Original English

Leader: International Bureau of Education (IBE)

Drafted by: Professor Phillip Hughes

Australian National University

Australia

. Association Internationale de la Pédagogie Universitaire (AIPU)

. European Lifelong Learning Initiative (ELLI)

. Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE)

. Freie Universitat Berlin, Unit for Staff Development and Research into Higher Education

. International Literacy Institute (ILI)

. UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE)

The paper argues for a major role for higher education in the education system as a whole, particularly in this period of rapid and revolutionary readjustment of such systems everywhere. Social changes, frequently technologically driven, are requiring major reforms in education as societies now need education systems capable of playing the key role in this period of global development. The requirements of a high quality education and training for the whole generation of students, together with the growing implementation of lifelong learning for all, place radically different demands on all education systems and higher education will have to play a crucial part.

Higher education needs to contribute both conceptually and in the preparation of personnel. Conceptually through: contribution to the redevelopment of the school curriculum; the analysis and evaluation of education systems; through futures thinking on the evolution of education: and, through the development of co-operative networks. In personnel: through the preparation of teachers; of specialists for the whole field of education, formal and non-formal; in the development of continuing professional education, including its own personnel. A particular priority exists for the education of girls and women.

The present situation of higher education, with its emphases firmly on growth of student numbers and on finance, requires a more general commitment to the well-being of education as a whole. The call for a " new academic covenant " provides for a major re-assessment, involving the key intellectual role of universities. The contribution of research to improved practice in education is of special importance.

In a fundamental sense, the requirement to adjust is true of all areas of education, as the various sectors, institutions and systems try to cope with unprecedented challenges. We will not understand the needs of higher education in a vacuum, but as part of an interconnected system where the changes in one part intimately affect all the other parts. This is particularly true of higher education whose institutions depend on the other sectors for their students and staff, but which, in their turn, develop the new knowledge and understandings, and also the new paradigms, by which we seek to explain and predict, as well as preparing for many of the professions. It is only in the nature of the changes affecting education as a whole that we can consider the impact on particular sectors and, especially, the interaction between sectors that is our concern here. It is worth taking a little time to consider the impact of change on education and the ways in which the area as a whole seeks to respond. To assess realistically the contribution of higher education to the development of education systems as a whole demands a careful look at the needs of those systems. Any realistic help requires a feeling for the directions of change in those systems, as well as their current needs.

In our world of massive, continuing and unpredictable social and technological changes, education has taken on a particular significance as a means both of understanding and of coping with such complexity. In spite of the frequency with which we are exhorted to adjust to change, it is difficult to realize the quite staggering impact of its increasing rate of acceleration. This is all the more powerful because of the global nature of the phenomena. The former President of Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel, stressed the uniqueness of this aspect for our generation.

This is the first civilization in the history of the human race that spans the entire globe and firmly binds together all human societies, submitting them to a common global destiny. Science enabled man, for the first time, to see Earth from space with his own eyes, that is, to see it as another star in the sky (Havel, 1994).

The global impact comes from a number of factors which can be identified separately, but are inter-related. Population growth is one such: after taking many thousands of years to reach 1 billion individuals by 1830, we have added another billion in the next 120 years, and have now added a further 4 billion in less than fifty years. Similar patterns of slow and then rapidly accelerating change have occurred in many key areas. These include: occupational patterns, transport, communications, science, engineering, medicine, together with social phenomena such as government and family structure.

Taking occupational patterns as one example, after thousands of years in which hunting and gathering, then agriculture, were the dominant occupations, successive industrial revolutions have altered, and are continuing to alter, work patterns in ways to which we have not adjusted. Similarly, communications are changing drastically in form and capacity, appearing in multiple modes and linking people, worldwide, with an immediacy which stands in dramatic contrast to the past.

We all occasionally hope that this accelerating pattern will quietly go away, leaving us with a more predictable and comfortable world. At heart, we know this is not realistic. We cannot stop the tide, even if we wished, but must learn at least to swim in it and, perhaps, to direct it. All elements of life are affected and the changes are also remarkable in that they are largely unpredictable. They frequently come as a result of technological developments, themselves unforeseen, and which lead to even more surprising social results. An obvious example is the motor-car, arriving as a quite random event and revolutionizing much of human life, not only our travel but our work patterns, our living patterns, the form of our streets and cities, and the whole nature of our landscape.

Can we learn to cope with the unpredicted, the unpredictable? Recent initiatives in education are attempting to do just that and we see a significant widening both of education's agenda and also the nature of the commitment to achieve that agenda. It is from that widening that we may assess more effectively the ways in which higher education can assist and support.

A clear sign of the changed significance of education is in the priority it now is given-nationally and internationally Countries place a high priority on education as a major means of being or becoming competitive in a tough global economic environment. This is often stated in terms of the necessity of developing a productive work-force. Similarly, international organizations see education as the key to further human and social development. For organizations such as UNESCO, this is scarcely surprising as education has been a key part of its charter for the fifty-plus years of its existence. It is illuminating that bodies with a hard-headed economic charter, such as OECD and the World Bank, now proclaim the same message.

