In 1912, representatives of 53 universities attended the Congress of Universities of the Empire in London, which led to the establishment of the ACU a year later. A century on, as the date of our Centenary Conference draws near, we asked eight of our founding member institutions to share why, after 100 years, they continue to value being a member of the ACU.

The consensus amongst our featured founding members was that membership of the ACU continues to provide invaluable benefits through a growing range of services, including events, grants, advice, programmes and ACU publications. However, one key benefit that resonated with all eight universities was that membership of the ACU enabled them to be part of a global consortium of higher education, providing an opportunity to contribute to, collaborate within, and gain from the ACU’s network.

‘Collaboration and the sharing of ideas is a cornerstone of higher education, and it is through this sharing that higher education can genuinely be a positive transformational force’ the University of Bristol (UK) said, echoing the sentiments of the other featured founding members.

In keeping with our Centenary theme - Future forward: design, develop, and deliver - the universities were also asked to share their take on the major challenges facing higher education institutions worldwide, and theirs particularly.

Speaking of their own challenges, the University of Hong Kong (who are themselves celebrating their Centenary this year), highlighted ‘the local community’s demand for, and unrealistic expectations of, higher education’ as one of their major challenges, a theme which will be explored in greater detail in the Centenary Conference Debate, the motion of which is ‘This house believes that society expects too much from universities’.

Read more about what each founding member institution had to say: Dalhousie University (Canada), Queen's University Belfast (UK), University of Adelaide (Australia), University of Bristol (UK), University of Edinburgh (UK), University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong), University of South Africa (South Africa) and Western University (Canada), or get an overview here.