Faculty and staff can support global higher education and academic freedom through the opportunities below. The University of Waterloo is a member of Academics Without Border and a sustaining member of the Scholars at Risk Network.
Choose an organization to learn its mandate and ways to get involved.
Academics Without Borders
Mandate: Academics Without Borders supports capacity-building in higher education by partnering with universities and colleges in low- and middle-income countries to strengthen teaching, research, and institutional operations—so partners can educate their own experts and advance locally relevant research.
How to get involved: AWB’s work is powered by volunteers. Faculty, staff, and administrators (active or retired) can contribute expertise through projects (varied scope and length), and may also propose projects in partnership with institutions in low- and middle-income countries.
Links:
- AWB homepage: Academics Without Borders / Universitaires Sans Frontières
- Volunteer info & opportunities: Volunteers (AWB)
- Network membership: The AWB Network
Scholars at Risk Network
Mandate: Scholars at Risk is a global network that protects threatened scholars and advances academic freedom by mobilizing higher education institutions to provide practical support and solidarity. [
How to get involved: Faculty members can get involved by participating in academic freedom programming and network opportunities.
Links:
- Institutional pathways: Get Involved: Institutions (SAR)
- Hosting: Host a scholar (SAR)
- Overview/resources: Getting Involved (SAR resources)
New Volunteer Opportunities
Development of a New Credit System and Training for Academic Advisors at Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (GHANA)
Academics Without Borders (AWB) is a Canadian nonprofit organization. Its mission is to help low and middle income countries improve their universities and colleges so that they can train their own experts and conduct research to promote their countries’ development. AWB’s projects are involved in the full range of university and college activities from expanding and improving existing institutions and programs to helping create new ones. AWB fulfills its mission by coordinating volunteers on projects that originate in and are owned by our AWB partner institutions. AWB volunteers are reimbursed for their expenses but are not paid a salary.
Partner Organization: Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), Ghana
Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (UBIDS) was founded in 2019. The University has eight faculties, including Integrated Development Studies, Planning, and Land Management; Education and LifeLong Learning; Social Sciences and Arts; Information and Communication Technology; Public Policy and Governance; School of Business; and School of Law. UBIDS has more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 235 members of faculty, and 145 non-academic staff.
Number of Volunteers: 1
Location: Wa, Ghana. This project will be conducted both online and on-site.
Language: English
Volunteer Role Description:
Following a request from the Association of African Universities, SDD-UBIDS is seeking to move towards the development of a system to calculate students’ achievement using both teacher and student-centred credit systems. The volunteer will work initially with the Directorate of Academic Planning and Quality Assurance to develop the new credit model and associated policies and regulations, and the onsite working visit will focus on piloting the new system with twelve academic advisors and twelve students. These academic advisors will have the further responsibility of cascading the new workload system university wide, following the project.
Requirements:
We are looking for a faculty member (working or retired) with a PhD in Higher Education Administration, Educational Leadership, Counseling, Student Affairs, Academic Advising, or Instructional Design and with experience in counselling, student affairs, and academic advising. Applicants should have excellent interpersonal, communication and facilitation skills and be excited about the role of higher education in global development. Those with experience working in academic settings in low and middle-income countries are especially encouraged to apply.
Start Date and Duration:
The review of existing practices and envisaged transition will be done through remote collaboration and will begin as soon as possible once the volunteer is identified. An onsite working visit will be planned for the second or third quarter of 2027 for the delivery of a professional development workshop with selected academic advisors and students.
The volunteer should expect to be engaged in the project for 12-18 months as the pilot is carried out and the new system is implemented institution wide.
Deadline to apply: December 1, 2026
Volunteer Opportunity for Facilitators for Online Teaching in Higher Education Program
Academics Without Borders (AWB) is a Canadian nonprofit organization. Its mission is to help low and middle-income countries improve their universities and colleges so that they can train their own experts and conduct research to promote their countries’ development.
AWB’s projects are involved in the full range of activities, from expanding and improving existing institutions and programs to helping create new ones. AWB fulfills its mission by providing volunteer experts for projects that originate in and are owned by institutions of higher education in low and middle-income countries. Volunteers work online and/or travel to the partner university.
Volunteer Opportunity Reference: Volunteer Facilitators for Aga Khan University—Academics Without Borders’ Program in Online Teaching in Higher Education (OTHE)
Number of Volunteers: 4-6
Location: All volunteer work will be conducted online
Language: English
Volunteer Role Description: Volunteers will be trained to facilitate the online blended courses offered through the joint AWB-AKU Program in Online Teaching in Higher Education.
The facilitator role will begin with volunteers auditing a module from the OTHE program to become familiar with the content and expectations of facilitation. After auditing a module, volunteers will be assigned to the facilitation team for further modules as their schedule allows. Volunteers are not expected to facilitate all modules in the program.
Requirements:
We are looking for volunteers with knowledge and expertise in one or more of the following areas:
- Facilitating online blended courses
- Applying sound pedagogical design to online learning at the post-secondary level
- Advising and supporting instructors in creating online courses
- Working with instructors to implement best practices in online teaching
- Digital media development skills for creating online content such as video/audio editing, blending and sequencing of content, and using related software applications
- Web development skills such as overall page design and layout, embedded interactives using H5P, and infographic creation
- Applying accessibility guidelines and Universal Design for Learning principles.
We are looking for experienced faculty and staff (working or retired) with a minimum of a Master’s degree and 4 years of related work experience who meet the preceding requirements. Applicants with experience working in academic settings in low and middle-income countries are especially encouraged to apply.
Start Date and Duration: Orientation will begin in mid-January 2027 and the four modules of the program are scheduled throughout 2027: January 25 – February 19, April 5 - 30, July 5 - 30, September 20 - October 15. Volunteers are not expected to participate in all modules. Some flexibility is desirable, and we will work with each volunteer so that assignments align with their availability.
Deadline to apply: December 4, 2026