OECD has now been substantially involved in education for three decades and it is easy to forget that it began with a charter directed only at economic reconstruction in a war-damaged Europe, its only link to education being programmes for training technicians for industry. It was the economic needs which persuaded the organization that a broad education base was a necessity for significant economic advance.

The World Bank began with a similarly focussed economic agenda. It did not make any investment in education until its first loan for that purpose in 1963, but its experience has caused it to expand that commitment. The Bank is now the largest source of external financing for education in developing countries, even though it sees its main contribution as advice to help governments in developing their education policies. The Bank's finance thus plays an important double role: directly supporting educational development; and also providing leverage on government policies, to the same end. The rationale is explicit.

Higher living standards, better health, increased productivity, improved well-being for women and their families, and good government all depend on widespread education. In an era of

rapid technological change and international economic integration, an educated, adaptable work-force enables countries to prosper. The reverse is also true: countries without such a work-force are liable to be left behind and shut out of this prosperity (World Bank, 1995).

The commonality of views between international bodies is significant and will have a powerful influence on governments and the future directions of educational policy and practice at all levels. This commonality was both demonstrated and extended in 1990 by the World Conference on Education for All, held at Jomtien, Thailand, under the joint auspices of UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP and the World Bank. Jomtien emphasized the severity of the need: after almost fifty years of international and national effort, progress was uneven and in many cases non-existent. The 1970 figure for illiterates in the 15+ age group was 760 million; by 1990 it had grown to 882 million and it was estimated that it would reach 912 million by 2000. Other key indicators were equally disturbing. What was equally a matter of concern was the so-called 'convergence of disadvantage', the concept that illiteracy was intimately linked to other social indicators, such as infant mortality, reduced life expectancy, and poor housing and employment opportunities.

After four decades of successes and failures it has become abundantly clear that economic, socio-cultural and environmental processes are closely linked; development or decay along one dimension profoundly affects the others. [..] The pivotal determinant of the success of these programs and policies will be whether a country's population possesses the appropriate basic skills and knowledge (WCEFA, 1990).

Jomtien triggered a response which has already shown dividends.. After that conference, UNESCO established the International Consultative Forum on Education for All, (ICFEA), to promote and monitor progress towards Education for All goals during the 1990s. At the 1996 Amman meeting of the Consultative Forum, it was found that: 'There has been significant progress in basic education, not in all countries nor as much as had been hoped, but progress that is nonetheless real' (ICFEA, 1996).

To support this conclusion, the Amman meeting was able to note that some 50 million more children were enrolled in primary schools in 1996 than in 1990, and that the number of out-of-school children had also decreased by 20 million. The meeting still concluded that 'Continued progress requires even more concerted and forceful action' (ICFEA, 1996).

From the Jomtien Conference came the broad-based international commitment to a massive programme of 'Basic Education for All', to which the major international bodies, plus national governments, are deeply committed. While this programme is explicitly aimed at the developing countries, where the need is clear and urgent, a similar emphasis applies more generally. Further, while the explicit focus is on basic education, this requires particular attention from higher education, partly in its role of professional education and training, but even more importantly through its intellectual contribution. The Jomtien Conference raised a vision of a world divided between the nations who had successfully developed their education systems and those who had not and could not. This divide is deep and, on the evidence, could grow deeper, raising strong concerns on the health and sustainability of the world society. The divide between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' is actually more pervasive and fundamental than between rich and poor countries. It consists of the gap within as well as between countries which is becoming more evident between those who have developed the capacities to prosper in what Drucker has called the 'knowledge society' and those who, for whatever reason, have not done so (Drucker, 1995). 

The OECD conference in 1993 on 'The Curriculum Redefined: Schooling for the Twenty-First Century' emphasized the danger of this division. The meeting brought together the developed, industrialized nations, to discuss the findings of their separate studies of curriculum needs. There was a remarkable unanimity in their conclusions. To move beyond slogans and make the statement 'a quality education for all' will be the major challenge. In our current education, success in schooling is heavily dependent on social background, with the socially deprived performing more poorly at all stages and with the disparity increasing with time. With the need to extend old areas of the curriculum, to reach new areas and to reach higher standards in both, the task of making this slogan a reality is massive. For the sake of equity to individuals and for the sake of cohesion in our society, this reality must be achieved. We should not accept the concept of a society with a large and permanent under-class, limited in their opportunities for work, for social participation and for individual fulfilment (Hughes, 1994).

Such concepts as Basic Education for All, as espoused by UNESCO, and High Quality Education and Training for All, as adopted by OECD, are part of the response of education to this situation. There is a universal recognition that, for people to meet the changing demands in such diverse areas as employment, health, political participation and personal relationships, both a broad educational foundation, as implied by the above concepts, and also a continuing involvement with learning throughout life are required. The practical implementation of this recognition is a major issue-nationally and internationally-forcing a reconsideration of all aspects of education in the effort to meet this challenge.

