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OSUN
  • Education sub-menuEducation

    With a strong emphasis on student-centered learning, critical literacy, and liberal arts and sciences education, OSUN creates diverse global classrooms of students who learn from each other and collectively develop a culture of dialogue and debate.

    • Teaching
      • Birkbeck Summer School
      • Center for Liberal Arts and Sciences Pedagogy (CLASP)
      • Developing Teaching Professionals
      • Global History Lab
      • Global Teaching Fellowship Program
      • GLOBALED
      • Hannah Arendt Humanities Network
      • Network Courses
      • OSUN Courses
    • Curricula
      • CORUSUS
      • Economic Democracy Initiative
      • Economic Policy Addressing Inequality and Poverty
      • ExEd Hub
      • Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network
      • Hannah Arendt Humanities Network
      • Human Rights Program
      • Policy Labs
      • Public Health and Human Rights
      • Strengthening the Core
      • Transnational Politics
      • Transnational Feminism, Solidarity, and Social Justice
  • Research sub-menuResearch

    OSUN promotes collaboration across its partner institutions, including the codesign of research projects, to explore issues of global and local relevance through socially engaged research, interdisciplinary collaboration, or comparative research.

    • Research Projects
      • The Democracy Institute
      • Economic Democracy Initiative
      • Engaged Scholarship
      • GEOHUB
      • Global Institute of Advanced Study
      • Global Observatory on Academic Freedom
      • Interruptrr
      • Open Society Research Platform
      • Research Creation Initiative
      • Senior Projects
    • Fellowships
      • Chatham House Academy Fellowships
      • Global Scholars Academy
      • Modular Doctoral Program
  • Access sub-menuAccess

    OSUN expands access to higher education by creating new pathways for underserved communities. Academic integration and connected learning bring educational opportunities to students beyond OSUN’s brick-and-mortar campuses.

    • Teacher Education
      • Enhanced Network Teacher Education Capacity
      • Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives
    • Education Pathways
      • Collaborative for Liberal Education for Adolescents
      • English Learner Success in Content Classrooms
      • Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives
      • Microcollege for Just Community Leadership
      • OLIve
      • Roma Equity in Higher Education
      • The Socrates Project
  • Civic sub-menuCivic Engagement

    With a belief in the public purpose of higher education, civic engagement across OSUN promotes best practices and bold new initiatives to help students, faculty, and institutions realize their full potential as community actors and educators.

    • Student Engagement
      • Global Commons
      • Global Debate Network
      • Global Fellows
      • Get Engaged Conference
      • Online Arts Workshop
      • Student-Led Initiatives
      • Student Life Initiatives Project (SLIP)
    • Engaged Learning
      • Certificate in Civic Engagement
      • Community Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences
      • Engaged Scholarship
      • Engaged Senior Projects
      • OSUN Science Shop
      • Solve Climate by 2030
  • News sub-menuNews, Events, + Opportunities

    OSUN offers myriad opportunities and events to undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and scholars, and faculty. News and features provide updates on project impacts and the people involved.

    • Newsroom
      • Current News         
      • News Archive
    • Events
      • Current Events
      • Events Archive
    • Opportunities
      • Current Opportunities
      • Student Opportunities
      • Faculty Opportunities
      • Opportunities Archive
  • About sub-menuAbout OSUN

    OSUN aims to educate students for tomorrow’s global challenges, fostering critical thinking and open intellectual inquiry to strengthen the foundations of open society amid the current authoritarian resurgence.

    • About OSUN
      • Our Vision
      • Who We Are
      • What We Do
      • Member Institutions
      • Themes
      • Annual Report
  • Search
Register for Fall 2022 OSUN Online Courses
Registration is now open for Fall 2022 OSUN Online Courses. New courses will be added as they become available. Deadline to register is September 1 LEARN MORE
Global Climate Teach-In Reaches Tens of Thousands of Students
On March 30, thousands of students at over 300 academic institutions across the globe met up to talk about climate solutions during the OSUN Solve Climate by 2030 Project's Worldwide Teach-In on Climate Justice.
 
LEARN MORE
Open Society University Network:
A New Model for Higher Education
Integrating learning and the advancement of knowledge across geographic and demographic boundaries. Read More
The Global Classroom Reimagined
OSUN Online Courses provide an enhanced, multidirectional version of the global classroom, inspiring new perspectives that challenge worldviews. READ MORE
A Journey from Kabul to Bishkek: Stories of Students Evacuated from Afghanistan
Students at American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan have published a collection of accounts of Afghan students' harrowing journeys as they fled from Kabul, Afghanistan to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan after the Taliban takeover during summer 2021. LEARN MORE
OSUN 2020/21 Annual Report
OSUN's 41 partner institutions developed a multitude of diverse projects while accelerating collaboration in teaching by bringing 3,000+ students into more than 180 online courses. READ MORE
Global Commons
The inaugural issue of OSUN's Global Commons, a fully student-produced digital publication featuring multimedia works from across the network, is now online! Essays, articles, creative writing, and artwork by students from eight countries allow students to share their voices with a larger audience while exposing readers to new perspectives on pressing global issues. READ MORE
OSUN Condemns Russian Attack on Ukraine and Pledges Support for Ukrainian Scholars
OSUN joins educators and civil society organizations across the globe in unequivocally condemning Russia’s assault on Ukraine and pledges to work with partners to provide sponsorship initiatives for Ukrainian students and scholars. Read More

