iile.bard.eduBard Institute for International Liberal Education

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Support Bard About Bard College Mission Statement Bard History Love of Learning Visiting Bard Employment OSUN Bard Abroad The Bard Network Montgomery Place Campus Campus Tours Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Sustainability Title IX HEOA Disclosures Institutional Support Safety and Security Inside Bard Alumni/ae Network Family Network Support Bard COVID-19 Response Give Search Search Welcome to the Institute for International Liberal Education The Institute for International Liberal Education (IILE) was formed at Bard in 1998. Its mission is to advance the theory and practice of international liberal arts education. We believe that international educational partnerships must be based on mutuality and equality, and that it is important for international exchange to occur at the undergraduate level. Our Mission Our long-term partnerships are characterized by the exchange of students, faculty, and curricular elements. Comprehensive exchanges afford the best possibility for the participants, both in and out of the classroom, to enter into direct, sustained dialogue on intellectual and cultural issues–precisely the kind of international dialogue that is needed to respond to the global challenges of the 21st century. Unlike the unilateral “exchanges” of the past, such substantive academic partnerships foster mutual respect and understanding and enrich learning and teaching for all students and faculty at Bard and participating institutions, not just those individuals who go abroad themselves. The Institute does not seek to export American models and methods. Rather, our aim is to create dynamic relationships through which we and our partner institutions learn from each others’ ideas and experience. What We Do Our Partnerships The Institute’s projects, developed under the leadership of the Center for Civic Engagement , are located in regions undergoing rapid political and economic transformation (currently Russia, East Central Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia). Our partners are leading universities with an interest in educational reform. Bard Abroad Programs Program in International Education Bard Summer Science Intensive Special Initiatives The IILE and Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College participate in the Institute for International Education's (IIE) commitment to support students from Syria through a scholarship for a displaced Syrian student. Additional student initiatives supported through the IILE and CCE include a fund to support a Berlin - Jerusalem exchange for students at Bard College Berlin and Al-Quds Bard College and funds to support science majors from Al-Quds Bard in the Bard Summer Research Internship at Bard College in Annandale. Who We Are Susan H. Gillespie , Founding Director, IILE Jen Murray , Dean of International Studies and Director, IILE and Bard Abroad Leiah Heckathorn , Associate Director, Bard Abroad Caroline Clark, International Program Coordinator, Bard-AUCA and Bard-Smolny Gillian Brundrett , Assistant to the Director and Financial Coordinator Trish Fleming , Study Abroad Adviser Lauren Cooke , Program Assistant, IILE More About IILE Our History × Our History Bard’s involvement in international education was stimulated by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Over time, we have expanded our interests and partnership programs from Eastern and Central Europe to Southern Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. In 1991, we began sponsoring undergraduate students who came to Bard from Eastern and Central Europe as part of the Program in International Education (PIE), which continues to this day. For a remarkable number of these young people, the nature of learning at Bard was the most profound experience of a transformative year. They encouraged us to explore possibilities for collaboration with institutions abroad that were interested in educational reform. When faculty members from St. Petersburg State University (SPbU) approached Bard after the end of the Soviet Union, we joined together to initiate the joint venture that would become the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences (FLAS - Smolny) . Smolny offers a dual B.A. degree in liberal arts from Bard and SPbU. It is Russia’s first accredited liberal arts college and a significant force in the reform of Russian higher education. IILE manages Bard’s administrative work with Smolny. U.S. undergraduates also apply through IILE to participate in the Bard-Smolny program , which offers the unique opportunity to study abroad in liberal arts classrooms with Russian students. The overthrow of Apartheid inspired us to expand our reach to South Africa and Zimbabwe. In 2000 we created the International Human Rights Exchange (IHRE). Originally a summer program run by a partnership of 13 Southern American universities and American liberal arts colleges, IHRE became a semester program jointly offered by Bard and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. At the time, IHRE was the only semester-long multidisciplinary human rights program in the world. IHRE is now available directly through the University of Witwatersrand. In 2008, we were approached about the possibility of forging a partnership with Al-Quds University in Palestine. We gladly accepted, hoping to make a concrete contribution to peaceful development and a just solution to the problems of the Middle East. The Al-Quds Bard partnership is becoming Bard’s most comprehensive international partnership to date. It includes the creation of the a liberal arts college within Al-Quds University, a Master of Arts in Teaching Program (the first in the region), and a model school. In 2009, Bard signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) that commits Bard and AUCA to offering a dual B.A. degree. AUCA, which is located in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, was founded in 1997 and has 1,300 students. Instruction is in English. This partnership offers opportunities for students from North American colleges and universities to spend a semester or a year at AUCA as visiting exchange students. Bard and AUCA have also collaborated on...