A new Campus collection from Times Higher Education argues that effective collaboration in higher education is a craft built through deliberate skills rather than the automatic by-product of bringing people together. The collection, published 6 August, brings together contributions from researchers and educators in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, China and the Middle East who outline how partnerships in research, teaching and institutional life can be designed, taught and sustained. The framing carries weight for any organisation building in-depth AI guides, research and practical insights into its knowledge base, because the same structural lessons that make academic collaboration succeed also shape how institutions adopt new tools and share knowledge across disciplines. Why collaboration demands structure, not goodwill Times Higher Education reports that competition for funding, publication, tenure and high marks is built into higher education, and many core academic activities such as writing and lecturing remain solitary by tradition. The collection’s contributors challenge the assumption that collaboration will simply emerge once researchers, faculty or students are placed in the same room. Instead, the collection treats collaboration as a teachable practice: one that requires clear goals, defined roles, project management and space to raise concerns before problems harden. According to the outlet, effective collaborative research depends on more than the good intentions of the people involved; it depends on planning, structured discussion and consistent communication. Jonna Lee of Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities frames this directly in her contribution, arguing that effective collaboration requires clear goals, shared contributions, project management, cultural awareness and room to voice concerns. Alina Zare of the University of Florida extends the point in the collection by urging interdisciplinary teams to plan collaboration in advance so projects run smoothly. The shared message across these pieces is that collaboration falters not because participants lack commitment, but because the operational scaffolding is missing. For readers building in-depth AI guides, research and practical insights, the parallel is direct: tool adoption and knowledge-sharing programmes stall for the same structural reasons. Research collaboration: from team rituals to global networks The collection dedicates substantial space to research collaboration across three dimensions: skill-building for early-career researchers, the design of inclusive interdisciplinary cultures, and the operational realities of working across borders. Skills for early-career researchers Rodrigo Pena of Florida Atlantic University offers practical tools that early-career researchers can use to build productive partnerships that survive shrinking budgets and shifting priorities. The emphasis on resilience is deliberate: Times Higher Education notes that research collaboration must withstand pressures that individual work would not, because the costs of failed joint projects scale with the size of the team. Inclusive interdisciplinary cultures Valentina Cardo, Claire Clarkin and Ingrid Slade of the University of Southampton argue that interdisciplinary research strengthens networks, diversifies expertise and moves thinking beyond inherited boundaries, but only when researchers are willing to tackle cultural and structural obstacles over time. The piece matters for institutions preparing for the United Kingdom’s Research Excellence Framework 2029, which Times Higher Education reports will judge universities’ research cultures as part of its assessment of whether research teams are robust, ethical and inclusive. Mayer Cabrera-Flores of CETYS Universidad offers five practical steps for building sustainable interdisciplinary collaboration, drawn from first-hand experience of setting up an interdisciplinary research institute. Going global Times Higher Education cites figures showing that international collaboration is rising: 67 per cent of UK papers included international co-authors in 2022, up from 37 per cent in 2012, while the United States moved from 23 per cent to 40 per cent in the same period. Contributors address the practical consequences. Xiao-Lin Zhao and Chien-Ming Wang of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University outline how cross-disciplinary teams involving government and industry require strategic management from the outset. Jeremy Howick of the University of Leicester adds a cautionary note: international collaborations often fail to move beyond initial enthusiasm and a signed memorandum of understanding, and shares lessons from building a global network focused on empathy in healthcare. Julian C. Pena-Bermudez of Universidad del Caribe (UNICARIBE) describes how LinkedIn can be used as a professional community to grow research collaborations, rather than treated as a static digital CV. Teaching collaboration into the curriculum The collection turns next to the classroom, where contributors argue that students cannot be assumed to know how to collaborate simply because they have been placed in groups. Jillian Terry of the London School of Economics and Political Science proposes first-year interdisciplinary research projects as a way to help students collaborate without overloading staff with extra administration. Ya Zhang and Shuhao Zhang of XJTLU describe a five-step process designed to reduce the tendency to “divide and write”, drawing on individual strengths, promoting constructive communication and ensuring equal participation. Rafael Núñez of UNICARIBE offers practical tips for transforming traditional assignments, research projects and graduate theses into opportunities to connect students with real-world stakeholders. Times Higher Education frames this thread as a response to a recurring problem: students treat group work as a parceling-out exercise rather than a shared intellectual endeavour. By intentionally outlining the project’s purpose, roles and communication styles from the start, educators reshape the conditions under which collaboration becomes possible. As the outlet notes, this changes the student experience by giving learners ownership over their work rather than positioning them as spectators completing allocated sections. Co-creation, GenAI and the institutional layer The final section of the collection widens the lens from student-staff interaction to institutional co-creation and the role of generative AI. Kawtar Abouhazim of Al Akhawayn University writes that small changes to communication can help students, faculty and graduates engage with each other on the issues affecting higher education today. A companion piece in the collection examines how GenAI can amplify co-creation in higher education while ensuring that empathy remains central. Times Higher Education reports that the piece treats AI-supported co-creation as a deliberate design choice rather than a default, with the practical question being how to integrate generative tools into collaborative workflows without flattening the human judgement that gives joint work its meaning. The collection also addresses partnerships that extend beyond faculty. Ian D. Williams of the University of Southampton argues that university research runs on the expertise of technicians, research software engineers, data stewards and core-facility specialists, and that treating these roles as strategic partners improves a group’s quality, speed and compliance. Read together, the contributions describe an institutional layer in which collaboration is not confined to academic departments but reaches into technical teams, professional services and external partners. What the For practitioners building in-depth AI guides, research and practical insights, the collection’s core lesson is operational: collaboration succeeds when it is designed, not assumed. The same logic applies to the rollout of AI tools in higher education, where adoption depends on shared goals, defined roles, communication rhythms and room to raise concerns. The Campus collection gives institutions a vocabulary and a set of tested practices for moving from aspiration to execution, with explicit attention to research culture, teaching design, international partnership and the emerging role of generative AI in co-creation. Related coverage on this site, including THE Collection Outlines Practical Skills Behind HE Collaboration and New THE Collection Maps Practical Skills Behind Higher Education Collaboration, traces the same thread, while pieces such as Lawyers Must Lead With Character as AI Reshapes Legal Work extend the design-of-collaboration argument to adjacent professional fields. AI Reshapes Legal Work extend the design-of-collaboration argument to adjacent professional fields. the same thread, while pieces such as Lawyers Must Lead With Character as AI Reshapes Legal Work extend the design-of-collaboration argument to adjacent professional fields. AI Reshapes Legal Work extend the design-of-collaboration argument to adjacent professional fields.
Further reading- How to advance collaboration across higher education — Times Higher Education
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