Higher education is the doorway to economic recovery
“Everyone has the right to be a student based on their ability to learn not to pay,” said Chairperson of the European Students’ Union Ligia Deca during the stakeholders’ panel at the opening of the World Conference on Higher Education.
Higher Education should not be regarded as a tradable good with the student as customer, she said. “The World Higher Education Conference is regarded with hope by students. We put our trust in UNESCO for an action plan.”
The panel opened with an address by the Chinese Minister of Education Ji Zhou. He described how the unprecedented economic growth in China and its population of 3 billion meant higher education had undergone huge development but was still far from meeting demand.
“Higher Education is not only a tool for economic development but a means of bolstering the confidence of a country and bringing about social change,” he said. “It must also meet the expectations and needs of the people.
Last year six million students enrolled in Chinese universities, a six fold increase on 1998. The country currently has a tertiary student population of 29 million with 260 million pupils at all levels in the education system.
He said the need was to develop world class universities with fair access supported by a transparent and comprehensive entrance system and funding. There had already been great progress with information technology including digital libraries, virtual laboratories and online courses leaving a “profound indelible imprint on higher education.”
The country was eager to share its education and culture. In 2008 180,000 Chinese students went abroad and the country welcomed 170,000 foreign students. The minister also called on UNESCO to help further develop China’s higher education partnership with Africa.
Panellists were asked by the moderator how the economic crisis had affected their organisations in relation to higher education. Joy Phumaphi, Vice President of the World Bank, challenged on the fact the bank had not always supported higher education said basic education had been more of a priority but the Bank now had a long list of successful higher education partnerships with China, India and Africa particularly.
She said the key to the crisis was the retooling and reskilling of students and the linking of skills to the labour market.
President of the International Association of Universities Juan Ramon de la Fuente, urged governments not to cut back budgets on education. “Education and higher education must remain a public good and are the doorway to recovery,” he said.
Irene Duncan-Adanusa, Vice-President of Education International which represents 30 million teachers worldwide, said staff suffered inadequate salaries, lack of job security and academic freedom. In many countries and states HED teachers were not allowed to unionise.
“In higher education the most important person is the human being. The crisis is not an excuse to reduce public funding,” she said.
European students’ representative Ligia Deca said:“If you ask what changes we have made as an organisation because of the economic crisis I will say no change. We have always supported public investment, and warned of the risks of systems that rely on loans. This is not an economic crisis, it is a values crisis and higher education is a promoter of values. Higher education ministers should join forces with students to lobby for change.”