Months of preparatory work will come to a head next week in Paris as representatives from across the world come together to take a truly global perspective on higher education for only the second time. The World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE) +10 will build on the inaugural event in 1999 and unite over 1,000 participants to discuss the future of higher education and research at UNESCO’s headquarters.
On the agenda is a review of higher education trends – from the rapid growth in student numbers to a surge in private provision, action on emerging new dynamics and their policy implications, an examination of the social responsibility of higher education and the promotion of measures to support equity and stimulate innovation and research.
The aim, according to UNESCO, is an internationally-agreed set of actions to ensure that higher education and research play a strategic role in knowledge creation and in leading us towards a more sustainable, inclusive and development-oriented future.
ESU will be fully present at the WCHE, and in addition to supporting these overall goals, we will be pushing some key messages of our own in order in the interests of students from all corners of the globe. Key among these will be a call for action on student participation so that learners themselves are regarded as equal partners in all matters relating to their education and are proactively involved in all levels of governance and reform, be it at the institutional, national, international or programme level.
This will be accompanied by a strong call for higher education to be regarded as a public good and a pubic responsibility and for it not to be part of any kind of marketisation agenda. ESU and the other regional student platforms will also be united in calling for UNESCO’s support for a global ombudsperson for higher education to protect students’ rights across the world.
Given the historic lack of cooperation on student issues, one of the most exciting developments is a meeting that will take place immediately after the WCHE on 9th July between the different global student platforms to define plans for future cooperation and devise follow-up actions in light of the WCHE. ESU is a key driver in this momentum for a stronger global student voice, and whatever does or does not come out of the UNESCO conference, this development alone promises to make the event a historic one.
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