The two-day meeting in London from 29-30 May focused on the challenge of securing global growth and prosperity.

A set of nine recommendations, which the GUS hopes the G8 will take on board as the core group of nations struggles to find solutions to the enduring economic crisis, was agreed and circulated this week.

The GUS called on the G8 to recognise that the principles of international free trade also apply to ideas and knowledge. “The G8 should take action to allow easier movement of academics, researchers and university students between states,” it said.

Governments should commit to evaluating the impact of transnational education and developing a policy framework that leads to a better strategic understanding of the social and economic benefits.

The summit suggested that the G8 should outline what its leaders consider the ´Grand Challenges’ that universities can help address.

And it emphasised the role of universities in enhancing skills levels, calling on the G8 to recognise the increasing demand for higher-level skills in the world’s rising economies and to work with the G20 to expand freedom of movement across the world’s innovation centres.

The GUS suggested a new Global Commission be established to identify and promote best practice in university-business relations among G8 member nations and beyond. The GUS final recommendations are that the G8 should:

– Take the lead in establishing the highest international standards and market guidance on the value of international qualifications.

– Continue to work with transnational institutions to simplify the international patent infrastructure, which protects international property across national borders even as it simplifies the global flow of innovation that arises from research.

Leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom will meet at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland for the G8 Summit from 17-18 June.