Building Trust in Higher Education

Each year, the International Association of Universities (IAU) brings together higher education leaders from around the world for its flagship international conference — an exclusive space for dialogue, collaboration, and global networking. This year, hosted by the University of Rwanda, the conference will convene leaders to explore one of the most pressing challenges facing the sector: building trust in higher education.

The university, in its corporate structure, is one of very few institutions in global history that have survived the passing of time. Ideally, universities are marked by unique ethical commitments that enhance their trustworthiness. The idealized view of academia stresses its openness, its universality, its institutionalized procedures for self-criticism and self-correction, being a force for good across all its missions. But, what is challenging higher education as we know it is that it has become increasingly harder to convincingly demonstrate its merits and benefits.

Given the inextricable relationship between universities and the trust afforded to them over time, this conference seeks to explore what creates trust in higher education. What must universities do to retain this trust across all their missions, including their governance, administration, research practices, teaching methods and learning processes, admissions procedures, and knowledge-sharing approaches? How can they strengthen their engagement with the dynamic and diverse world beyond their institutional boundaries to help build better and more just societies? After all, it is trust in higher education where it starts and ends.