Strategies for a Confederative Approach to
Higher and Tertiary Education

1. To encourage links between institutions of higher education throughout the country.

2. To base the mission of the Confederation on the fundamental principles for which every university should stand, namely the right to pursue knowledge for its own sake, to follow wherever the search for truth may lead, the tolerance of divergent opinion and freedom from political interference.

3. To aim to give expression to the obligation of universities to promote, through teaching and research, the principles of freedom and justice, of human dignity and solidarity, and to contribute through regional, national and international cooperation to the development of national and moral assistance for the strengthening of higher education generally.

4. To link up its members, offer them quality services and provide a forum for the universities from all over the country to work together and to speak on behalf of universities, and of higher education in general, and to represent their concerns and interests in public debate and to outside parties.

5. To pursue its goals through future oriented collective action including information services, informed policy discussion, research and publications.

6. To facilitate the exchange of experience and learning.

7. To restate and defend the values that underlie and determine the proper functioning of universities in the Indian subcontinent.

8. To uphold and contribute to the development of a long term vision of universities' role and responsibility in society.

9. To voice the concerns for higher education with regard to policies of national and international bodies.

10. To contribute to a better understanding of current trends and developments through analysis, research and debate.

11. To provide comprehensive and authoritative information on higher education systems, institutions and qualifications worldwide.

12. To act as a cooperation and service-oriented organisation to promote the exchange of information, experience and ideas to facilitate academic mobility and mutual, technical, national and international collaboration among universities, and to contribute through research and meetings to informed higher education policy debate.

13. To organise congress, conferences, seminars, round tables and workshops etc.

14. To conduct comparative studies and higher education policy research.

15. To strengthen cooperation and clearing-house activities.

16. To establish national information networks.

17. To provide consultancy, credential evaluation and advice.

18. To invite university level degree granting institutions whose main objective is higher education and research, irrespective of whether or not they carry the name of university.

19. To maintain and preserve university autonomy, academic freedom and mutual understanding.

20. To stand for the right to pursue knowledge for its own sake.

21. To remain free from political and economic interference, and give, room for divergent opinion.

22. To work for the advancement of ethical values in the work of the Confederation and its members as well as in society and respect for diversity.

23. To remember the responsibility of universities and academies as guardians of free intellectual activity.

24. To stand for the universities' obligation as social institutions to deliver education, research and service to the community, and, in connection with this, to advance the principles of freedom and of justice, of sustainable development, human dignity and of solidarity.

25. To conserve the obligation of universities to foster constructive criticism and intellectual independence in the research for truth.

26. To contribute to the development of the long term vision of the university's role and responsibilities in society.

27. To strengthen solidarity and to contribute to reducing inequalities amongst universities, while keeping alive their cultural differences.

28. To promote access to higher education and equal opportunities for students.

29. To encourage quality and excellence worldwide, through sharing, knowledge, know-how and experience, through collaboration and through networking.

30. To help universities to become better learning organisations (for students, for teachers, for administrators).

31. To contribute to a better understanding of developments in higher education, through analysis, research and debate, as well as through the provision of information services on higher education.

32. To design and implement programmes for its members in partnership with other organisations working in the same field.

33. To pledge itself to be an open, inclusive and transparent organisation, the common voice of the university level institutions.

34. To provide a centre of cooperation among the universities and similar institutions of higher education, as well as organisations in the field of higher education generally, and to be an advocate for their concerns.

35. To facilitate the interchange of students and academic staff, and develop means for the better distribution and exchange of laboratory material, books and other equipment for university study and research.

36. To formulate the basic principles and higher education values for which the CIU will stand for.

37. To establish a strong structural relationship with the national as well as regional associations of universities and seek their direct involvement in the life and work of CIU.

38. To focus its activities on institutional examples regarding the use of new information and communication technologies in teaching and learning.

39. To encourage sustainability to be considered as being central to teaching, research, outreach and operations at universities and to identified exemplary practices and strategies.

40. To prepare comprehensive assessments periodically on how the principles of sustainable development can best be pursued and promoted by higher education institutions.

41. To identify the key issues of a future-oriented higher education policy debate, as well as concrete needs for support in academic exchange, knowledge transfer, and capacity building through international cooperation.

42. To assess our respective capacities to respond to such needs, the complementarity and uniqueness of our respective possibilities and responsibilities, as compared with what can be better done by others, bilaterally or multi-laterally, on the institutional, national, regional or international level.

43. To establish appropriate networking structures and facilities that will allow to serve better, through shared efforts, the needs and interests of our common higher education constituency.

44. To translate into action the services set out by CIU more clearly in terms of support to concrete cooperation needs, both of individual universities and of partner organisations, and to identify new services as best corresponding to the Confederation's vocation and possibilities; and to give expression to its internal and external missions through a strengthened confederative life, including a broader interaction with other university organisations.

