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The Commonwealth Foundation, now five years old, administers a fund designed to increase interchanges between Commonwealth organizations in professional fields. Twenty‐six Commonwealth Governments subscribe to the Foundation's annual income and nominate trustees to serve on its board. A non‐political organization, its activities have included: encouraging the growth of Commonwealth‐wide professional associations, creating national professional centres, helping to create national professional societies, promoting regional professional activity, increasing the personal interchange of skills and experience and broadening professional knowledge through the printed word. It adheres to the view that the Commonwealth remains an association of peoples who, at professional and other levels, still have much in common; much to build on, much to conserve.

Without the contribution of the higher education (HE) sector, none of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are achievable. Through research, teaching, and community engagement, universities globally make vital contributions towards Agenda 30. Through partnerships, their impact is enhanced – university networks are key to facilitating collaboration. The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) is a global university network encompassing more than 500 universities. ACU spans five continents with membership representative of the full diversity of the Commonwealth. University networks such as this demonstrate that bringing institutions together enhances their ability to tackle global challenges. University networks are vital vehicles for knowledge sharing and best practice. ACU members in low- to middle-income countries face systematic biases that need significant support for disparities to decrease. The ACU provides a platform for all its members, including in the global South, to have their voices heard and affect policy-makers at the most prominent forums, including the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM), and the Conference of the Parties (COP). The ACU implements initiatives that build capacity. Examples include Climate Impacts Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement (CIRCLE), which supports researchers and institutions across Africa to produce internationally peer reviewed research into the climate change; and Partnership for Enhanced and Blended Learning (PEBL), which works with universities in Africa to enhance access to quality education through blended learning. These projects rank alongside similar initiatives that leverage networks to deliver outcomes that would not otherwise be possible. Without networks such as these, the great potential of universities to tackle the SDGs will likely not be realised.

This case study examines the controversial practice by the Commonwealth of Australia during the period 1988–2002 of using currency swaps as part of its debt management strategy. Although the strategy provided a positive return overall, the impact of currency swap usage created significant year-by-year variations in returns, which posed a risk to debt interest and financing requirements. This suggests that the risk limits imposed on this strategy were both inappropriate and insufficient. Nonetheless, these findings provide insights into how such a policy could best be implemented given recent proposals (OECD, 2007) for derivatives use by public debt managers.

The second International Intervisitation Program held in Australia in August, 1970, must now be considered a milestone in the development of the study and practice of educational administration. From the second Program emerged the establishment of the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration. Membership of the Council, which is determined on an individual rather than an institutional basis, is open to all interested in the administration of education. The Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration has a seven point programme of objectives: 1. To foster close links between those concerned with the improvement of educational administration in Commonwealth countries. 2. To foster a high standard in the practice and study of educational administration at all levels. 3. To hold Commonwealth‐wide and regional conferences on various aspects of educational administration. 4. To facilitate the dissemination of knowledge about research and practice in educational administration. 5. To foster high standards in the preparation of administrators. 6. To facilitate the exchange between member countries of teachers, students and practitioners of educational administration. 7. To encourage the establishment in Commonwealth countries of national associations of those concerned with the improvement of educational administration. Financial support for the Council was provided initially by the second International Intervisitation Program and “The Journal of Educational Administration”. Further generous and significant assistance has been given by the University of New England and the Commonwealth Foundation.

Australian fiscal federalism possesses a greater degree of vertical imbalance than comparable federations elsewhere due to a concentration of revenue-raising powers at the level of the Commonwealth government and a concentration of expenditure functions at the state and local government levels. Efforts to deal with this problem have focused on intergovernmental grants. While substantial literature exists on the financial nexus between the Commonwealth and state governments, little research effort has been expended on the local government grants process. The present paper seeks to remedy this by documenting the evolution and role of the local government grants process.

Takes an exploratory approach to the development of an accountability framework for environmental performance of the Australian Commonwealth public sector. Explains that the aim of the environmental performance accountability framework is for the various stakeholders to understand the actions of Commonwealth public sector organizations and consequences of those actions for ecological systems; to become familiar with the trends and changes in trends in public sector environmental performance; and to place stakeholders in a position to promote change when performance is not acceptable. Examines three interrelated strands of literature. Identifies key institutional stakeholders in the Commonwealth public sector. Synthesizes the literature related to public sector transformation, and reviews the flourishing literature on environmental accounting and reporting, and links it to the concept of environmental accountability. Drawing on this literature, explores interrelationships between three characteristics of environmental performance at the federal level in the Australian public sector: criticality of natural capital; information uncertainty; and regulatory response. Examines environmental accountability dimensions of each of these characteristics. Concludes by making three policy recommendations: first, measurement of environmental performance should focus on criticality of natural capital and informational uncertainty as bounded by the precautionary principle; second, the measures of criticality of natural capital and informational uncertainty should determine the extent of direct accountability to parliament for each public sector organization’s environmental performance; and, finally, a third party attestation of reported information is needed. Also makes some suggestions for extending this exploratory research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate why and how universities in the Glasgow region sought to leverage the 2014 Commonwealth Games to achieve their own benefits.

An in-depth qualitative case study, utilising documentary evidence and in-depth interviews, was employed to examine how Glasgow universities leveraged the Games, and the outcomes they sought.

Universities sought to leverage the 2014 Commonwealth Games to garner a range of benefits, including increased brand awareness, student and staff development opportunities, new or improved infrastructure, and strengthened stakeholder relationships. Leveraging strategies included developing relationships with other Games’ stakeholders to establish and participate in collaborations, committees, and research consortia, hosting ancillary events, and hosting teams on training camps. However, data revealed substantial barriers to effective leveraging, such as insufficient resourcing and lack of leadership, and consequently several interviewees conveyed a sense of missed opportunities.

The results can inform universities located in host regions about the opportunities and challenges to strategically leveraging an event. Also, if event organisations understand the leveraging ambitions of event stakeholders, such as universities, they can better facilitate and manage their relationships with such stakeholders to maximise event benefits in the host region.

This research considers the leveraging activities of a previously un-researched event stakeholder group (universities) that have the potential to deliver benefits that reach students, staff, and industry interest groups in event host communities. The knowledge contributed could aid universities in future event host regions to strategically leverage to maximise the benefits of major sport events.

This case study investigates the contention that the Commonwealth Grants Commission, through the methods and procedures it employed to determine the special grants it recommended for payment to Western Australia, was influential in education policy formulation in that State. Although certain benefits were gained for education in relation to the level of finance expended on it, the State surrendered a considerable degree of its control over the direction which educational expenditure could have taken because it depended on the special grants to balance its budget during its period of claimancy.

In this chapter, the discussion revolves around Africa’s engagement with the new Europe in a post-Brexit era – which, like AfCFTA, also became effective on 1 January 2021. The chapter discusses, on a broader level, Europe–Africa relations in the creative industries. Specific examples are drawn from the Commonwealth Agenda, and the France/German/Dutch relations at both the public and private spheres.