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Read below IAU news both from the Association and from its Members. Search or filter news by category (IAU or Member News), as well as by subject matter.
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Empowering and Advancing Africa's Scientific Enterprise
The International Association of Universities (IAU) was pleased to be represented by IAU Board Member Professor Abdul Rasheed Na’Allah at the 15th General Assembly and Scientific Conference of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), held in Abuja, Nigeria from 9–12 December 2025.
Advocating for Stronger Higher Education Cooperation in Africa at UNESCO Forum
The International Association of Universities (IAU) was proud to be represented at the recent UNESCO Forum on Higher Education in Africa: A Driver for Sustainable Development, a major event that brought together higher education institutions, youth leaders, skills providers, and development partners from across the continent. Held under UNESCO’s global priority on Africa and aligned with Agenda 2063 – The Africa We Want – the Forum provided a vital space to reflect on how Africa’s higher education ecosystem is helping to address sustainable development challenges at local, national, and regional levels.
International Forum on the Futures of Education
From 2–4 December 2024, UNESCO convened the International Forum on the Futures of Education in Suwon, Gyeonggido, Republic of Korea. The event brought together policymakers, scholars, practitioners, and international organizations to reflect on how education can be reimagined to build more sustainable, inclusive, and just societies. Central to the discussions was UNESCO’s call to renew the social contract for education.
Higher Education Policy Vol.37, Is.4
The last edition of 2024 of HEP brings us a diverse collection of papers, looking at themes such as the employability of public and private university graduates in Spain, the development of policy and practices in trans-national higher education in China, post-Covid 19, actions taken by two local higher education institutions in Portugal to address the employability agenda, and the historical and institutional roots of oppressive mechanisms employed by the Islamic Republic in Iranian universities since the 1979 revolution.
ELP Gathers Higher Education Leaders in Tokyo
In November 2024, the IAU marked a significant milestone in its Executive Leadership Programme (ELP) by celebrating the graduation of the 2023–2024 cohort and welcoming the launch of the 2024–2025 edition. The event, hosted at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, convened senior higher education leaders from around the world for several days of intensive learning, collaboration, and forward-looking dialogue.
Global Education Meeting 2024: A Pivotal Moment for Inclusive and Equitable Education
From October 31 to November 1, 2024, Fortaleza, Brazil, hosted the highly anticipated Global Education Meeting (GEM), convened by UNESCO and the SDG4 High-Level Steering Committee. This landmark event brought together education leaders, policymakers, practitioners, and advocates from every corner of the world to accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) — ensuring inclusive, equitable, and quality education for all.
Introducing the Latest IAU Programme: HEIAS
The International Association of Universities is pleased to launch its newest programme of work under the internationalization thematic priority area: HEIAS. This programme expands on the foundation laid by the original IAU ISAS and ISAS 2.0 programmes, which were created to support higher education institutions (HEIs) in developing, reviewing, and enhancing their internationalization strategies.
World Teacher’s Day 2024
On 5 October, the International Association of Universities (IAU) joined the global education community at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris to celebrate International Teachers’ Day 2024. This year’s observance held special significance as it was coupled with the award ceremony of the UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for Teacher Development, a prestigious biennial prize supported by the Hamdan Foundation.
Transforming Knowledge for Africa’s Future
The IAU was proud to serve as a key partner at the recent International Forum of UNESCO Chairs and Partners on “Transforming Knowledge for Africa’s Future,” held in Addis Ababa from 30 September - 2 October 2024. Convened by UNESCO and the African Union, the Forum brought together diverse actors from across the globe to explore strategies to strengthen higher education systems, advance knowledge co-creation, and support sustainable development in Africa.
IAU Highlights Global Perspectives at Digital Transformation Symposium
The IAU was pleased to take part in the “Digital Transformation Symposium” hosted by Linnaeus University, Sweden. IAU Manager for Digital Transformation Trine Jensen delivered a keynote address exploring the current state of digital transformation within higher education from a global perspective.
Co-Creating Change for Sustainability
The IAU was pleased to take part in the 2024 Higher Education Summit, held at the Università degli Studi di Padova under the theme “Co-Creating Change for Sustainability.” Organised in collaboration with the COPERNICUS Alliance, the Summit brought together academic leaders, practitioners, and students to explore transformative approaches to embedding sustainability in higher education.
Higher Education Policy Vol.37, Is.3
The most recent issue of HEP features articles looking at a corpus linguistics investigation of AI and other technological threats, internationalization strategy via north-south partnerships, COVID-19 and its impact on research excellence in China, changing the culture of sexual violence at UK universities, academic career mobility.
The Value and Values of the European University in Global Context
On the occasion of the 735th Opening of the Academic Year at the Università degli Studi di Macerata, IAU Secretary General Hilligje van’t Land delivered a keynote address on “The Value and Values of the European University in Global Context.” The ceremony marked not only a significant milestone for one of Europe’s oldest universities, but also an opportunity to reflect on the evolving role of higher education institutions in a time of global change.
IAU at the UN HLPF 2024
IAU took part in the HLPF 2024 with its members and co-organised a side event around Monitoring Air Pollution with the University of Bergen and the ISC.
Second Global Survey on the State of Digital Transformation of Higher Education
After several years of rapid digital transformation particularly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the IAU is pleased to launch the second Global Survey on Digital Transformation of Higher Education to monitor transformations.
IAU Horizons: Universities and the Interplay between Human Intelligence and Generative AI
The widespread distribution of generative AI has raised many questions for higher education institutions to address, spanning a wide spectrum of visions from utopian ideals to dystopian scenarios. To shed light on what is at stake for higher education, this ‘In Focus’ section is devoted to Universities and the Interplay between Human Intelligence and Generative AI.
IAU Horizons 29.2 - Call for papers on The University: Shaping Values and Shaped by Values
This issue of IAU Horizons invites contributions that discuss the values that are needed to address the great challenges of our time. It also invites reflection on whether, amid our rich and diverse set of cultures and traditions, higher education institutions around the world share a set of distinct values? What will be the future of traditional academic values, such as autonomy, academic freedom, and research integrity? What role do values play in the social trust accorded to universities?
IAU 2024 International Conference: Call for Proposals
In today’s dynamic and ever-evolving global landscape, universities find themselves navigating heightened complexity and uncertainty. Institutions and their leaders are increasingly compelled to adapt swiftly to a diverse range of expectations. Against this backdrop, this conference highlights the pivotal role of values, exploring how they provide universities with guidance for decision-making, ethical conduct, and meaningful engagement. Furthermore, conference sessions will assess the extent to which these values are used to address the grand challenges encountered by societies.
Open Science Site Visit at Utrecht University
The two-day programme enabled participants to understand the impressive transformation that Utrecht University has undertaken over the past years to embrace the principles of Open Science. It showcased to what extent that commitment and engagement from all levels of the institution is crucial across the different faculties, bringing together and recognizing the important contributions of staff regardless of function or status and rewarding colleagues for their contributions to the global vision set out for the institution.
Launch Event: 6th IAU Global Survey on Internationalization
The IAU 6th Global Survey on the Internationalization of Higher Education received responses from 722 higher education institutions (HEIs) in 110 countries and territories. The resulting survey report analyses the findings in order to present both global and regional trends. Furthermore, the report compares current findings with data from the IAU’s previous Global Surveys on Internationalization in order to explore long-term changes occurring in the internationalization field. Discover first results of the survey here.