As universities seek to differentiate themselves, so as to compete in a more open and transparent educational market, a small set of institutions, my own included, are positioning themselves as 'global universities'. It is worthwhile then to examine what this means and specifically what it implies for the way such institutions and the people within them should behave.

First and foremost global universities have a truly international mix of staff. The more diverse and reflective of the global community the better. This requires openness, obviously, and many european universities fall at that hurdle, but also requires the financial capacity and human resources frameworks and systems that can attract that talent. A global university also has governance that reflects its international positioning and outlook.

A global university requires a global brand to project itself internationally. Harvard and Cambridge are, for example, associated by audiences across the world with attainment and educational excellence. My sense, backed up by no very significant evidence, is that the growth and prevalence of university league tables are giving rise to a 'crystallisation' of these global brands and a growth in their power and reach. The creation and working of a global brand requires more than marketing but a sensitivity, informed by analysis, to concerns and perceptions beyond the immediate cultural and geographic setting and a vision for placing the institution in a global context.

Global universities address global issues. It is not enough to appeal to the universalism of science or to trans-cultural perspectives in the contemporary study of the humanities. It is important to look outwards to issues that have global significance. More challenging however, is to allow the agenda to be set by a broader more global community. Whilst universities can present what they do as global, they are inclined to generate their vision of research in a more inward looking way, and certainly to be driven by immediate and local funding exigencies.

A global university educates global students. In the UK system we are accustomed to international students, they support our higher education 'business model' and, no thanks to the Home Office or the UKBA, we do it quite well. These students are however, seen as a distinct group, paying higher fees and distinguished at entry. They are seen  largely as a complement to our education provision, targeted at national students. In a global university, all students should be international students, something that requires fundamental attitude changes (and  yes, they should be charged the same and admitted identically).

Cultural openness is a critical requirement. Simply being open to the presence international staff and students does not achieve this. Indeed, a university can easily become a set of national silos in which there is no real mixing.The willingness to adopt attitudes, pedagogies and systems from beyond the national context is necessary. This does not mean setting aside lightly the contributions that a particular location and institutional tradition might provide but it certainly means being comfortable going beyond them.

The establishment of international 'campuses', in varying forms, has been a feature of the recent higher education scene. Setting up such a campus does not make an institution global. Though, conceivably, operating it successfully does ... in time. A global university may or may not have an international campus but it is clear that, if a global university discerned a clear objective that such a campus would serve (meaning not simply its own parochial goals) it would have the capacity to set it up and run it.

A global university has global partnerships. There is a fashion for global groupings of institutions with similar outlooks, missions or compatible brands. There may be some advantages in these, and I am open-minded, but I confess I am currently hard pressed to discern them. A global partnership seems to me to be one that is built on complementarity with the parties gaining mutual advantage each from the other rather than banding together for security and political advantage. The best global partnerships may, in fact, not even be between universities but with government agencies, charities, school systems, industrial organisations.

A global university understands that the world is a big place.  It knows that it cannot be globally present, it must make choices about where to focus its efforts. The difference between a global university and a national or regional university is that those choices are made with a view to opening up to global influences and contributing to the global scene rather than a decision driven purely by local financial imperatives. It also understands that international strategy is a long game, with partnerships taking time to cement and presence recognised slowly.

Finally, but most importantly, a global university educates students to be global citizens and for global careers. This is easy to say, and hard to implement. It covers a wide array of challenges from certification and accreditation, at the more straightforward end, through ensuring curricula reflect international problems (leaving room for the acquisition of foreign language skills), to the teaching of the much more complex soft or transferrable skills that are called upon in global careers. It cannot be disregarded in the belief that an internationally diverse staff and student body will suffice to make a global educational experience.

The mantle of a global university should not be casually assumed. It imposes significant responsibilities on all members of the university community. Accepting the responsibilities requires knowledge and understanding that implies an educational task in itself.