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Mission
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IAU: FOR A
WORLDWIDE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMUNITY
IAU, founded in 1950, is the UNESCO-based worldwide association of higher education
institutions. It brings together institutions and organisations
from some 150 countries for
reflection and action on common concerns and collaborates with various
international, regional and national bodies active in higher education.
Its services are available on the priority basis to Members but also to
organisations, institutions and authorities concerned with higher
education, as well as to individual policy and decision-makers,
specialists, administrators, teachers, researchers and students.
The Association aims at giving expression to the obligation of
universities and other higher education institutions as social
institutions to promote, through teaching, research and services, the
principles of freedom and justice, of human dignity and solidarity, and contributes, through
international cooperation, to the development of material and moral assistance for the
strengthening of higher education generally.
As stated in its Founding Charter IAU's mission is based on the fundamental principles for which
every university should stand:
- The right to pursue knowledge for its own sake and to
follow wherever the search for truth may lead;
- The tolerance of divergent opinion and freedom from
political interference.
Click to read the revised IAU Mission
Statement (rtf, 40 kb)
The overall goals of IAU are
both internal and external:
- IAU links up its Members, offering them quality services, networking and collective action.
- The Association speaks on behalf of universities,
other higher education institutions and associations and represents their concerns and
interests in public debate and to outside partners.
Both of these complementary goals are pursued through future oriented
collective action, including conferences
and meetings, information services, policy discussion, research
and publications.
By encouraging Members to work together, IAU
- Facilitates the exchange
of experience and learning and fosters cooperation;
- Restates and defends the academic values and principles that
underlie and determine the proper functioning of universities and other
higher education institutions;
- Upholds and contributes to the development of a
long-term vision of universities’ role
and responsibilities in society;
- Voices the concerns for higher education with regard
to policies of international bodies such as UNESCO, the World Bank and
others;
- Contributes to a better understanding of current trends and policy developments through
analysis, research and debate;
- Provides comprehensive
and authoritative information on higher education systems,
institutions and qualifications worldwide.
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