Profile of a Unique Foundation
Written by Sandra Hurlong, Ph.D.
June 2010
Mission
The mission of Intercultural Open University Foundation (derived from the progressive thinkers in adult education in the USA and Europe, and theorists on person centered graduate education) is grounded in the belief that education, research, and capacity building is a key element in resolving pressing global problems. In an intellectual setting where disciplinary boundaries are easily crossed and collaborative learning is emphasized, students are encouraged to develop programs focusing on social relevance and the ways in which the world’s peoples, with their multiple and conflicting interests, are to live together peacefully and justly.
Our Vision
Intercultural Open University Foundation aspires to provide innovative, socially relevant educational programs of the highest quality to diverse adult populations and to actively seek to identify and reach those underserved by higher education. IOU Foundation issues post doctorate academic degrees, certificates, diplomas, fellowships, and also other academic awards and qualifications, as well as scholarships, awards, and other awards of academic accomplishments.
The IOU Foundation operates as a charitable international educational foundation, and it maintains a registration as a non-profit foundation in the United States. The Foundation is also registered as a non-profit charitable foundation in The Netherlands, and it is not a Dutch university. It is led by five administrative staff members and a faculty of fifteen members who serve as mentors to adult graduate learners seeking advanced degrees. At its peak, our enrollment is approximately 50 learners. IOU Foundation is staffed completely with volunteers with a sliding scale of modest tuition to cover operational costs and maintains offices in The Netherlands and the United States. Tuition is based on individual need and the economy of the country of residence. A modest endowment maintains current operations.
Interculural Open University Foundation faculty volunteer their services as mentors to graduate learners because they are committed to the IOU Foundation pedagogy. Each faculty member has over 25 years experience in distance education and in learner centered adult pedagogy. Through IOU Foundation's graduate school programs, faculty share the legacy of their experiences in learner centered distance education mentoring adult learners.
Intercultural Open University Foundation is not a conventional educational institution. No courses are offered; no grades are given. In collaboration with a faculty mentor, each learner creates an individualized curriculum of proficiency areas relevant to their chosen specializaions. Again, with faculty mentors, learners identify a research area and how they will develop the skills needed to carry out the research. IOU Foundation encourages the "scholar-practioner" model which is based on best practices in the field supported by the scholarly literature. Learners inquire about and reflect upon their own work and its social relevance. They are mentored by faculty to investigate important practical problems, to disseminate their research results to varied audiences, and to work with practitioners to implement and test research findings in their fields. IOU Foundation supports clearly defined learner and institutional quality assurance methods. Learners and graduates perform important and socially relevant work as they undertake their studies and develop their professions.
Our values:
Social RelevanceIntercultural Open University Foundation requires that the programs of its learners reflect their awareness of the social implications of their studies and of their obligation to share knowledge with integrity in uplifting the communities in which they serve.
Scholar-practitioner modelIntercultural Open University Foundation advocates an educational process whereby scholarship and theory are connected and applied to real-world action and practice.
Collaborative and Experiential LearningIntercultural Open University Foundation considers the process of learning is as important as the content of learning and stresses self-direction, collaborative learning with peers and faculty, and the importance of experiential learning.
DIDACTICS:Distance learning with Core Faculty guided study and research leading to Post Graduate academic degrees and certificates, diplomas, fellowships, and other awards of academic accomplishment. Cyberspace Faculty Mentors (computer and phone-based didactical communication and learning) are utilized.
DEGREES OFFERED:
Post Graduate academic degrees, certificates, diplomas, fellowships, and other awards of academic accomplishment
SUBJECTS OFFERED:
Ecology and Environment, Development Studies, Health Sciences, Oriental Medicine, Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, Social Change, Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, Political Science, Education, History, Comparative Religious Studies, and International Business Management
BASIC FACTS:
President: Sandra Hurlong, Ph.D. Anthropology
President Emeritus Fay A.C. de Jonge, M.Ed., Ph.D. Anthropology
Founder: Prof. Jan R. Hakemulder, D. Ed., Psy., D, Ph.D., D.Litt (hon)
The Foundation Model
Intercultural Open University Foundation's founders were innovators and realized 30 years ago the benefits of establishing a university as a charitable foundation. Many contemporay universities around the world are now moving to the foundation model of organization.
"A university foundation, generally speaking, can be thought of as a not-for-profit independent legal entity established in pursuit of a specified public purpose. More formally, it has four defining features:
(i) it is an independent legal entitity;
(ii) it has a mission (or charter or mandate) to serve defined public (or national and societal) interest in higher education and research;
(iii) as a not-for-profit public interest legal entity, it has favourable tax treatment on its incomes, assets, and trading activities undertaken in pursuit of its foundation goals; and
(iv) it has the autonomy to raise funds and manage its assets in pursuit of the foundation goals, for which it receives favourable tax treatment."