OSUN Events

  • 5/31
    Tuesday

    Creating Inclusive Learning Environments: Working With Difficult Material--A Conversation
    9:30 am – 11:00 am EDT/GMT-4 Online Event
  • 6/15
    Wednesday

    College Behind Bars Screening and Conversation with Director Lynn Novick
    9:00 am – 11:30 am EDT/GMT-4 Online Event
  • 6/28
    Tuesday

    Creating Inclusive Learning Environments: Teacher-Research Presentations
    9:30 am – 11:00 am EDT/GMT-4 Online Event
  • 10/13
    Thursday

    Rage and Reason: Democracy Under the Tyranny of Social Media
    10:00 am – 6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Olin Hall
View All Events

News + Announcements

Growing Capacity and Fostering Resilience: Network Responses to Forced Displacement
At a panel at UNESCO’s 2022 World Higher Education Conference in Barcelona, OSUN leaders discussed the challenges and successes they have experienced as partners in a network actively responding to global crises by connecting affected youth to higher education.
Read More

View All OSUN News

Opportunities

  • Call for Visiting Remote Faculty at Ashesi University (Ghana) for Fall/Spring 2022-23
    Deadline: July 8, 2022
  • Fall 2022 OSUN Online Course Registration Now Open
    Deadline: September 1, 2022
  • ExEd Hub Offering Free Virtual Coaching to OSUN Members
  • A New Story: Imagine, Transform, Adapt
    Deadline: June 5, 2022
  • Call for Applicants for "Humanism, Posthumanism, Anti-Humanism: Educational Perspectives"
    Deadline: June 1, 2022
View All Opportunities

About OSUN

The Network

The Open Society University Network (OSUN) is a global partnership of educational institutions that integrates learning and the advancement of knowledge--in the social sciences, the humanities, the sciences and the arts, on undergraduate and graduate levels--across geographic and demographic boundaries, promotes civic engagement on behalf of open societies, and expands access to higher education for underserved communities.

Member Institutions
  • University of California, Berkeley Human Rights Center (United States)
  • Arizona State University (United States)
  • Bard Early Colleges: New Orleans (United States)
  • Bard Early Colleges: Cleveland (United States)
  • Tuskegee University (United States)
  • Bard Early Colleges: Hudson Valley (United States)
  • Bard Prison Initiative (United States)
  • Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (United States)
  • Picker Center for Executive Education, Columbia University (United States)
  • Institute for New Economic Thinking (United States and United Kingdom)
  • Bard Early Colleges: Manhattan (United States)
  • Bard Early Colleges: Queens (United States)
  • Bard Early Colleges: Newark (United States)
  • University of Connecticut Human Rights Institute (United States)
  • Bard College at Simon’s Rock: The Early College (United States)
  • Princeton Global History Lab (United States)
  • The Talloires Network of Engaged Universities (United States)
  • The Afghanistan Project at the Center for Governance and Markets, University of Pittsburgh (United States)
  • Bard Early Colleges: Baltimore (United States)
  • Bard Early Colleges: Washington D.C. (United States)
  • Haitian Education and Leadership Program (Haiti)
  • Universidad de los Andes (Colombia)
  • Birkbeck, University of London (United Kingdom)
  • London School of Economics (United Kingdom)
  • SOAS University of London (United Kingdom)
  • Black Mountains College (United Kingdom)
  • Chatham House (United Kingdom)
  • Institute for New Economic Thinking (United States and United Kingdom)
  • Sciences Po in Paris (France)
  • European University Institute (Florence)
  • Bocconi University (Italy)
  • Bard College Berlin (Germany)
  • Hertie School (Berlin)
  • Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva)
  • Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (Austria)
  • European Humanities University (Lithuania)
  • Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade (Serbia)
  • American University in Bulgaria
  • National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (Romania)
  • Ashesi University (Ghana)
  • University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)
  • Rift Valley Institute (Kenya)
  • Al-Quds University / Al-Quds Bard College of Arts and Sciences (Palestine)
  • American University of Beirut (Lebanon)
  • American University of Afghanistan (Afghanistan)
  • American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan)
  • BRAC University (Bangladesh)
  • Parami University (Myanmar)
  • National Sun Yat-sen University (Taiwan)

A New model of global higher education



Integrated Curricula

Integrated Curricula

Courses are designed for students across multiple campuses to ensure educational opportunities regardless of geographical location.
Network Courses

Network Courses

Using the latest teleconference technology, classes are held as Virtual International Exchanges, enabling students to learn together regardless of distance.
Blended Learning

Blended Learning

Combined virtual and in-person instruction provides educational access to underserved and remote communities.
Intranetwork Mobility

Intranetwork Mobility

Students, faculty, and administrators can travel throughout the network to grow and maintain in-person relationships.
Exploration of Global Issues

Exploration of Global Issues

Promoting collaboration among students and faculty across international borders.
Civic Engagement

Civic Engagement

Ideas and actions of engagement are embedded into all aspects of higher education to prepare students to emerge from university as engaged citizens.
Student-focused Teaching 

Student-focused Teaching 

Pedagogy revolves around active learning and critical thinking to prepare students to tackle emerging global issues.
Meet Our Members

Meet Our Members

A Global Partnership of educational institutions.

