International collaboration is at the heart of education, science and discovery. The best universities in the world have a global presence, which they use to build partnerships for the benefit of students and society as a whole. The research-intensive universities that make up the Russell Group and the German U15 have a long history of working together to further their shared goals of creating more opportunity and responding to the big challenges we face such as net zero, resilient healthcare systems and social inequality. Over recent years the Russell Group and the German U15 have worked together on a number of key issues including how to protect free speech and academic freedom on campuses as well as joining forces to advocate for the reassociation of the United Kingdom to the EU research programme Horizon Europe.