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Background
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Access update:
-> IAU is
currently collecting additional replies to its Survey on Access to
Higher
Education Policies and Practices
More
information:
- Download the
invitation letter for the survey click here (rtf, 384 kb)
- Download the IAU Survey on Access to Higher Education click here (rtf, 440 kb)
-> The
second meeting (click here for the
report) took place in February 2007 in Washington DC, USA, in
conjunction with the ACE annual meeting on the same theme. ACE is
a member organization of IAU and focusing on the Access Imperative
offered an opportune occasion for the Task Force members to participate
actively in the conference – two were panellists, and to attend the
sessions.
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Access to Higher
Education, - growing demand, lack or limited capacity, equity and
success, new approaches using ICTs, distance education, Open Content
movement, and other related issues.
The IAU Administrative Board, elected in 2004, initiated a reflection
on future directions IAU should take in terms of members’ services,
publications and thematic priorities. The Board members did not
call for a full strategic planning exercise to be undertaken, however,
they did wish to better realign the work of the Association with the
interests and needs of the membership, the major issues facing the
higher education community more generally, the resources available at
IAU and the potential value added that a global association could bring
to bear on whatever initiatives were developed. During this
exercise, a new thematic cluster, focusing on Access to Higher
Education was adopted and the Secretariat was asked to develop
proposals for future activities linked to this theme.
As a first step, the May 2006 issue of IAU Horizons (pdf, 408
kb), the quarterly newsletter of the Association, focused on Access and
offered a preview of possible topics that this theme can cover and
short articles on a number of access-related issues. It covered
topics such as higher education funding and access, equity and minority
group access, tuition fees and their impact on access to higher
education, the use of ICTs as a means to enhance and broaden access,
and many others. The newsletter also highlighted the last major
study that IAU coordinated on access and admission to higher education
in the 1960s.
Defining how best IAU can contribute to increasing the understanding of
issues and challenges surrounding access to higher education, to policy
discussions and research is the mission of a new IAU Access Task Force, chaired by
Prof. Jose Ferreira Gomes of the University of Porto. Task Force
Members are renowned experts from Africa, Europe, Asia, North America
and Latin America.
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