History
The Intercultural Open University Foundation was established in 1981 by Jan R. Hakemulder, PhD, whose career as an educational advisor with UNESCO in Africa had alerted him to the need to develop long-term solutions to poverty in developing countries around the world. In 1980, he and his wife, anthropologist and distance education expert Fay A.C. DeJonge, PhD, convened a meeting of Dutch, German and English professors at Bosk House, a business and residential complex in Opeinde, Netherlands. After some discussion, the group decided to provide a distributed educational experience for learners that would focus on fostering the social changes that might alleviate global suffering; the Intercultural Open University Foundation was the result.
Distributed, or distance education, was not a new concept. The idea blossomed in the 1960s and gained further popularity with the advent of the internet in the 1990s. What set the IOUF apart from other providers of distance education was the fact that it emphasizes adult education focused on peace studies, social change and environmental issues. As an alternative school, the IOUF emphasizes self-directed, individualized curricula guided by core faculty advisors. As noted on its website, learners, generally complete a PhD in as little as 24 or as many as 48 months, depending on the motivation, focus and speed with which they devote themselves to their studies.
The Foundation was the subject of controversy when John Bear, a writer on educational institutions, questioned its status. The Foundation also came under attack in 2008 when CIMEA, the Italian Information Centre on Academic Mobility and Equivalence, claimed it had "dubious professors with dubious credentials that somehow (connected it) to UNESCO." CIMEA subsequently posted a letter from the Foundation's President, Board of Governors and Faculty protesting the reference.
In 2007, Skepsis, a Dutch magazine which aims to debunk pseudoscience, published an article stating that the founders of the Intercultural Open University Foundation held PhD degrees from distance learning institutions. The article also stated that the Foundation awarded degrees in India for about 250 Eurodollars while charging 8000 Eurodollars for students from developed countries as a part of the "Robin Hood" theory developed by the Hakemulders. The author stated that he doubted that the professors of the IOUF could legally bear the legally protected Dutch title doctor (dr.).
In 2010 the quality of education provided by IOUF was thoroughly examined in a European Commission HEXTLEARN Peer Review and Study, which validated the organization and its credentials, particularly in respect to its educational use of information and communications technology.
IOUF Founder and President Jan Hakemulder, PhD, died in August, 2008, and from his estate an endowment was established to continue his work. That same year, the IOUF Board of Governors appointed distance education expert Sandra Hurlong, PhD, as President and requested that she coordinate an assessment of the Foundation's operations, methodologies and pedagogy; the end result confirmed the organization's original direction and determined that the Foundation should shift its focus to doctoral and post-doctoral programs exclusively.
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