See the following for more details : INDEPENDENT LEGAL STATUS AND UNIVERSITIES AS FOUNDATIONS by Abrar Hasan Visiting Fellow, International Institute for Educational Planning UNESCO, A paper prepared for the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Government of Portugal, Paris 4 July, 2007.
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
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Dr. John M. Toothman is a noted scholar on the small group experience. He has studied with the most distinguished professors of humanistic psychology and has offered his group dynamics seminars throughout the world. Dr. Toothman holds over twenty certificates in psychology and psychotherapy. He has received numerous awards for his teaching and social activism. Presently, he holds the rank of Professor of Psychology at Goldey Beacom College (USA) and serves as an external scholar to IOU Foundation. Dr. Toothman has published numerous books and research articles.
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Dr. Sandra Hurlong is a noted educator and scholar in learner centered adult education. She is passionate about self-directed education and has devoted her academic career to implementing non-traditional approaches to learning. She is an internationally recognized scholar in culture and continuity and the anthropology of religion. She lives in Oaxaca Mexico when not in Europe or the USA.
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Dr. Muneo Yoshikawa is a native of Japan and presently resides in Japan after he lived in Honolulu for about 35 years. He is an internationally recognized scholar and specialist in intercultural business communication with the people of different cultures. Muneo’s current professional activities include: Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawaii, President of International Mentorship Graduate School in Osaka, Lecturer at the Japan-America Institute of Management Science in Hawaii, Adjunct professor at the Pacific University in California, Adjunct professor for the Summer Institute of Intercultural Communication at Reed College in Oregon, Associate of Ken Blanchard Companies, Director of Holonic Paradigm Research Institute in Osaka.
He actively conducts various kinds of seminars in Leadership, mentoring, management for executives and middle management for many multinational companies primarily in Japan. He also conducts FD programs for faculty members of many colleges and universities in Japan.
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Dr. S. L. Gandhi serves as the President of the Anuvrat Global Organizations, an international NGO associated with the Department of Public Information of the United Nations. The Anuvrat Movement is a peace movement that inspires individuals to work for universal peace. Dr. Gandhi is one of the leading social activists in India and over the past five years he has organized numerous seminars on peace and non-violence with delegates from over forty countries. He has dedicated his life to the moral and spiritual rejunevation of life and has been recognized worldwide with awards and honors for his work for the betterment of humankind.
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Dr. Rudi Jansma has studied neotropical ecology in The Netherlands and South America, but later specialized in intercultural philosophy relating to the attitude towards nature and views on ecology and evolution with several non-western cultures. Though a westerner, his lifestyle is mostly Jain. He is a noted scholar in consciousness and religion. He lectures internationally and has numerous publications, among which are, Introduction to Jainism; Karma and Compassion; Karma in the Oglala Indian Tradition; The Power of Ideas: Changing Human Consciousness; Evolution in the Vishnu Purana. He now resides in India where he is in close contact with the Jain community.
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Anton Pieters has had a long and valued history with the IOU Foundation. He was instrumental in establishing and directing IOU Foundation's web presence in adult distance education. As an alumnus of IOU Foundation, he embodies the potential of all IOU Foundation learners with his dedication to social change.
His web master skills and creativity have enabled the IOU Foundation to remain one of the leaders in educating learners in social activism.
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MANAGEMENT
Sandra Hurlong, Ph.D., President (USA)
Cynthia Jackson, Ph.D., Vice President of Quality Assurance and Social Responsibility (USA)
Anton Pieters, M.S., Registrar (NL)
Roxanne Toothman, M.S., Special Assistant to the President (USA)
Gulab Kothari, Ph.D., Honorary International Advisor (India)
Muneo Yoshikawa, Ph.D., Resident Representative (Japan)
Rene Goris, Ph.D., Consultant on Holistic Medical Studies (Asia)
Dagmar Vermeer, Ph.D., Consultant (North America)
Michael Curtis, M.A., Advisor on Social Responsibility (USA)
REGISTRATION:
In the Netherlands:
Registered as a Foundation (Not-for-profit organization) 1982 and 1988, (Notary Mulder, Drachten; KvK number 41003178). The Foundation is not a Dutch university. The Intercultural Open University Foundation is an international educational foundation for social change.
Starting the first of January 2008, the Dutch Tax Department declared The Intercultural Open University Foundation to be an institution which works for Public Welfare. The declaration is valid for an unlimited period of time. The declaration is based on articl 6.33 Income Tax Law of 2001 and is valid as long as the institution fulfills the requirements for such a foundation.
IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
Registered as a Foundation (Not-for-profit organization) 2009, www.corp.delaware.gov/ (file number 4750897)
Memberships:
Intercultural Open University Foundation Officies:
Yn'e Bosk House, De Hoarnen, 59218 XC, Opeinde, The Netherlands
2401 Woodland Lane, Arden, Wilmington, DE 19810 USA
Telephone: (302) 352-1733
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IOU at a Glance 
