Saturday, June 27, 2009

The 2009 World Conference on Higher Education


According to UNESCO:
There were 152.5 million tertiary students worldwide in 2007, a roughly 50% increase compared to 2000......

Globally, the percentage of university-aged young people enrolled in tertiary education increased from 19% in 2000 to 26% in 2007. Women now account for a slight majority of students and their predominance is expected to increase.

Yet the average rate masks stark regional differences. Participation was 71% in North America and Western Europe, 26% in the East Asia/Pacific region, 23% in the Arab States, 11% in South and West Asia and, despite rapid growth, only 6% in Africa. A child in sub-Saharan Africa today still has less chance of reaching the end of primary school than a European has of entering university.
It is against this backdrop that UNESCO will hold the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education in Paris, France from 5 to 8 July.

After the first World Conference on Higher Education was held in 1999, UNESCO created the Global University Network for Innovation, composed of UNESCO Chairs in Higher Education, research centers, universities, networks and other institutions highly committed to innovation in higher education. More than 100 institutions from around the world are GUNI members. The GUNI website is a good source for information on the global system of higher education.

1 comment:

John Daly said...

The Unesco Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge is publishing a Research Report, "Systems of Higher Education, Research and Innovation: Changing dynamics", that explores rapid changes in global knowledge systems and describes nearly a decade of 'research on research' by the Forum. The report will be the subject of a University World News Special Edition, to be published next Wednesday 1 July and sent to all readers.
Here is the PDF doc.
http://tinyurl.com/mngpam