Open Society University Network:
A New Model for Higher Education
Integrating learning and the advancement of knowledge across geographic and demographic boundaries.Read 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
The Atlantic Covers OSUN's Efforts to Evacuate Afghan Scholars and Students
OSUN Vice Chancellor Jonathan Becker discusses asking network universities to host threatened scholars and appealing to foundations to fund charter flights out of Afghanistan.READ MORE
Expanding Durable Solutions for Refugee Youth through Higher Education
The Global Task Force on Third Country Education Pathways, co-chaired by the OSUN Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives, hosts a series of virtual training sessions through December 14, launching a Global Community of Practice to design and implement legal pathways for refugee youth through higher education programs in third countries.READ MORE
Transnational Feminism, Solidarity, and Social Justice
OSUN invites proposals for 5 research grants of up to €5,000 each for 2022 from faculty interested in developing collaborations throughout the network and beyond, working closely with local and international initiatives to further the feminist agenda for social justice.READ MORE
Video for Climate Activism: Collaboration Behind the Camera and in the Classroom
OSUN's collaborative, public-facing class on "Video for Climate Activism" trained a wide range of environmental activists to produce videos documenting climate challenges and solutions across the globe.READ MORE
From Pollutants to Playgrounds: Social Entrepreneurship Course Fuels Practical Solutions to Global Problems
Al Quds Bard student Ahmad Hijawi says the recycling venture he designed for the OSUN network collaborative course on Social Entrepreneurship owes much of its success to the entrepreneurial skills he developed and the valuable peer feedback he received while taking the class in 2020.
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.
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.
