Wisdom for those who lead universities.
Since 1965, scholars have explained how universities work: why they resist reform, how disciplines shape conduct, how systems grow. The writing continues today, and most of it goes unread by the people who govern. The International Council for University Wisdom reads it with them, two books a week.
Two books a week, read for the people who govern.
Wisdom … Forgotten is the Council’s weekly publication. Each issue takes a question a university leader is facing now and answers it with books that addressed it long ago, and with books still being written. Prof. Bassem Khafagy chooses and reads one book; Dr. Christopher Washington chooses and reads the other.
Every quotation is verified to the page. Every issue appears in English and in a full Turkish edition, and in a designed print archive built to the standard of a book.
Published weekly since March 2026. Free to read.
Subscribe, free →Wisdom … Forgotten
Book one
Read by Prof. Bassem Khafagy
Book two
Read by Dr. Christopher Washington
English · Türkçe
Leadership programs, not training courses.
The canon the publication reads becomes a curriculum. Presidents, rectors, vice-chancellors, provosts and deans work through it together, online or in residence in Antalya.
The Antalya intensive ends with the VIP Certificate of Completion awarded by the Council. Institutions may also take the intensive privately, as a closed cohort of ten.
Hear when enrollment opens →| Detail | Online Introductory | Antalya Intensive |
|---|---|---|
| Hours | 15 | 40 |
| Length | Three weeks, two meetings a week | Five to seven days, in residence |
| Places | 10–30 | 10–30 |
| Cycles | One each season | One each season |
| Certificate | — | VIP Certificate of Completion |
| Founding rate | $450 | $2,400 |
| List rate | $500 | $2,750 |
Private institutional intensive, closed cohort of ten: $18,000 founding, $22,000 list. Cycle dates to be confirmed.
Four seasons. One calendar, published a year ahead.
The Council’s year runs from September to August in four seasons. Each season carries a theme drawn from the canon: thirteen issues, twenty-six books, one online program and one Antalya intensive.
Enrollment opens ten weeks before each cycle, so an institution can place a program in its budget before the year begins.
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Season One Now
Comparative systems
1 Sep – 30 Nov 2026
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Season Two
Academic culture
1 Dec 2026 – 28 Feb 2027
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Season Three
Governance and organization
1 Mar – 31 May 2027
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Season Four
The student and the curriculum
1 Jun – 31 Aug 2027
Membership is standing, not a subscription.
Presidents and rectors join bodies of peers. Council members receive the full designed archive in both languages, extended book briefs and a quarterly live session. The weekly publication stays free; membership adds depth, not access.
Founding rates apply to commitments made in the first year and move to list on renewal. Every rate is published; no member pays a different price for the same thing.
Hear when founding enrollment opens →-
Individual
Faculty, doctoral students, curriculum designers
$10 a month
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Faculty and Curriculum
Adds teaching kits, discussion guides and a classroom license
$250 a year
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Institution
Campus-wide access, a named listing, one leadership seminar a year
$3,500 a year
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University System
For systems of several campuses, with early access to the book series
$6,500 a year
Where the weekly work becomes permanent.
The book series gathers the canon as it accumulates, issue by issue. It opens with Wisdom Forgotten: Sixty Years and Sixty Books. Volume One is publishing in late 2026, and a second title follows in the Council’s first year.
- Individual copy
- $45
- Signed limited edition, numbered
- $150
- Institutional set, 25 copies
- $750
ICUW Book Series
Wisdom Forgotten
Sixty Years and Sixty Books
Volume One
Editorial independence
Book selection rests solely with the two co-authors of Wisdom … Forgotten, on grounds of intellectual merit. No supporter, member or client has any influence over what is chosen or how it is read.
The Council’s editorial independence policy · Read the policy in full →
Two readers, two independent voices.
The Council rests on named scholarly authority. Its co-founders write the publication, choose every book and teach the programs.
For institutions, the Council also offers a diagnostic review that reads a university against the frameworks of the canon, keynotes and half-day seminars, and licenses for doctoral courses and regional language editions.
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Prof. Bassem Khafagy
Co-Founder and Chairman
Biography to come
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Dr. Christopher Washington
Co-Founder and Provost Emeritus
Biography to come