UNILORIN VC elected into Int’l Association of Universities’ Board

Barely one month after becoming the Chairman of the Association of West African Universities (AWAU), the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, has been elected into the 22-member Administrative Board of the International Association of Universities (IAU), the UNESCO-based worldwide alliance of higher education institutions.

The election, which took place at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, was one of the high points of the 15th General Conference of the Association.

Also elected was IAU’s new President, Prof. Pam Fredman, the Rector of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and the first woman ever to lead the organization.

Prof. Ambali will be rubbing shoulders, on the IAU Board, with frontline Vice-Chancellors of top-rated universities from Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific countries.

The immediate past President of IAU, Prof. Dzulkifli Abdulrazak, was also elected one of the new Ex-Officio of the Association.

Founded in 1950, under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, and Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the International Association of Universities (IAU) is the leading global association of higher education institutions and organisations from around the world.

Member Institutions are universities and other degree-awarding higher education institutions, whose main objective is teaching and research, irrespective of whether or not they carry the name of university.

Drawing its membership from more than 130 countries, IAU is an independent, bilingual (English and French), non-governmental organisation.

It acts as the voice of higher education to UNESCO and other international higher education organisations, and provides a global forum for University Vice-Chancellors and heads of higher education institutions by whatever names they are called.

The IAU Administrative Board comprises 20 elected and two ex officio members viz: 18 executive heads of member institutions and two heads of member organizations, the immediate past President and the Secretary General.

A number of deputy members, from different regions and both categories of members are also elected.

The Administrative Board meets annually to ensure that decisions of the General Conference are implemented. The Administrative Board Members have a tenure of four years.

Prof. Ambali is one of the three Vice-Chancellors from Africa to make the IAU Board. The two others are the Vice-Chancellor of Zimbabwe Open University, Zimbabwe, Prof. Primrose Kurasha; and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu.

Also elected from Africa, as Deputy Board Member, is the Vice-Chancellor of the United States International University-Africa, Kenya, Prof. Paul Zeleza.

Other IAU Administrative Board Members elected at the 15th General Conference included Prof. Stephen Freedman, Provost, Fordham University, USA; Prof. Marta Losada Falk, President, Antonio Nariño University, Colombia; and Prof. Salvador Vega Y Leon, Rector, Autonomous Metropolitan University, Mexico, (representing the Americas); Salim Daccache s.j, Rector, University of St Joseph, Beirut, Lebanon; Etsuko Katsu, Vice-President, International, Meiji University, Japan; Carmen Lamagna, Vice-Chancellor, American International University, Bangladesh; Pornchai Monghonvanit, President, Siam University, Thailand; Mahmoud Nili Ahmadabdi, President, University of Tehran, Iran; and Ranbir Singh, Vice-Chancellor, National Law University, India, (representing Asia and The Pacific).

Also elected were Andrew Deeks, President, University College Dublin, Ireland; Maria de Fatima Marinho, Vice-Rector for Cooperation and Culture, University of Porto, Portugal; Remus Pricopie, Rector, National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Romania; Daniel Hernandez Ruiperez, Rector, University of Salamanca, Spain; Godehard Ruppert, President, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, Germany; Inga Žaleniene Vice-Rector for Research and International Relations, Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania, (representing Europe).

And representing the other member-organisations are Molly Corbett Broad, President, ACE (American Council on Education), USA; and Roberto Escalante Semerena, Secretary-General, UDUAL (Unión de Universidades de América Latina y el Caribe), Mexico.