UK, and globally.

SOAS also runs many dual degree programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, which give students the opportunity to study and receive awards from two different universities in less time than it would take to complete two separate degrees. These include Columbia University in the US, Korea University in South Korea, Nankai University in China, and the University of Oslo.

Further information on the equitable partnership joint programmes and the dual degrees can be found on the SOAS website.

Of course, along with these pioneering teaching models, SOAS academics continue to collaborate with partner institutions across the world on a large number of research projects across all disciplines. This has always been part of the SOAS approach, and although detailing this research is beyond the scope of this article – and indeed would take up many issues to begin to cover - the website has a good overview of the range of work being undertaken.

If any of these courses have caught your attention, details on how to apply, costs, and further information can be found on the pages linked to above.