The U8 Global Student Partnership for Development is a student-led global university network. Founded in 2005 by students, it provides an impartial platform for students to learn, share ideas and engage with global issues in development. It currently has 50 member universities in countries such as Bulgaria, Ethiopia, India, Tanzania and the UK.


Our Vision is a membership who take a global perspective into their professional lives and use this to make a positive impact on the world.


Our Mission. The U8 global network allows for sustained, unbounded discussion both online and face-to-face at local, national and international levels. It is hoped that by connecting students from around the globe, their understanding of complex issues and their ability to reflect upon, appraise and challenge policy and practice will be increased. Local activities include speaker events, such as the Warwick International Development Summit, and skills-based courses such as the Cambridge (in affiliation with CUiD) and Oxford University International Development Courses, which are organised by member groups.


Our Activities are based around three pillars:

1. Research - online, collaborative projects, proposed by members and carried out via online communication. The outcomes are published online and usually take the form of research documents. Research outcomes from 2005 were submitted to the UK Department for International Development's 2005 White Paper, and a paper from 2006 was published in an Indian university journal.

2. Summits – U8 holds an annual international or regional summit in conjunction with a local group. Past summits have drawn together U8ers from around the world in Cambridge, London & Warwick. We aim to spread these to other host countries in the not too distant future. News about our exciting Ulster summit in March 2010 is here. Through forums, research projects, monthly topics, this discussion is not confined to static summits but can continue through our online platform, a focal meeting point of our organisation

3. Writing - Articles are published online and in an annual print publication, which has been designed by students from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, for the past two years.