Thematic
Priorities
IAU research, publications, advocacy, and specialized services are focused around our four priority areas: Values-Based Leadership, Internationalization, Sustainable Development, and Digital Transformation.
IAU Board Member Nana Aba Appiah Amfo and Immediate Past President Pam Fredman, Dublin 2022.
Leadership
Leadership is a core aspect of quality higher education, vital in enabling institutions to respond to complex challenges and social transformation. Higher education leadership must be underpinned by values and responsibility; it must also constantly evolve in order to address emerging challenges and opportunities. It is essential that higher education institutions fully contribute to the development of sustainable and democratic societies. The IAU endeavours to strengthen capacities of university leaders and enhance cooperation among HEIs across the world, whilst also invigorating university leadership to maximise their impact on communities at all levels.
Internationalization
The IAU’s vision is to be the facilitator and promoter of an internationalization for all, in which all the different voices of nations, people and cultures of the world are represented and heard equally; an internationalization which allows students to grow as global responsible citizens, which promotes collaboration in research to find answers to most pressing challenges at global level; an internationalization which allows the sharing of experiences to find solutions to local problems and benefits local communities; an internationalization for society and the global common good, an internationalization that incorporates a global outlook in HEIs.
Such an internationalization is a fundamental tool to build a global community of higher education and research which contributes to openness, collaboration, social justice and equity worldwide.
IAU HESD Cluster Members at the IAU 16th General Conference in Dublin.
Sustainable Development
The future well-being of humanity and the planet depends on successful resolution of the interconnected challenges of economic, social, cultural, and environmental sustainability. Since 1993, the IAU has been an advocate for the key role higher education plays in achieving sustainable development. The IAU’s actions in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provide a framework for universities to develop inter-institutional collaboration in pursuit of sustainable development. The IAU aims to assist higher education leaders who wish to embed sustainable development concepts and principles in strategic planning, organisational structuring, and academic work.
Digital Transformation
The digital transformation of society is inevitably reshaping the higher education sector, and it impacts the way HEIs operate at all levels: from governance to teaching and learning; from the content of curricula to knowledge production and research activities. This constitutes an important transformation of higher education that comes both with new opportunities as well as challenges. It is an ongoing process that higher education institutions are reacting to, interacting with, and adapting to.
IAU Board Member Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, 2022.