STOCK-TAKING TWO YEARS AFTER WORLD CONFERENCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Paris, June 9 {No.2000-57} - Two years after the international community determined to provide wider access to higher education on the basis of merit, modernise higher education systems and structures, enhance the social relevance of higher education and strengthen its links with the world of work, UNESCO and its partners, stakeholders in higher education, will examine progress achieved since the 1998 World Conference on Higher Education, compare experiences and determine new measures to realise these objectives.
As part of the follow-up to the World Conference, two meetings will be held at Headquarters later this month. The first event, a Meeting of Higher Education Partners, will take place on June 14 (9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Room XII). It will bring together representatives of international and intergovernmental organisations:
international professional organisations, the World Bank, the European
Commission, universities (both students and faculty); the private sector and
non-governmental organisations involved in education from all over the world; as
well as representatives from numerous UNESCO Member States.
After an opening address by Jacques Hallak, Assistant UNESCO Director-General for Education (ad interim), the meeting will focus on the presentation of the strategy and activities pertaining to the follow-up of the World Conference on Higher
Education (Paris, October 1998) and will include an exchange of experiences
regarding support to projects in higher education. UNESCO will chair the morning
session, while the afternoon session will be chaired by the World Bank.
At 11.30 a.m., there will be a presentation, introduced by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, of a joint UNESCO/World Bank report: Higher Education in Developing Countries, Perils and Promise. Compiled by an independent taskforce of experts from thirteen countries, it explores the future of higher education in
the developing world. Based on research carried out over two years, the report
diagnoses specific problems that are common across the developing world and
suggests potential solutions. The report was first presented by the World Bank
in Washington D.C. in March and is, at present, only available in English.
The second event, on June 26 and 27 (9.30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Room IX) will be the Meeting of the International Committee for the World Conference on Higher Education Follow-up. The Committee, appointed after the World Conference, numbers three ex officio members, representatives of six regional groups (Africa, Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe/North America, Central/Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean), seven international non-governmental organisations representing
academia (both faculty and students), the International Labour Office and a
representative of the private sector.
After looking at
international and national follow up strategies for the implementation of the World Declaration on Higher Education for the 21st Century: Vision and Action and the Framework for Priority Action for Change and Development of Higher Education adopted by the World Conference, the Committee will make
recommendations for future action.
The two events reflect the importance given by UNESCO to follow-up on the major education conferences it convened in the course of the 1990s (ranging from basic education, to adult education through vocational training). These conferences have enabled the international community to define the crucial importance of all aspects of education in the emerging knowledge-based society in which lifelong quality
education is an indispensable condition for individual empowerment and social
development.
An Activities Report on the follow-up to the World Conference on Higher Education has been prepared ahead of this month’s meetings. It includes an overview of trends and directions, looks at activities undertaken at the international, regional and
national levels as well as those led by the United Nations, intergovernmental
organisations and non-governmental organisations. Furthermore, the report looks
at actions undertaken by the donor community, at the contribution and potential
of the information technologies, and at future partnerships, necessary to
improve funding for, and the relevance of, higher education.
In view of the ongoing debate on the need to revitalise higher education in all parts of the world, UNESCO - the United Nations lead agency in education - is seeking to ensure that the commitments undertaken by Member States, representatives of civil society and the donor community translate into action. It is also concerned that, in keeping with the World Declaration and Framework for Priority Action,
higher education benefit from a closer partnership with the private sector,
while remaining a public service.
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