About Bard College

Founded in 1860, Bard is a four-year residential college of the liberal arts and sciences. The campus, a fusion of two historic riverfront estates, is located in the Hudson Valley of New York. The College offers the bachelor of arts degree with concentrations in more than 40 academic programs in four divisions: Arts; Languages and Literature; Science, Mathematics, and Computing; and Social Studies. In addition, the Bard College Conservatory of Music offers a dual-degree program in which students earn both a bachelor’s degree in music and a B.A. in another field in the liberal arts or sciences.

Bard was enriched immeasurably by an influx of émigré scholars in the 1940s and 1950s, many of whom were political refugees and survivors of brutal regimes.  Courageous individuals such as Salman Rushdie, Norman Manea, Chinua and Christie Achebe, and Emmanuel Dongala have been welcomed into the Bard community. Bard College was the first institution of higher education in the U.S. to offer an undergraduate degree program in human rights. The College has developed an ethos particularly sensitive to issues of justice and injustice and is a place of refuge and a haven for iconoclastic thinking and action. 

The Institute for International Liberal Education at Bard College supports students from North American institutions who wish to enroll in the IHRE program.  IILE's mission is to advance the theory and practice of international liberal arts education.  The Institute has interests in human rights theory and practice, and in translation.  In all of its activities, IILE seeks to realize a humane and forward-looking educational politics and, in this way, contribute to the just and realistic solution of global problems.

Click here to learn more about Bard's Human Rights Project