This reconsideration of the operation of education systems involves not only organizational and institutional redesign but also the very processes and purposes of education. Higher education is, and will continue to be, a focal point for the changes affecting education, universally. In considering the future of higher education, a fundamental aspect must be its role in the education system as a whole and, specifically, its role in the reconceptualization of current aspects of education, to meet a challenge which is relevant to the good health of the whole society.

One of the most significant impacts on the role of higher education, and one which affects all other areas, has been the acceptance of the implications of 'lifelong learning', for so many years merely a slogan but now accepted as an appropriate response to the impact of change on human life. The Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA-V) adopted the Agenda for the Future, which deals specifically with the role of higher education in this framework lifelong learning. It pointed out the growing demand for adult education and the necessary implication to open schools, colleges and universities to adult learners. In doing so, it challenges all these institutions to be prepared to adapt programmes and conditions, to develop ways of recognizing prior learning, to establish joint university/community research and training partnerships, to involve adult learners in interdisciplinary research in adult education, to make this process of education for adults a systematic and continuing part of higher education (CONFINTEA-V, 1997).

CONTRIBUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

The contributions of higher education may be usefully considered in terms of the follow-up meeting on Jomtien, held at Amman under the auspices of the International Consultative Forum on Education for All, in June 1996. The assessment of that meeting was that great strides had been made in the six years since Jomtien, but that the targets for the decade would not be met without greater and more effective effort. Eight common concerns were identified for the meeting, arising from the seven regional policy review seminars held during a preparatory phase.

* the 'expanded vision of basic education' needs to be applied both in policy and practice;

* more resources must be found for basic education;

* the recruitment, training and status of teachers must be improved;

* the quality of education must be improved to enhance learning achievement;

* assessment of learning achievement must be generalized;

* more emphasis is still needed on girls' and women's education;

* basic education must be made more available to children, youth and adults with special needs; and

* more attention needs to be given to develop adults' numeracy and literacy skills and on sustaining these skills.

A number of these points relate to resources, and to the political and social will needed to sustain and increase current efforts. In these aspects, universities have no more to contribute than the rest of society, although in the effective use of resources a contribution may be made. For the other points, however, higher education has much to offer, and particularly in those dealing with teachers, with quality of education, with more generalized assessment, and with means of increasing access.

These points will be covered in two following sections, 'Conceptual contributions' and 'Personnel contributions'. A major part of the proper contribution of universities to the system as a whole is intellectual: in analysis, evaluation, synthesis and reconceptualization. This is not an area in which higher education has a good recent record. In particular, research has played a much less significant role in education than in other social fields, such as medicine. The other area of contribution is in the preparation and continued education of people with special capabilities.

A key aspect of both of these areas is in the improvement of the quality of education. In efforts to improve access and participation, it is often easy to forget that these are not enough on their own. The 1993 meeting of OECD countries, already referred to (Hughes, 1994), noted that all members had succeeded in achieving high participation levels, moving close to 100% for secondary involvement, yet acknowledging that, for a substantial minority of these, attendance did not imply appropriate achievement. Tedesco, pursuing another question, the use of time in the classroom, points out, using IBE data, that additional time in that environment does not necessarily translate to higher achievement. He stresses that this does not diminish the importance of time in the classroom, but that it does require more attention to other variables-'teachers, methods and management' (Tedesco, 1997). Again, the issue of quality is paramount. De Ketele, in his communication, emphasized that higher education has a vital role in this regard, not only to express its own performance through observable indicators, but also to aid other levels of the system to do so in a coherent fashion.

CONCEPTUAL CONTRIBUTIONS: THROUGH RESEARCH

1. The general curriculum

A major part of any re-developments in education will be in that field of continuing change the general curriculum. Many recent approaches involve the idea of a core or common curriculum as a foundation, followed by a set of diverse pathways into higher and vocational concept of a common curriculum for all both adopt this approach, as do many of the nationally based initiatives, even in countries which formerly had little national involvement in this area. The common curriculum has been defined as follows:

I have described these learnings as basic and essential. They are basic in that they are intended to provide a foundation or base on which subsequent or related learnings may be built. They should provide learners with conceptual and methodological tools to continue their own learning. They are essential in the sense that they are intended to equip learners for a satisfying and effective participation in social and cultural life. This reminds us that core curriculum theory has strong affinities with democratic ideology, and starts from the assumption that constructive and varied participation in social and cultural life is the right and responsibility of everybody (Skilbeck, 1982).

