We are only just over one month away from one of the biggest events on the higher education calendar. The UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education +10 will take place in Paris from 5-9th July to bring together regional perspectives and translate them into a global vision for the development of academic learning.
The contribution from the Europe region, which includes North America and Israel, into the WCHE+10 was the subject of a major conference in Bucharest last week (21-24 May), coordinated by UNESCO-CEPES in collaboration with a number of other key stakeholders. As well as being a partner in its organisation, ESU was in full attendance at the event, with six delegates, including two speakers, ensuring that the student voice was heard as clearly as possible in the negotiations.
The Forum focused on the issues of access, values, quality and competitiveness, while attempting to assess major developments and trends in higher education, as well as providing a policy and intellectual platform for critical debate on the state and the future of higher education in the region.
The main output of the meeting, the Bucharest message, will be published shortly and will provide the European region’s input into the WCHE. In the meantime, however, the meeting provided some interesting signs of what lies ahead. Crucially, the North American and Israeli delegates seemed to agree on placing quality, the social dimension and mobility as the top priorities, while for the first time, the values of higher education played a key role in discussions. This emphasis is strongly welcomed by ESU, and we will continue to call for stronger attention to be paid in future to all the values and mission that higher education should be based upon.
The other positive development was the level of student participation, both in terms of the preparation of the event and the discussions in Bucharest. In a spirit of openness, the organizers opened the event to students enrolled in Bucharest universities to also participate – a rare, and very welcome, occurrence for a high-level, invitation-only event.
The next month will be a busy time in the build-up to the WCHE+10. This conference has the potential to make a major impact on higher education worldwide. ESU will be continuing to engage with student representatives across the globe to push the message articulated in our Global Student Statement on Higher Education, and to ensure that the needs and rights of learners from all walks of life, and all corners of the globe, are articulated as effectively as possible.
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