International University Alliance About IUA

Our Purpose is to Connect the World Through Education

Through the collective actions of its member universities, it advances the simplification of the admission process. This action includes a collectively shared and timely turn-around of application as well as clarity about transfer credits, to include College Board Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and previous university-level coursework. It also advocates for removing unnecessary obstacles to the visa process and offers selected schools in the U.S. and abroad no-cost experiences and assistance that introduce international students to a distinctive U.S. higher education strikingly different from that offered at other English-speaking destinations..

  • Knowledge in preparation for a profession is necessary but not sufficient for sustained high accomplishment.

  • Those who will be globally most successful professionally are those who combine in-depth inherited knowledge with creativity, flexibility, innovation and a curious disposition.

  • A U.S. college/university education combines breath of study with depth—early narrowing of focus of study is avoided (a disposition that is thought to affirm developing student interest and foster creativity and innovation through connecting disparate areas of knowledge.

  • A university education for the 21st century is one that prepares students to take advantage of chance based upon knowledge. Innovation is often advanced by the well-prepared mind experimenting and through knowledge and skill recognizing the implications of a chance occurrence that was not part of an original plan.

  • An inappropriate education is one that repeats merely what already exists.

  • The best education is one that prepares a student to take advantage connections amongst a wide range of subject areas—the sciences, humanities, social sciences and the arts. All knowledge is connected.

  • Higher education should meet the demands of a world that is yet to be.

  • An U.S. higher education is historically linked with receptivity to international exposure and experience and forwards the ambition that students engage the world to bring back the very best in knowledge and skills to enhance the development and well-being of their nation and its various communities.

  • U.S higher education is committed to life-long learning and repeated upgrading of knowledge and skills through education.

A Wealth of Experience and Expertise

Bill Durden

Bill Durden

President, IUA

William G. Durden currently holds a joint appointment professorship (research) in the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University and is a Chief Global Engagement Officer of Shorelight Education (Boston).

Bill received his undergraduate degree from Dickinson College in German and philosophy and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in German language and literature from Johns Hopkins University. Directly following graduation from Dickinson, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Basle, Switzerland. He has also studied at the University of Freiburg and the University of Muenster, Germany.

Bill was most recently founding dean of the School of Business and Entrepreneurship, Bath Spa University (U.K.). He is president emeritus of Dickinson College and a professor of the liberal arts. Directly prior to his 14-year tenure at Dickinson College, he was simultaneously president of a division of the Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. (today Laureate Education Inc.) and vice president of academic affairs for the Caliber Learning Network — originally a joint venture of MCI and Sylvan. Prior to Sylvan, Bill was a member of the German Department at Johns Hopkins University and founding executive director of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) for 16 years. During his Hopkins engagement, he was also a senior education consultant to the U.S. Department of State for 11 years and chaired the Advisory Committee on Exceptional Children and Youth.

Bill served as chair of the advisory board of the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (the Senior Fulbright program) and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of International Education (IIE). He also currently serves as a director of Walden University, a trustee of Richmond: American University in London, and Squashwise. He serves as an ambassador of the University of Freiburg, Germany, to the United States.

Thought Leadership

Selected Articles

Authored Books