The delegation of educational leaders will explore ways the College can partner with South Africa's University of Pretoria.
A delegation of South African professors, deans and education leaders are visiting Guilford College this week with an eye on the present and the future.
The present: the visitors will be offering a global perspective to this week’s Guilford Dialogues conference on educational inclusion. The future: during their week-long stay, the delegation and Guilford hope to build on the momentum of a partnership forged last month between the College and the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
"Even though I’ve only been on campus a brief time I can tell how much Guilford is a part of the community. We want to be part of that community as well.”
President Kyle Farmbry says he’s eager to see what comes out of a week of dialogues and collaboration between the College and the South African leaders.
“The week is all about building and growing the relationships and connections that are already in place,” he says. “We want to make the most out of this relationship for our students, our faculty, exploring and finding additional funding that might be available. We want to do whatever we can to grow the College and provide opportunities for both sides.”
The South African delegation arrived in the United States last week, meeting with Kyle and education and governmental leaders in Washington, D.C., before traveling to New York and then to Greensboro.
Sedwyn Anthony is Manager of Strategic and International Partnerships with the University of Pretoria. He says Pretoria’s approach to partnering with other schools is one in which both sides benefit from the arrangement. “That’s why I think this is going to be a great partnership,” he says.
“When a partnership is proposed in another country you only get a sense of the other partner when you’ve been there, shake hands with them, you hear and experience their stories first hand. Even though I’ve only been on campus a brief time I can tell how much Guilford is a part of the community. We want to be part of that community as well.”
Sedwyn met Kyle several years ago when Sedwyn was working at the South African Embassy in Washington, and Kyle was a professor at Rutgers-Newark.
Sedwyn and the rest of the delegation will participate in the Dialogues and meet with Guilford faculty, staff and students throughout the week.