45. To disseminate relevant information on the world of higher education in an international perspective, on missions, policies and strategies, in the form of concise briefs and overviews, easily accessible and usable for higher education policy and decision-makers.

46. To have a similar approach in relation to issues of research and debate, comparison of experiences, publications or conjointly organised special meetings and seminars for university leaders and administrators.

47. To provide a link to consultancy, second opinions and referee networks for universities, particularly in developing countries, who wish to have access to independent advice, for example on directives from governments and different agencies or on institutional development plans.

48. To maintain a pool of independent advisors to be made available for special tasks, third party assessments, legal advice, management advice, helping with analysis, formulation of strategic plans, governance strategies, and codes related to academic freedom, etc.

49. To offer consultancy to agencies related to university cooperation.

50. To evaluate the institutional impact of university links and collaborative programmes, independent from the usual evaluation by sponsors to be pointed to practical and ethical guidelines for collaboration and codes of good practice, which could serve universities in their interaction.

51. To benefit from academic freedom and institutional autonomy with regard to the central mission of research and teaching.

52. To assume, in carrying out the tasks, its responsibility to society and to promote the principles of freedom, justice, human dignity and solidarity.

53. To reduce the tensions arising within the universities between the requirements of technological and economic globalisation and the specificities of cultural and national roots.

54. To contribute to the production and dissemination of information and knowledge concerning facts, trends and developments in higher education.

55. To help contribute to the production and dissemination of reflection, research and debate concerning the universities.

56. To help clarify, disseminate and refine a vision of the university and of its value base.

57. To pay particular attention to strengthening solidarity and reducing inequalities between universities of different backgrounds, resources and capacities.

58. To express a common voice of the universities, on national as well as global level, vis-a-vis partners like national and international statutory bodies and UN agencies as well as the public opinion.

59. To catalyse the cooperation of universities and university organisations amongst themselves and with other partners, with regard to major questions of society, which are national as well as international in nature and to which universities must make an important contribution, such as: the construction of peace and democracy; sustainable development; the challenges and stakes of globalisation and accelerated change in society; the commitment to ethical standards in the conduct of science and technology.

60. To offer to other national and international university and higher education organisations a preferential platform for information, contacts and networking, and to participate itself in such international networks.

61. To stipulate the indissociable principles for which every university should stand, including the right to pursue knowledge for its own sake and to follow wherever the search for truth may lead; the tolerance of divergent opinion and freedom from political interference; the obligation as social institutions to promote, through teaching and research, the principles of freedom and justice, of human dignity and to develop mutually material and moral aid on both national as well as international levels.

62. To collect data regarding the new forms of higher education over the ensuing half century with special reference to the number of universities, of academic staff, of students, of the emergence of a world economy, of its benefits and its dangers with a view to locating the required practical nature of the university's historic and abiding commitment to universalism, pluralism and humanism.

63. To evaluate whether in the course of the twentieth century, which has seen an unparalleled growth in knowledge, in research and their diffusion, the universities have shouldered the responsibilities in the common endeavour of human development, social, economic, technical and cultural advancement, and in responding to the major planetary problems such as environmental protection and poverty eradication, violence and social exclusion.

64. To promote the philosophy that human development and the continued extension of knowledge depend upon the freedom to examine, to enquire, and that academic freedom and university autonomy are essential to that end.

65. To urge universities to seek, establish and disseminate a clearer understanding of Sustainable development - "development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations" - and encourage more appropriate sustainable development principles and practices at the local, national and global levels, in ways consistent with their missions.

66. To utilise resources of the university to encourage a better understanding on the part of the Central and the State Governments and the public at large of the inter-related physical, biological and social dangers facing the planet Earth, and to recognise the significant interdependence and international dimensions of sustainable development.

67. To emphasise the ethical obligation of the present generation to overcome those practices of resource utilisation and those widespread disparities which lie at the root of environmental unsustainability.

68. To enhance the capacity of the university to teach and undertake research and action in society on sustainable development principles, to increase environmental literacy, and to enhance the understanding of environmental ethics within the university and with the public at large.

69. To cooperate with one another and with all segments of society in the pursuit of practical and policy measures to achieve sustainable development and thereby safeguard the interests of future generations.

70. To encourage universities to review their own operations to reflect best sustainable development practices.

71. To make an institutional commitment to the principle and practice of sustainable development within the academic milieu and to communicate that commitment to its students, its employees and to the public at large.

72. To promote sustainable consumption practices in its own operations.

73. To develop the capacities of its academic staff to teach environmental literacy.

74. To encourage among both staff and students an environmental perspective, whatever the field of study.

75. To utilise the intellectual resources of the university to build strong environmental education programmes.

76. To encourage interdisciplinary and collaborative research programmes related to sustainable development as part of the institution's central mission and to overcome traditional barriers between disciplines and departments.