This description indicates the highly complex process involved in curriculum development. It includes political processes, as the various stakeholders in curriculum decide on their interests and negotiate to achieve maximal effect. It includes the development of curriculum materials and media planning related to presentation. It includes the key players, teachers and students, interacting to bring reality to plans and policies. It includes complex conceptualization in relation to the knowledge, understandings and competencies selected-and those excluded. It is in the conceptual development involved in curriculum change that universities should play a key part. Given their central role in the development of new knowledge and the reappraisal of what exists, universities have much to contribute to the dialogue that is necessarily involved in curriculum changes.

The final result at school level reflects many judgments, made on a number of different bases, as to what is excluded, what is included and how the latter is organized. Ideally, the best of scholarship should be involved in the assessment of the result of these decisions. Given the major changes in all fields of knowledge-not merely addition but radical revision in many instances-a continuing dialogue is necessary between those who are involved in the redefinitions of the frontiers of knowledge and those entrusted with the task of interpretation at the school level. A major issue in this dialogue will be the willingness of both sides to understand the particular context of the other.

In the past, constructive dialogue has been too rare and both sectors have been the worse for this failure. The fault does not lie on one side only and the remedy will require effort both from the universities and the schools. In carrying through this reconciliation, it will be useful to keep in mind the long list of those who have made substantial contributions from as far back as Confucius and Socrates through Comenius, Herbart, Rousseau, Voltaire, to Gandhi, Dewey, Whitehead and Piaget, as well as current writers such as Bruner and Gardner. The sources of ideas are still present. It is a matter of building the connections.

In the preparation of this paper, a contribution sent from the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) is relevant, since it stresses the importance of wider involvement on curriculum design and development. there is need to give the subject of 'curriculum development and change process' adequate time for discussions, both in UNESCO and the national fora [..] because in many parts of our continent, people have never felt that they own or play a part in curriculum design and development. [..]

As a result, many African communities blame formal education for alienating the youth from their communities. The role of the universities in the dialogue on education is critical (FAWE, 1998). This wider role for universities will be taken up later in this paper.

2. Analysis and evaluation of education systems.

Jean-Marie De Ketele, in his valuable contribution to these discussions, wrote on this precise topic L'analyse et l'evaluation des systèmes éducatifs [The analysis and evaluation of education systems]. He stresses the importance of such a role, but sees certain requirements. The university is in a unique position to offer objective advice on this analysis and evaluation, but only if there is a conscious development of the necessary expertise-des compétences reconnues dans l'analyse et l'évaluation des systèmes éducatifs. As he says, most universities have the necessary base disciplines to provide the foundation for such processes, but there will be a need to show that the people involved have developed them in ways which are sensitive to the particular context of schools and systems.

The further suggestions in the De Ketele paper make a strong case for a relevant research base to be developed as necessary to any institutionalized approach and for proper account to be taken of criteria of equity and quality-not merely criteria of cost effectiveness: certes importants, mais pas exclusivement [important, yes, but not exclusively so]. An important corollary of this section and the next, on futures thinking, is the need for universities to aim especially at developing a supply of people with the required expertise. This will be taken up in the section on the 'Personnel contribution of higher education'.

3. Futures thinking on the evolution of education systems

It is increasingly obvious that the pace of change, which societies have found so disconcerting, will continue and that we must build better means, or adopt more useful processes, to help us cope with it. Universities provide an ideal setting for such studies which should take various forms. One necessary form is to follow up the long-term effects of current events-technological, economic or social. A case in point is the 'greenhouse effect', where scientists and environmentalists have joined in a campaign to lower the emission of particular gases. These campaigns are not particularly popular and run the danger of exaggeration and being accused of scare-mongering. Yet, such thinking is necessary if we are to avoid or minimize the worst effects of our own way of living. To place such studies in a university environment should avoid the worst excesses and ensure appropriate safeguards. To carry out such studies demands a level of interdisciplinary co-operation that universities have often found difficult, and yet it is unlikely to occur elsewhere. The gathering together of so many disciplines gives the universities a unique strength-provided they have the will to use it.

A further form of study which would be of value is through more general speculation on forms of social change, together with a rigorous exploration of the implications for education systems. To a great extent, changes in education systems in recent years have come from adoptions of patterns from other areas of activity, in particular from business management.

Such ideas as decentralization and re-engineering have been adopted uncritically into education systems, without the rigorous evaluation that such adaptations require. The concepts themselves have much to offer, but their adoption-unchanged-from business, requires careful thinking on their relevance to this new setting.

4. Networks

As pointed out by De Ketele, activities such as those we have discussed for higher education imply the need for the development of networks, in order to bring together the variety of strengths and specialisms required in such areas as future studies, system evaluations and curriculum development. De Ketele comments that few universities on their own can have all the expertise required and, even where it exists, it may need support from elsewhere. The strengths in a particular university can, in combination with the quite different strengths of other universities, produce much more powerful results, within each partner and in the communities which they serve. It is a matter of real concern that current pressures on universities are placing them more in a competitive mode than a co-operative one. Yet effective service for the community generally, in line with the best tradition of universities, implies a strong need for networks.

