IAU adopts positions and develops Policy Statements on issues of global importance for higher education. Each Statement is the product of extensive drafting and international consultations. In recent years, the Statements have been formally adopted by the General Conference of the Association, though in the past some emanated from international Round Tables or meetings of the Administrative Board. The topics that have been the subjects of such Policy Statements are usually identified by the Association’s leadership and membership as requiring the attention of the international academic community.
IAU Policy Statements most frequently identify the issue area, present a number of key principles and include a few recommendations for action at either the institutional or the governmental level or both.
Traditionally, the development of an IAU Policy Statement has been delegated by the IAU Administrative Board to a small Working Group or Task Force whose members are drawn from each world region. IAU is committed to being the global voice for higher education institutions hence the international composition of the Task Forces is essential in order to ensure that each Policy Statement reflects the collective interests of higher education without ignoring the specific concerns or interests of institutions in various parts of the world.
The IAU 13th General Conference in 2008 adopted a Policy Statement on Equitable Access and Success in Quality Higher Education. Work on this topic has continued with a pilot project, workshop and international conference. More information on these follow-up activities is available on the Access and Success web pages in the Actions section of the website.
IAU Policy Statements, listed here in chronological order, starting with the most recent Statement, are freely available for dissemination. More recent Statements have been open to endorsements by other Associations of Higher Education; all are open to comments.
Prepared in collaboration with AUCC, ACE and CHEA
IAU together with the Magna Charta Observatory has created a Joint Working Group on Ethics in Higher Education which is elaborating Guidelines for an Institutional Code of Ethics for Higher Education. When ready, wide consultations on these will be undertaken. Discussions are also underway about updating or renewing the Kyoto Statements on Sustainable Development.