The 2009 World Conference on Higher Education will provide a global platform for forward-looking debate on one of the most rapidly changing fields within the global learning landscape. It will take stock of transformations in higher education since the 1998 World Conference on Higher Education and address the new dynamics likely to shape the strategic agenda for the development of higher education policies and institutions. Finally, the Conference will reaffirm the importance of higher education and research in meeting global challenges, as well as in building more inclusive, equitable and sustainable knowledge economies.

WCHE 2009 will identify concrete actions aimed at ensuring that the higher education sector meets both national development objectives and individual aspirations. It will provide an occasion for key stakeholders to make a new commitment to the development of higher education and agree on action-oriented recommendations which will enable higher education and research to better respond to changing labour market needs and to the growing and multiple demands of society.