Founding Institutions

Bard College
New York, U.S.
Central European University
Vienna, Austria

Members

  • Colleges and Universities
    Al-Quds University/Al-Quds Bard College of Arts and Sciences (Palestine)
    American University of Afghanistan (Afghanistan)
    American University of Beirut (Lebanon)
    American University in Bulgaria
    American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan)
    Arizona State University (United States)
    Ashesi University (Ghana)
    Bard College at Simon’s Rock: The Early College (United States)
    Bard College Berlin (Germany)
    Bard Early Colleges (United States)
    Birkbeck: University of London (United Kingdom)
    Bocconi University (Italy)
    BRAC University (Bangladesh)
    European Humanities University (Lithuania)
    European University Institute (Florence)
    Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva)
    Hertie School (Berlin)
    London School of Economics (United Kingdom)
    National Sun Yat-sen University (Taiwan)
    National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (Romania)
    Parami University (Myanmar)
    Sciences Po in Paris (France)
    SOAS University of London (United Kingdom)
    Tuskegee University (United States)
    Universidad de los Andes (Colombia)
    University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)
  • Research and Educational Institutions
    Bard Prison Initiative (United States)
    Black Mountains College (United Kingdom)
    Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (United States)
    Chatham House (United Kingdom)
    Haitian Education and Leadership Program (Haiti)
    Institute for New Economic Thinking (United States and United Kingdom)
    Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade (Serbia)
    Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (Austria)
    Picker Center for Executive Education, Columbia University (United States)
    Princeton Global History Lab (United States)
    Rift Valley Institute (Kenya)
    The Afghanistan Project at the Center for Governance and Markets, University of Pittsburgh (United States)
    The Talloires Network of Engaged Universities (United States)
    University of California, Berkeley Human Rights Center (United States)
    University of Connecticut Human Rights Institute (United States)

Philanthropic Partner

Open Society Foundations

OSUN builds on the accomplishments of several major initiatives in higher education supported by the Open Society Foundations (OSF). In the 1990s, OSF’s Higher Education Support Program (HESP) effectively served as a Marshall Plan for higher education in Central and Eastern Europe. CEU, founded in 1991, became a unique model in graduate education, combining cutting-edge research and research-based teaching with a focused social mission.

Philanthropic Partner

For almost 30 years, OSF has supported innovative cooperation between CEU and Bard College, and between their respective national and international networks. During this period, OSF has contributed to the development of groundbreaking higher education institutions, first in Central and Eastern Europe, and then globally. OSF also supported a program of fellowships in higher education that has intellectually empowered tens of thousands of students and educators throughout the world.

The Open Society Foundations (OSF) is an international grant-making network that supports civil society groups around the world, with the aim of advancing justice, education, public health and independent media. Since its inception, in 1993, it has contributed:
  • $15.2 billion in total expenditures
  • 50,000+ grants to organizations, scholars, and activists in 120+ countries
Although originally focused in the 1990s on Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, South Africa, and Myanmar, OSF has since expanded its network to Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, and had a budget of $1.1 billion in 2019.

OSF’s Higher Education Support Program initiated a massive undertaking to reform research and teaching in the social sciences and humanities at universities across Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia in the 1990s. It has since expanded this program to over 50 colleges and universities around the world, with the aim of promoting academic freedom, university autonomy, equal and open access to knowledge and education, student-centered learning, service to the community, and transparent, inclusive governance. This program has yielded significant advances, including:
  • The creation of beachheads of intellectual freedom and critical enquiry at some of its core grantee institutions, such as the American University of Central Asia and American University in Bulgaria.
  • Improvements in the quality of the liberal arts curriculum and pedagogy at the American University of Central Asia, European Humanities University, Al-Quds Bard College, and St. Petersburg University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts, in partnership with Bard.
  • The introduction of innovative models of access to higher education in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya.
  • The establishment of independent external testing system for admissions at Ukrainian universities, which have combat the paying of bribes for student places.
As part of its efforts to expand access to higher education and empowered educators around the world, OSF has provided close to 20,000 scholarships and research grants since the 1980s - with awards in 42 countries, ranging from Haiti to Angola, Eritrea, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Cambodia.

OSF has also demonstrated its deep commitment to academic freedom through its early and long-standing support for scholars who are threatened or imprisoned because of their work. It was a founding contributor to the Scholar Rescue Fund and is a leading supporter of the Scholars at Risk network.

Open Society University Network
For more information contact: 
[email protected]