The UNESCO chairs and the UNITWIN projects provide a good starting-point for such networks. Developing countries, in particular, have much to gain from this sort of approach, as they may radically increase their access to needed specializations without a corresponding increase in cost. UNESCO has also been successful in establishing regional networks of considerable power, and even greater potential, such as the Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID), a network of over 200 institutions in forty countries. Such initiatives offer considerable promise for future activity. Within broad networks, such as APEID, there is scope for more specialized groupings, selected on the basis of common interest and of capacity to co-operate with, and contribute to, each other. The new information technologies dramatically increase the power of networks such as we have described.

It is no longer a matter of increasing the impact of personal contact only through mail and telephone. The fax and e-mail provide an immediacy of contact and a wealth of available resources wherever they are available, and the spread is growing significantly. Virtual Conferences, i.e. conferences using computer links, have already been tried out to good effect and provide for a quite unprecedented range and variety of contacts which can revolutionize research possibilities.

PERSONNEL CONTRIBUTIONS: THROUGH TEACHING

Anderson, in a recent paper, pointed out the central quality of this contribution. the most important thing universities do for the public sector is to train men and women adequately for the professions. In return for doing this, governments extend to academics in universities the freedom to do research, or, as Ortega y Gasset put it, to pursue the dictates of their intelligence. [..] It is a relation with some tension in it. It is a bargain-struck between government, which has the money and which needs skilled professionals to service society, and universities, which have scholarship, science and knowledge which is the basis of good practice. It is an enlightened bargain because the most inspired learning occurs when the teacher is free to teach from his or her own enthusiasm and expertise (Anderson, 1997).

It is in professional preparation in general that the university role is so important, but we shall focus here on one area of professionalism in particular, the preparation of teachers, since here is the area which will impact most directly, and most fundamentally, on the extension and improvement of education in the schools.

1. The preparation of teachers

Two major recent initiatives have stressed further the vital necessity to redirect attention to the preparation of teachers, if we are to achieve the lifts in quality which education currently requires. The Delors Report devotes one full section to 'Teachers in search of new perspectives', stressing the essential part that teachers have to play in the future scenario. Recruitment, initial education, selection and continuing education are all emphases identified by Delors, and at least two of these depend heavily on the universities. At the forty-fifth International Conference on Education, hosted by the IBE, the Delors emphasis was the starting point, with 'Teachers in search of new perspectives', as the first of the two major debates and 'The role of teachers in building a culture of peace' as the other.

These general initiatives set the scene, but a great deal of practical work remains to be done. Of the nine Recommendations of the forty-fifth session of the International Conference on Education, held in Geneva in 1996, three are related to the recruitment and preparation of teachers. It is instructive to note this heavy emphasis in recent major reports, an emphasis which is very deliberate. Many of the attempts to reform education in recent years have seemed to assume that teachers are irrelevant, or even hostile, to reform and have concentrated on structural matters, often leaving the classroom quite untouched, and thus failing to reach the heart of reform-the learning process itself.

Without the active and effective co-operation-operation of teachers, the substantial improvement of the quality of education is not possible. The nine recommendation of the 1996 ICE are as follows:

1. Recruitment of teachers: attracting the most competent young people to teaching.

2. Pre-service training: a better linkage between pre-service training and the demands of an innovatory professional activity.

3. In-service training: both a right and a duty for all educational personnel.

4. The involvement of teachers and other agents in the process of transforming education: autonomy and responsibility.

5. Teachers and their partners in the educational process: education as a responsibility for all.
6. New information and communication technologies: serving to improve the quality of education for all. 

7. Professionalization as a strategy for improving the status and working conditions of teachers.

8. Solidarity with teachers working in difficult situations.

9. Regional and international co-operation: an instrument to promote teacher mobility and competence (IBE, 1996).

While these recommendations may seem very diverse, they are closely interconnected because of the very nature of teaching and, as the Final Report of the ICE itself says: 'A systemic approach is absolutely indispensable. Experience has taught us that the teacher's role cannot be modified through isolated measures' (UNESCO: IBE, 1997).

It is true, for example, that an essential area for concentration by the universities is in pre-service courses for teachers, for many of which they are directly responsible or on which they have a major potential impact. This is an area demanding close and fundamental attention, as there have not been the conceptual changes which the circumstances warrant. Yet, these courses depend to a degree on the quality of entrants and this has become a matter of concern in many countries where the academic quality of entrants has declined substantially in recent years.  

This, again, depends on the perceived status of teachers, frequently under threat as teachers are blamed for the problems encountered by education. There is an obvious link also to teachers' working conditions which are often seen now as more demanding and less rewarding, both in prestige and money. A further link is with the new technologies, seen as offering so much promise of better learning but viewed with apprehension by many teachers, who lack the opportunity to become competent in this area.

