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In May 2026, Professor Sasha Roseneil, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex, and Rohan McCarthy-Gill, Head of Global Mobility, visited the University of California, Santa Cruz to explore opportunities to deepen links between the two institutions.

Hosted by Guido Bordignon, Faculty Director for Global Engagement at UC Santa Cruz, the visit brought together academic and professional services colleagues for a day of discussion with representatives from the faculties of Arts and Social Sciences. The programme also included an executive meeting between Professor Roseneil and UC Santa Cruz’s Chancellor, Cynthia Larive, offering further opportunity to reflect on the distinctive character and shared values of both universities.

A recurring theme throughout the visit was the strong institutional affinity between Sussex and UC Santa Cruz. Both universities have complementary campus identities, interdisciplinary traditions, socially engaged teaching and research, and histories shaped by innovation and critical thinking. Discussions also reflected on the relationship each institution has with its surrounding region and nearby cities, and on the continuing relevance of their founding missions in a changing global context.

Conversations across the day highlighted a shared interest in building collaboration through academic-to-academic relationships. Rather than focusing only on formal institutional frameworks, colleagues explored practical ways to connect researchers, teachers and students around areas of mutual strength. Possible areas of future activity include graduate-level cooperation, research seminars, doctoral engagement, short-term student mobility, global classroom teaching, and digital or hybrid forms of collaboration.

The visit also opened up discussion around opportunities in creative and digital practice, music, film, psychology, education, global and community health, migration, economics, politics and area studies. There was clear enthusiasm on both sides for identifying focused, sustainable and mutually beneficial forms of engagement.

The visit reaffirmed UC Santa Cruz as a natural partner for Sussex, a university with which Sussex shares academic interest, but also a broader ethos of interdisciplinary, socially-engaged and globally-minded education.

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