The 20th INU Council meeting convened at European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. September 19-22, 2015. Following brief updates from member institutions, the Council representatives discussed funding for the existing programs at Hiroshima University and Universitas Katolik Parahyangan. The INU is committed to providing additional financial support to Global Citizenship and Peace programs at Hiroshima University in Japan, long-standing signature programs of the INU, as well as the International Student Conference on Global Citizenship at Universitas Katolik Parahyangan in Indonesia. Additionally, the INU member representatives reaffirmed the commitment to benefit from being a part of the Network by offering already existing programs for students, faculty, and staff at preferential rates. Universidad Nacional del Litoral (Argentina), Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (South Africa), and James Madison University (U.S.A.) already committed to offering full scholarships, excluding the airfare, to up to five students from INU member institutions. The INU Council also formed two working groups that will focus on identifying potential new members and fundraising, respectively.
The INU Council selected the first recipient of the Seed Money Fund, Mr. Adam Ridley, a Ph.D. candidate at Flinders University. Mr. Ridley will, in collaboration with a faculty member at Malmö University, conduct research about the effectiveness of multicultural policy development and implementation. The INU Council also announced the 2015 Henry Fong Award winner, Rodrigo G. de Souza, a student from Malmö University, who attended the 2015 Student Seminar for Global Citizenship and Peace at Hiroshima University.
Following the exodus from war-torn Syria and the influx of asylum seekers in Sweden, students and staff at Malmö University started an initiative Malmö for Refugees, “to use the power of higher education and research in support of human rights and refugees in the world.” Being fully aware that global migrations have been an ongoing phenomena in the world and building on the example of engagement at Malmö University, INU members made a commitment to address the global issue of migration by collecting best practices in assisting refugee populations and engaging in scholarship in relation to global migrations, especially refugees. An INU position statement regarding global migrations and refugees will be available in the near future.