The complexity of the situation must not discourage universities from making the necessary intellectual investment to improve the preparation of teachers. Some considerable time has passed since there was a thorough reconsideration of the requirements of teaching, placing that reconsideration in the context of career-long education rather than with all the emphasis on the initial preparation. The comments of FAWE, already mentioned above, are relevant in this context: we strongly feel that, in many instances, teachers are ill-prepared for the mammoth tasks they carry out. If, for example, teachers are to be involved in building peace and national and international unity, there is need to rethink the entire process through which they are trained. Our experience is that teachers in our continent are trained to impart academic knowledge with little, if any, exposure to the other areas of their many tasks. In the reform process, teachers are often not adequately informed or involved, yet they are always required to play a critical role in the implementation of any changes in education (FAWE, 1998).

On the general issue, UNESCO has taken an important step through the Special Intergovernmental Conference on the Status of Teachers. The Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel from this conference was adopted by the General Assembly of UNESCO, meeting in Paris in November 1997. While general rather than specific in nature, the recommendation recognizes the multi-facetted nature of the 'status' of teachers, and the fact that this does not depend merely on a matter of finance and physical conditions, but requires a more holistic approach. Importantly, it does propose a series of standards, to provide for the very wide range of circumstances under which teachers work (UNESCO, 1996). 

In making these comments on the importance of their role in the preparation of teachers, the universities' commitment to their own teaching is relevant. Too often they have given lip-service to the priority of teaching when the reality of their practice places teaching well below research in their list. The nine recommendations above from 1996 ICE may be appropriately applied also to universities. University emphases on the importance of teachers in other institutions also require a recognition of its importance within.

2. The preparation of specialists

It is not only for teachers that higher education has a special responsibility, but for the variety of education specialists required at all levels and in all sectors of the education system. These include curriculum and assessment specialists, education technologists, reading advisers-the list can go on. What is common to this diversity is the need for careful and relevant preparation, recognizing that learning on the job is no longer sufficient. Nor is that approach-'learning on the job'-sufficient for those in leadership positions in education, including school principals. The almost universal pattern of greater decentralization now places not merely more responsibility at the school level, but also quite different types of responsibility: not only for curriculum and pedagogy-the traditional areas-but financial management, industrial negotiation, team-building, personal counselling and career-planning, to mention only a few. Specialist principals centres are being developed in many countries, in association with universities, as a recognition of the need. This raises also the question of professional recognition of such roles in education, parallel in form perhaps to the specialist colleges in medicine.

As is stressed elsewhere, the whole field of adult and continuing education is one with which universities must come to terms, recognizing that the commitment to lifelong learning must be accepted as a basis for more integral links with this key sector and higher education.

3. Continuing Professional Education

Recommendation no.3 from the 1996 ICE recognizes what is now widely practised in the professions generally; namely, that no initial course can do more than provide starting competencies in a modern profession. The pace of change, both with respect to base knowledge but also in relation to social and ethical demands, requires all professionals to continue with their professional education. We now know much more, too, about the necessary characteristics of such education. These must not only reflect the principles of adult learning but recognize the unique context of particular areas of professional practice. It is healthy to see the involvement of professional bodies in such developments, through medical colleges and institutes of engineering, for example.

The universities still have an enduring place in such courses, to ensure a level of intellectual challenge and a continuing reappraisal of the professional processes. Professional certification and registration should not become cosy processes of self-justification, but subject to the rigorous procedures which should properly be the hallmark of universities. This is not to belittle the very necessary contribution of the professional bodies, but once again to assert the unique way in which universities can bring a wide range of disciplines to focus on a particular field of human endeavour. Higher education is not always successful in doing this, but the capacity is there.

CONFINTEA-V, with its stress on lifelong learning, raises again the role of higher education in a wider field of professional development, including all those educators, trainers and developers who have key roles in the framework of lifelong learning, not only in the teaching roles but also in the research and service roles. To do this implies not only a need for initiatives from within the universities, but also for them to be more ready to listen to the needs defined throughout the whole system-formal and informal.

As part of this recognition, universities will need to make available to their own staff a relevant professional development on the same basis as is offered to other professional groups. A significant issue for universities in all its work in the preparation of professionals will be the education of girls and women. De Ketele has emphasized the connection between the role of universities and the findings of Jomtien, further supported by the ICFEA meeting in Jordan in 1996. That meeting declared the education of girls and women to be 'the priority of priorities', as so many other steps forward were contingent on this. 'But this requires a political will at the very heart of higher education to increase substantially the quota of women (as students, as teachers and as decision makers)' (De Ketele, 1998). In essence, this whole series of points is asking that the universities should consider themselves much more explicitly and actively as part of a holistic system.

