Key strategic partnerships
The University has partnerships with over 300 higher education institutions worldwide to collaborate on research, teaching and innovative projects. We have a further 190 global partners who we work with to offer our student exchange and mobility opportunities.
All our partnerships are crucial to the University’s operation and contribute to the University’s global reputation.
They underpin and facilitate our global collaborative research and they provide a framework for our joint teaching, mobility, and strategic projects with some of the best universities in the world.
Here we highlight by region a snapshot of the University’s partnerships.
Why do we consider these partnerships to be strategic?
These are current and active partnerships that we consider strategic because they do one or more of the following:
- are actively delivering research linked to the University’s Strategy 2030
- have a significant scope or breadth of partnership activity across all three Colleges
- have produced a joint research centre or institution
- regularly offer funding opportunities for staff and/or students
- deliver global experiences and opportunities for staff and/or students
Explore strategic partners by region
Our partnerships in Africa tackle global challenges and the collaborative research and initiatives embrace academic themes that cross all three colleges.
- Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program
- University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
- University of Ghana
- Makerere University
- International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
We have developed four joint or collaborative institutes with partners in China, including the Zhejiang University - University of Edinburgh Institute (ZJU-UoE Institute), the Low Carbon College, and the Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation. Through our longstanding collaboration with Fudan, the first Confucius Institute in Scotland was founded in Edinburgh.
- ZJE Institute
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- Donghua University
- Fudan University
- Nagoya University
Our most active links with European partners include our membership of the leading alliance, Una Europa and our twinning initiative with Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (KNU). We have a range of significant partners across the continent including the University of Helsinki, Leiden University, University of Copenhagen, University College Dublin (UCD) and KU Leuven.
Our partnerships in North America have been activated by current seed funding initiatives which are stimulating ambitious collaborative research project that span all three colleges.
- Rice University
- University of Toronto
- Cornell University
Our partnerships in South Asia aim to deepen our collaborative ties further through joint research and innovation, teaching and transformative learning opportunities.
- Gujarat Biotechnology University
- IIT Kharagpur
Find out about recent collaborative activity undertaken and key strategic partnerships across Southeast Asia and Australasia.
Related links
Find out more about activities taking place across our regions.
Visit our regional engagement site
The University of Edinburgh offers students the opportunity to study abroad in Europe and beyond. We have around 300 student exchange partners in nearly 40 countries worldwide.
Check out our Exchange Destinations Guide 2024-25
Discover the tools, resources and support available to help our staff develop partnerships.