Tertiary Education Projects
There are over 30 Bahá’í or Bahá’í-inspired agencies providing post-secondary or tertiary education, some registered as colleges or universities. The majority offer specific courses for university students and graduates or provide teacher-training programs. The University of Lilongwe in Malawi, for instance, offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD programs, provides further training for teachers, and supports the promotion of research and discourse about early childhood education.
Some agencies offer programs in collaboration with other universities. For instance, the School of the Nations in Guyana offers accredited tertiary education programs in collaboration with universities in the United Kingdom. The School of the Nations in Macau provides an internship program for students of education at Macau University. The Bahá’í Academy in India collaborates with some six universities in Maharashtra and many more affiliated colleges to offer various courses on values education, and participates in discourses related to this theme. Other agencies have been offering courses to interested individuals and institutions, including Lazos Learning in Canada and Universidad de las Naciones, Integracion, Desarrollo y Ambiente (UNIDA) in Argentina.
In Depth: A Specialized Master’s program inspired by spiritual principles
Nur University in Bolivia is an agency that has worked to develop its financial and administrative capacity over three decades and has systematically explored ways to apply spiritual principles in the areas of education and social action. The university promotes the integration of academic knowledge with the teaching of basic moral principles, while emphasizing community service, social justice, and a respect for human diversity.
One of its specialized master’s programs, developed in 2017 in collaboration with FUNDAEC in Colombia, focuses on social and economic development in light of the evolving conceptual framework guiding the efforts of the Bahá’í community. Centered on the areas of research and the management of development projects and institutions, the program aims to address a need for highly trained people to serve in development and administration in Latin America and respond to the aspirations of professionals from various disciplines to deepen their theoretical and practical knowledge in these areas. Though still nascent in its operation, the program is beginning to show glimpses into the nature of a postgraduate program that raises the capacity of individuals to administer large development projects, in the context of Latin America, that combine knowledge from both science and religion.
In addition to its specialized degree, the university offers diploma, undergraduate, and postgraduate programs in areas such as management, administration, auditing, law, teaching, marketing, consulting and coaching, social and economic development, and public health. By 2022, over 3,000 students were enrolled in the university’s undergraduate and postgraduate programs, which have also included teachers and government administrators from hundreds of rural communities within the country.
