The fourth International Polar Year (IPY) began in March 2007 and ends in March 2009. IPY is an internationally-coordinated program to explore new frontiers in polar science, improve our understanding of the critical role of the polar regions in global processes, and educate the public about the polar regions.

Educating people about the polar regions and their importance to the global system will be a significant legacy of IPY. Consequently, IPY education and outreach is aimed at a broad audience of all ages and backgrounds, to engage them in the excitement of polar discovery, and to attract and develop a new generation of researchers, professionals and leaders.

The University of the Arctic (UArctic)’s involvement in the fourth IPY began with the submission of an IPY Expression of Intent (EoI), Higher Education in the International Polar Year. The IPY Joint Committee of the International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organization encouraged UArctic to develop and submit a full proposal that included and coordinated relevant EoIs. The UArctic proposal, The University of the Arctic: Providing Higher Education and Outreach Programs for the International Polar Year, prepared by Dr. Martin Jeffries of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), a UArctic member institution, was submitted in September 2005 and endorsed by the IPY Joint Committee in November 2005. Concurrently an office for UArctic IPY Higher Education and Outreach was established at UAF, headed by Dr. Jeffries. At the core of the project cluster are UArctic and the International Antarctic Institute (IAI), who are responsible for the coordination and delivery of higher education and outreach in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, respectively, during IPY.