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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 Collaborative Courses
      • OSUN Courses
    • Threatened Scholars
      Initiative

    • Mobility

    • Certificate Programs
    • Curricula
      • CORUSUS
      • Economic Democracy Initiative
      • Economic Policy Addressing Inequality and Poverty
      • Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network
      • Human Rights Program
      • Liberal Arts and Sciences Collaborative
      • Policy Labs
      • Professional Development Program for University Administrators
      • 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
      • Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison
      • 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 Engagement 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 + 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
  • Resources sub-menuResources

    OSUN faculty and institutions have worked collectively to assemble this dynamic collection of student-centered teaching methodologies and instructional strategies. Whether working online, in person, or in a blended context, establishing a clear and consistent communication plan with students is central to all of these practices.

    • OSUN Resources
      • Academic Technology Guides
      • Blended Learning Toolkit
  • About sub-menuAbout

    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
Main Image for Themes

Themes

About OSUN Menu
  • Our Vision
  • Who We Are
  • What We Do
  • Member Institutions
  • Themes
  • Annual Report
  • About Home
Working to Address Local and Global Issues

Democratic Practice

  • Description
  • Project Links 1
    Democratic Practice Projects:
    • Center for Human Rights and the Arts
    • Center for Liberal Arts and Sciences Pedagogy (CLASP)
    • Democracy Institute
    • Economic Democracy Initiative
    • Global Scholars Academy
    • Hannah Arendt Humanities Network
    • Open Society Research Platform
    • Strengthening the Core
  • Project Links 3
    Democratic Practice explores the principles, progress, and setbacks of democracy at a time of authoritarian resurgence. OSUN’s programs examine contemporary and historical dynamics of democratic practice and open society, including the erosion of democracy in today’s world, and opportunities to advance democratic practice in the face of current challenges.

Sustainability and Climate

  • Description
    Sustainability is a defining challenge of our age, as the ambitions of human enterprise continue on a collision course with planetary life support systems. OSUN provides a distinctive combination of: interdisciplinary study across environmental, social, economic, and governance dimensions; rigorous scientific inquiry; emphasis on sustainability as a decision and leadership challenge; explicit solutions orientation; and truly global perspectives.
  • Project List
    Sustainability and Climate Projects:
    • CORUSUS (Collaborating for Rural Sustainability)
    • Economic Democracy Initiative
    • Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network (EHCN)
    • Solve Climate by 2030
  • Project List 2

Inequalities

  • Photo by Junior Lukambo Luundo.
    Photo & Text
    Inequalities of multiple types characterize the contemporary world. OSUN’s programs explore the causes and consequences of inequalities within and between societies, including national and global disparities in income and wealth, social and political dimensions of inequality, and various forms of inequality related to gender, race, ethnicity, and forced displacement.
  • Project List 1
    Inequalities Projects:
    • Birkbeck Critical Theory Summer School
    • Collaborative for Liberal Education for Adolescents (CLEA)
    • Connected and Blended Learning Resources
    • Economic Democracy Initiative
    • Economic Policy Addressing Inequality and Poverty
    • English Learner Success in Content Classrooms
    • Enhanced Network Teacher Education
    • Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network (EHCN)
    • Feminism and Community
  • Project List 2
    • GLOBALED
    • Global History Lab
    • Global Scholars Academy
    • Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives
    • Online Arts Workshops
    • Roma Equity in Higher Education
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Transnational Feminism, Solidarity, and Social Justice

Human Rights

  • Descriptive Text
    Human rights are under assault around the world. OSUN deepens the theoretical interdisciplinary knowledge and strengthens the skills for empirical analysis to defend and advance human rights. It interweaves the study of human rights law, politics, and advocacy with a focus on the power of aesthetic, performative, and curatorial forms in human rights struggles.
  • Project Links
    Human Rights Projects:
    • Human Rights and the Arts
  • Photo by Maria Baranova
    Project Links + Image

Global Justice

  • Column 1
  • Column 3
    Global Justice Projects:
    • Chatham House Academy Fellowships
    • Economic Democracy Initiative
    • Global Debate Network
    • GLOBALED
    • Global History Lab
    • Roma Equity in Higher Education
    • Student Life Initiatives Project (SLIP)
    • Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative
    • Transnational Politics
  • Column 4
    Many of the twenty-first century’s most urgent global problems—from climate change to forced migration to global pandemics—present unprecedented challenges to humankind and have given rise to new forms of social, political and economic injustice. OSUN programs in Global Justice explore how individuals and groups can organize within and across state borders to develop new mechanisms of global governance, agitate for social change, hold power accountable and build more just and inclusive societies at the local, national and global levels.

Global Public Health

  • Description
    The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated massive disruptions to global health systems already compromised by deeply rooted inequalities in global distribution and access to quality health solutions. OSUN offers a range of education, research and advocacy initiatives in Global Public Health that respond to these dire circumstances. 
  • Second Column
    OSUN’s distinct programs advance a global vision that fosters and promotes a rights-based approach to Public Health policy, emphasizing the connectedness of science, policy and practice, knowledge, access to credible data and sound communications on population and global health.

    Global Public Health Projects:
    • Public Health and Human Rights 
  • Image

Arts and Society

  • Column 1
  • Column 2
    Arts and Society Projects:
    • Birkbeck Critical Theory Summer School
    • Center for Liberal Arts and Sciences Pedagogy (CLASP)
    • Chronicle Film Production
    • Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network (EHCN)
    • Global Commons
    • Human Rights and the Arts
    • Online Arts Workshops
    • Research-Creation Initiative
    • Strengthening the Core
    • Transnational Feminism, Solidarity, and Social Justice
  • Project Links 2
    Arts and Society projects promote expression of contemporary life, including dissent, difference, and the full power of the human imagination. OSUN programs promote cross-cultural study and presentation of work in fields ranging from poetry to film, photography, and dance and connect the arts to politics and society, including freedom of expression and struggles against oppressive regimes.

Liberal Arts and Sciences

  • Description
    Liberal arts and sciences education is a system of higher education designed to foster in students the desire and capacity to learn, think critically, and communicate proficiently. OSUN's programs advance the global growth of liberal arts and sciences education through an awareness of the importance of student-centered teaching; innovative, interdisciplinary curriculums; and robust co-curricular life––all which help shape a future generation of engaged citizens.
  • Project Links
    Liberal Arts and Sciences Projects:
    • Center for Liberal Arts and Sciences Pedagogy (CLASP)
    • Certificate Programs
    • Collaborative for Liberal Education for Adolescents (CLEA)
    • Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison
    • Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network (EHCN)
    • Global Debate Network
    • Global History Lab
    • Hannah Arendt Humanities Network
    • Microcollege for Just Community Leadership
    • Network Collaborative Courses
    • Online Arts Workshops
    • Strengthening the Core
    • Socrates Project
  • Photo by Rebecca Granato
    Project Links + Image

Multi-themed Projects

  • Photo by Szabo Matyas
    Description
  • Project Links
    • Civic Engagement
    • Communities of Virtual Alliances: COV-AID
    • Economic Democracy Initiative 
    • ExEd Hub
    • Global Institute of Advanced Study        
    • Global Observatory on Academic Freedom
    • Global Teaching Fellowship
    • Mobility
    • Modular Doctoral Program
    • Network Collaborative Courses
    • Open Society Research Platform
    • OSU CEU Summer University
    • OSUN Science Shop
    • Socrates Project
    • Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative
  • Project Links + Image
    While all OSUN projects address local and global issues through the seven guiding themes listed above, some projects touch on several or all of the guiding themes.
Open Society University Network
For more information contact: 
[email protected]