International Essay Competition 2009 & Prize in Higher Education Policy Research

International Association of Universities – Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Prize in Higher Education Policy Research

2009 Essay Competition Theme:
"Equitable Access, Success and Quality - three essential ingredients or three mutually exclusive concepts for higher education development?"

International Association of Universities (IAU) is pleased to announce the 2009 IAU/Palgrave Prize in Higher Education Policy Research. The aim of this Prize is to promote research in the field of higher education policy by recognizing outstanding work on a particular research theme.

The 2009 Prize will focus on issues linked to the new IAU policy statement entitled: Equitable Access, Success and Quality in Higher Education, adopted at the Association's 13th General Conference, held at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, in July 2008.

As a global association of universities and other higher education institutions, (IAU) is committed to promoting the twin goals of equitable access to, and successful participation in, higher education for all members of society, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, economic or social class, age, language, religion, location and [dis]ability. IAU believes that equitable access to quality learning contributes significantly to the development of national human resources, promotes social justice and cohesion, enhances personal development, employability and, in general, facilitates sustainable development. The full Statement on Access may be found on the Association's website http://www.unesco.org/iau/access_he/index.html

IAU is aware that institutions can take a variety of approaches to pursuing these objectives. By choosing this theme for the 2009 Research Essay Prize, IAU wishes to mobilize its membership to focus their research and share their findings on efforts made to increase access to higher education for all while retaining the quality of the education experience. IAU will welcome research papers that investigate and analyse whether, and if so how, the three distinct but interconnected objectives of equitable access, success and quality can coexist as goals in higher education and what kinds of policies and programmes have been or need to developed to achieve them. What policies work? What good practices may be generalized? What can the various stakeholder groups bring to policy development? By publishing the most worthy among the papers in the quarterly journal Higher Education Policy, IAU will also disseminate these reflections.

The research-based essays may take the form of an analytical case study, an analysis of trends, provide an overview of relevant policies or offer the results of impact assessment. They may also look at important partnerships forged, showcase good-practice or evaluate relevant funding policies or approaches.

We would like to underline, however, that the invitation for submissions is for research- and analysis-based papers; not purely descriptive articles.

The IAU/Palgrave Prize, valued at £1,000, is awarded to the most outstanding essay received from a researcher/scholar working in an IAU Member institution/organization. The winning essay is also published in Higher Education Policy, the Association's quarterly research journal. Submissions are welcome from researchers at IAU Members institutions and organisations; they should not exceed 7,500 words in length and should be written in one of the Association’s two official languages—English or French—and be submitted in the first instance in electronic format (MS Word).

An international jury of distinguished scholars and higher education leaders will review the Essays submitted and select the most deserving Essay. The result will be widely disseminated by the Association.

Deadline for submission for the 2009 Prize: March 31 2009

Please send all queries and essays to:
International Association of Universities (IAU)
UNESCO House,
1, rue Miollis,
F-75732 Paris Cedex 15, France
Email: iau[at]unesco.org

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