OVERVIEW

This paper provides a background for the discussion of some key questions. The major thrust is quite strongly to emphasize the necessary intellectual and resource commitment by higher education to the of education generally. The past record of the sector is uneven, with some notable successes, but there has also been a general disposition to leave the other areas to their own devices, ignoring both the interconnectedness of the elements of the education system and also the essential character of higher education, and its social commitment to provide intellectual leadership. As the Delors Report says:

By calling upon universities to be places of culture and of learning open to all, the Commission intends not only to reinforce its central theme, that is, learning throughout life. It also wishes to contribute to affirmation of a major task of the university-even a moral obligation-to participate in the major debates concerning the direction and the future of society (Delors, 1996).

This ambitious idea of what a university should be, lies at the heart of all our considerations. Delors speaks of a moral obligation, Ortega of a ' spiritual power'.

In the thick of life's urgencies and its passions, the university must assert itself as a major 'spiritual power', higher than the press, standing for serenity in the midst of frenzy, for seriousness and the grasp of intellect in the face of frivolity and unashamed stupidity. Then the university, once again, will come to be what it was in its grand hour: an uplifting principle in the history of the world (Ortega y Gasset, 1946).

This paper is an introduction to the questions to be considered by the Thematic Debate. It seeks to give some guidance about the context in which universities will contribute and also the nature of the way they participate. This participation must be both in the major debates mentioned

by Delors and Ortega, and also in the specifics of the contribution to the work of the wider system. To a considerable degree, universities in the past have been able to play very significant

roles without making a highly focused or deliberate effort. One of those roles has been in curriculum, largely formed by the content of university studies as interpreted by graduates teaching in schools. To a certain extent, this has happened through the very presence and background of graduates, but there have been times when quite specific interventions have taken place.

Some of these interventions have been political in origin, as for example an increased emphasis on vocational aspects of education or a focus on some social issue, such as racism. Others have been academic in origin, through major changes in a particular discipline or the emergence of a new discipline.

The other role has been with people, through the university's contribution in training graduates. Again, this has happened without a great deal of interaction between the sectors. With the greatly accelerated pace of change, these unhurried processes are insufficient. A much more focussed and deliberate effort is required. It would be easy to provide superficial answers to questions 1 and 3, for example:

* Higher education has almost certainly not strengthened its role in relation to the other levels of the system, since Jomtien.

* Current research in the educational sciences is not currently meeting the key needs of education systems.

These and similar answers to the other questions would evade the real issues to be grasped at this time of the World Conference on Higher Education. Questions 4, 5, 6, and 7 lead to discussions which can produce specific and helpful answers and this process will be valuable.

Question 1 raises broader concerns, just as valuable, but requiring different types of responses. A major emphasis of this paper comes from the belief that the processes which have enabled the universities to serve the whole system well, in the past, are no longer adequate and that much more planned and deliberate interaction is now necessary. With the universities in a crisis of their own, there is not an easy disposition to take on this wider task.

The enormous expansion of the university system from an elite to a mass enterprise has brought major problems with it. These include the very difficult task of financing such an expansion when other areas of society are also making increased claims. The more basic question, however, relates not to finance but to purpose. The challenge posed by Jomtien for universities would place them at the very heart of the whole education system and with a key role to play in the reform that is a necessary consequence of the requirements of a global society. The essence of the issue for universities is the will to be involved and to take the drastic steps required for an effective involvement.

As mentioned earlier, Question 2 also raises important intellectual issues, as well as being an area where we can gain much from a study of practices in different situations. Quite different models are in place in different countries, but many changes have been introduced without a thorough analysis of the possible implications. The use of both university-based and school-based models seems sometimes to be more a matter of ideology than of rigorous thinking, backed by research. This is a major task for the future and one in which the universities should be centrally involved.

Question 3 also leads to a more general discussion and one which it is very important to initiate and continue, for it will not provide short-term answers. In spite of a massive effort in the area of educational research, this endeavour has not made anything like the contribution to practice which is observable in other areas. In engineering and medicine, for example, the impact of research on professional practice is massive and continuing. The American Educational Research Association (AERA), one of the largest and most powerful bodies in the field, has recently conducted a major debate, featured in its journals, on 'The awfulness of educational research'.

This represents a searching self-examination as to why, in education, a huge gap exists between research and practice, and also between researchers and practitioners. Some of the difference between education and areas such as medicine relates to the nature of the areas themselves. This does not explain the whole lack of impact of research in education-a lack whose effect is very serious, leading to a vulnerability of education to miracle cures, those magic remedies guaranteed to fix all current problems. Almost all technological developments of recent years have fallen into this miracle category, from radio through to television and now to computers.

Until now, the impacts have been negligible in the classroom itself, in spite of the promise. Much needs to be done on both sides of the research/practice gap to build an effective bridge. Within education systems, it will require a culture change, for practitioners to look automatically to research to provide answers to some of their most important and currently intractable problems. To help in achieving this cultural change, the researchers will have to consider their own practices. Sroufe, in the AERA, discussion pointed to particular areas for change. Education research is often not valued because it does not seem to address problems of significance to the larger public and policy makers, and because when it does address such problems the available studies are often found to be of questionable quality, yielding information that is equivocal and often contradictory (Sroufe, 1997).