77. To emphasise the ethical obligations of the university community - current students, faculty and staff - to understand and defeat the forces that lead to environmental degradation, and the inter-generational inequities; to work at ways that will help its academic community, and the graduates, and the governments that support it, to accept these ethical obligations.

78. To promote interdisciplinary networks of environmental experts at the local, national and international levels in order to disseminate knowledge and to collaborate on common environmental projects in both research and education.

79. To promote the mobility of staff and students as essential to the free trade of knowledge;

80. To forge partnerships with other sectors of society in transferring innovative and appropriate technologies that can benefit and enhance sustainable development practices.

81. To devote its activities to the study of systems, institutions and processes in higher education to specially focus on the historical role of higher education in society, contemporary policy problems, and how universities and colleges can change to meet the growing educational, research, and public service needs of a "knowledge" society.

82. To promote public confidence that quality of provision and standards of awards in higher education are being safeguarded and enhanced.

83. To help other confederal bodies of universities and higher education institutions in other countries aimed at providing quality education and at supporting synergistic ventures in teaching, examination, research and community service programmes.

84. To seek to make a significant contribution to the understanding of policy-making, governance and management of universities and other higher education institutions.

85. To emphasise equity and access and the improvement of educational experiences of people of all age levels and backgrounds.

86. To include partnerships with other like minded organisations to address a wide array of problems, drawing upon the insights of academic disciplines and professional perspectives.

87. To meet the widely felt need in the Indian subcontinent for a centre for policy research and cooperation in education in the Indian perspective, with the sole purpose to contribute to policy analysis in education and training, to carry out evaluation of systems, reforms, programmes and institutions, and to provide technical assistance and support to all interested actors in this field.

88. To help the member universities in designing new information and communications technologies for heralding as a revolution for the world of learning and to fulfil the promise of better and cheaper higher education for more students.

89. To review the open and distance learning in the context of present challenges and opportunities, describe relevant concepts and contribution, outline significant current global and regional trends, suggest policy and strategy considerations and identify CIU's role in capacity building, national as well international cooperation.

89. To maintain an inventory of successful strategies to increase the participation of women in higher education and promote the principle of gender equity, and to increase access and retention as well as to improve the quality of education for all women in universities.

90. To serve as a clearing house of information for providing regular opportunities for the discussion on university development in general and on academic development in particular with a view to assisting the member universities in the recruitment and placement of faculty and staff, exchange of teachers and students and in the development of cooperative arrangements.

91. To establish relations with significant players and opinion makers from education, business, culture, law, and government sectors in order to facilitate strategic alliances with other organisations.

92. To support preparation, production and widespread distribution of educational materials on higher education with a view to strengthen the employment generation movement.

92. To help promote such new Central and State legislation or amendments as may be deemed necessary for the development of higher education.

93. To encourage the students of all universities to be active, to emphasize the personal nature of learning, to accept that difference is desirable, to recognise student's right to make mistakes, to tolerate imperfection, encourage openness of mind, to make feel respected and accepted, to facilitate discovery, to put emphasis on self evaluation in cooperation, and to permit confrontation of ideas.

94. To promote the hypothesis that learning is primarily controlled by the learner, is unique and individual, is affected by the total state of the learner, is cooperative and collaborative, is a consequence of experience, is not directly observable, is both an emotional and intellectual process, is evolutionary process, is development oriented, and, is quite sustainable.

95. To collaborate, affiliate and federate with the Central and the State Governments, agencies and bodies for implementing the projects on higher education.

96. To raise and borrow money for the purpose of the Confederation in such a manner as may be decided from time to time and to prescribe the membership fees, charges, grants in aid etc.

97. To purchase, take on lease or exchange, hire or otherwise acquire properties, movable or immovable and rights and privileges all over the world, which may be deemed necessary or convenient for the benefit of the Confederation and to sell, lease, mortgage, dispose or otherwise deal with all or any part of the property of the Confederation.

98. To open branches, chapters and constitutent centres in different parts of the country and get them registered with appropriate authorities if needed and felt conducive for the attainment of the aims and objects of the Confederation.

99. To invest the money of the Confederation not immediately required in such securities and in such manner as may be decided from time to time, the money especially collected through subscriptions, advertisements, sponsorship, sale of publications, fees, gifts, endowments, donations, grants etc.

100. To finally provide information, knowledge, wisdom, and education that prepares every body for educational leadership and social responsibility enabling to think and communicate effectively and to develop a global awareness and sensitivity for a better global understanding, world peace and unity.

101. And to generally do all that is incidental and conducive to the attainment of the aims and objects mentioned above.