On April 26, 2010, a new organisation with ties to ACA’s US affiliate partner IIE announced its launch. “Professors Beyond Borders” was conceived and established by a group of Fulbright New Century Scholars (NCS), all members of the 2009-2010 NCS cohort. Professors Beyond Borders describes itself as “an independent, non-governmental action network of academics and professionals” designed to function as a group of “highly-trained, academically oriented volunteers available to assist with specific projects related to sustainable development around the world.”

The Fulbright New Century Scholar Program—which is administered by IIE’s scholar division, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES)—was initiated in 2001. The program brings together approximately 30 high-level scholars (typically half from the US and half from other countries around the world) for a year of consultation and collaboration on a “topic of global significance.” These efforts are facilitated each year by a Distinguished Scholar Leader. In 2009-2010, the theme for the NCS cohort has been “The University as Innovation Driver and Knowledge Center,” and the group has been led by Dr. Miranda Schreurs, Director of the Environmental Policy Research Center and Professor of Comparative Politics at the Free University of Berlin.

The first project to be undertaken by Professors Beyond Borders is expected to begin in August 2010 and will center on a collaboration among teachers, students and NGOs in Thailand.

Professors Beyond Borders

IIE