In considering these same issues, the AERA Council supported these comments, concluding that more effort was required to develop research programmes seeking to address significant issues through consensus techniques. They were conscious of a general opinion that too much research was through the initiative of individual researchers 'gleaning to provide support for one's own biases' (Sroufe,1997). For real progress to be made in this vital area, higher education institutions and research institutes, on the one hand, and the school systems and informal education sector, on the other, will all have to look to their practices and the assumptions that lie beneath those practices.

For the past decade, universities have experienced a continuing sequence of changes, resulting in major readjustments of both structure and practices. During these events, higher education has had to be centrally concerned with survival and this has led to an introspective stance. The challenge for the future is to become outward-looking again, accepting a responsibility for both leadership and partnership within the wider system of education. The research issue is the type of issue to which higher education should give priority, as it relates to a fundamental task of universities, the discovery and use of knowledge.

In the UNESCO policy paper on higher education, this challenge is expressed as one for a renewal of higher education. It speaks of the 'pro-active university', where this paper has called for a more outward-looking stance. It calls for a 'new academic covenant', as the means through which universities, world-wide, could reach a common agreement on 'a renewal of its teaching, learning, research and service functions and ultimately of the institutions of higher education themselves' (UNESCO, 1995). In his foreword to this document, the Director-General, Federico Mayor, said:

" However, like many other problems facing contemporary societies, those concerning higher education call for concerted and integrated action. I therefore take this opportunity to appeal for greater co-operation among all the actors to achieve our common goal-the further development of higher education as an instrument for reaching sustainable human development (UNESCO, 1995). "

It is this acceptance of a wider social role for higher education that lies at the heart of this discussion. In recent years, there has been a turning inwards, partly as a result of higher education concentrating on its own pressing problems. These may remain insoluble unless the institutions can begin to play a part again in the great debates of our society on such issues as 'global citizenship', 'a culture of peace', and 'sustainable human development'.

The following questions were posed for the WCHE Thematic Debate: 'Higher Education and the Education System as a Whole'.

1. Since Jomtien, has higher education strengthened its role in relation to the other levels of education?

2. What are the major challenges for higher education systems with regard to teacher training (formal and non-formal)?

3. Is current research in the educational sciences meeting the key needs of education systems?

4. What lessons can be drawn from good practice across various regions (i.e. where there are good linkages between higher education and other levels of the education system)?

5. What partnerships (e.g. government, private sector/industry, NGOs, UNESCO Chairs) are necessary to ensure these linkages?

6. What mechanisms are required at the system level?

7. What are the necessary measures to be adopted for the purpose of certification and recognition through non-formal education systems (NFE)?

The proposals that the Thematic Debate on 'Higher Education and the Education System as a Whole' could address to the conference with a view to including them into the Declaration/Plan of Action are as follows:

This World Conference :

Recognizing that higher education is an integral part of the total education system, at a time when education has become a central and continuing part of individual and social life, both nationally and internationally, and

Accepting that higher education has a unique role in this system to make a continuing contribution to the renewal and further development of the whole,

Resolves that, as part of the 'new academic covenant' for universities world-wide:

* higher education institutions should adopt, as a major part of their service functions, the concept of contributing, through advice, support and co-operation, to the renewal of the whole education system in favour of sustainable human development; and, specifically, to the achievement of the aims of Basic Education for All, as proclaimed at the Jomtien Conference and confirmed by the Delors Report;

* particular importance should be given to the education of teachers as a continuous enterprise, including their initial training, and also their career-long professional development, recognizing both the key role that teachers play in educational renewal and also the need for new patterns of training and development;

* noting the key role played by higher education in the discovery, development and application of knowledge, higher education institutions should seek to play an important part in the continuing dialogue which produces the school curriculum;

* in the broad framework of preparation of professionals, with which higher education institutions are centrally involved, special attention and priority should be awarded to the development of those professionals responsible for the necessary emphasis on lifelong learning with its implications for closer co-operation and interpenetration between formal and non-formal education;

* universities should give particular attention to the links between research in education and the practice of education, noting, currently, the lack of effective impact and the pervasive need to find more efficacious and efficient processes to improve learning;

* recognizing the high priority given by UNESCO, at recent meetings, to the importance of the education of girls and women to the whole process of development, higher education should seek, within its own institutions and elsewhere, to assist this process;

* higher education should seek to play a significant role in the processes of analysis and evaluation of education systems in the process of renewal;

* higher education, as part of its proper role of social analysis, should aim to make a particular contribution to thinking on the future of education systems; and

* recognizing the dangers of intense competitiveness arising from current tight financial circumstances, higher education institutions should seek to make the most of their strengths through co-operative networks which will add to the impact of institutions, nationally and internationally.

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