IAU-HEEFA Newsletter No. 23

HEEFA Seminar in Turkey. As the IAU HEEFA Project draws to close in spring 2015 along with the target date for EFA, invited members of the IAU RG on HEEFA will convene in November to share information about the HEEFA Workshop outcomes, review follow-up to the HEEFA Project and examine the way forward for higher education in a post-2015 education agenda. This meeting is co-organized to include discussions on e-accessibility guidelines implemented by IAU higher education institutions - a project developed by the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (ICT4IAL: ICT for information accessibility in learning). The higher education community will also be represented by university partners of the HEEFA Workshops, faculty and students from the Hacettepe University, as well as ICT4IAL advisors and ICT experts. The Seminar is hosted by the Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey on 18-19 November 2014. Stay updated on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/HEEFA/489214337889036

HEEFA featured on EdTalks. Isabelle Turmaine, IAU Director of Information Products and Services, was interviewed on EdTalks about the HEEFA Project and Portal during the 2014 World Literacy Summit (Oxford, UK).Watch here: http://edtalks.org/video/higher-education-pathways-literate-worlds

University of Delhi VC updated on HEEFA. Upon his request, Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh of the University of Delhi was given a full brief by the local organizers of the HEEFA New Delhi Workshop and its outcomes.

II. News from the IAU HEEFA Reference Group
Bijan Pant (Nepal) has been nominated as policy advisor for the Development and Social Sector of the Prime Minister Office of Nepal. He also assisted in organizing the Education and lifelong learning for women in South Asia meeting (15-18 May) in Kathmandu, Nepal at which he spoke about Nepal's education access policy and its impact on women.

III. Other News of Interest (July-September 2014)
Post 2015 agenda
OWG Outcome Document published: After 18 months of negotiations, the UN General Assembly's Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals forwarded its final proposal for the post 2015 development agenda. The Outcome Document contains 17 agreed-on sustainable development goals, including a goal on education to provide quality education and life-long learning opportunities for all. For the first time, specific attention is given to universities to ensure equal access for all and the need to expand developing countries higher education engagement in education and development through scholarships. This proposal will be examined at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2014.
http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html
IAU reacts for increased visibility of higher education in post 2015: In a call to enhance inclusion of higher education in the post-2015 development agenda, the IAU states that: It is our shared belief that only with the full engagement of higher education in the post-2015 agenda will it be possible to create the intellectual, economic, environmental and cultural conditions required for a sustainable future for all.
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20140703102652995
Asia-Pacific contribution to WEF 2015: Education Ministers at the Asia-Pacific Regional Education Conference (6-8 August) adopted the Bangkok Statement, identifying 6 EFA priorities which focused on inclusive, quality and lifelong learning for all, from early childhood education to tertiary education. Outcomes will serve as the Asia-Pacific contribution to the international framework for action at the World Education Forum 2015, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/epr/APREC/Presentations/APREC_Bangkok_Statement_Final.pdf
Education Countdown launched: On 18 August, the Education Countdown campaign was launched by the A World At School initiative to drive attention that 500 days remain before the end of 2015 objective to have every child in school.
http://www.aworldatschool.org/countdown-campaign
What’s the smartest education target?: The Copenhagen Consensus released its research findings on the education targets outlined by the post 2015 agenda. Higher education is neither the most valuable nor the least ineffective.
http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/post-2015-consensus/education
Universities recognized as literacy partners
NGOs recommend to reinforce information sharing between civil society and universities on literacy – a recommendation made as part of the Outcome Document of the Meeting on Literacy and Lifelong Learning (8 September) organised by the Working Group of the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee.

Award winners
African educational research nominees: 25 Research proposals have been selected for the ninth edition of the ERNWACA Research Grants Programme: 19 on the theme of quality of basic education and 6 for traditional teaching and schooling. Out of the 93 researchers, 33 are women who supervise 7 teams.
http://www.ernwaca.org
UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy: The International Literacy Institute at the University of Pennsylvania (USA) was a Laureate winner of the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy for the project, Bridges to the Future Initiative.
http://www.gse.upenn.edu/

Africa
African higher education for development think tank: Higher Education Capacity for Development (HECADEV) has been set up to reinforce the link between higher education in Africa and development.
http://hecadev.com/index.php/en
Human capital strategy: The African Development Bank has approved a four-year ‘Human Capital Strategy’ identifies education, skills development, science, technology, innovation and youth employment as areas of urgent priority.
http://www.afdb.org/
Math and science education: Outcomes are available from the Mathematics Education and Working Life Relevance in East-Africa Workshop (31 July-6 August) organized by the Pan African University Institute for Science Technology and Innovation. http://www.ur.ac.rw/

Asia
Educational research: The Institute of Educational Development at BRAC University in Bangladesh has launched a new 3-year collaborative project with NORRAG to improve quality, equity and efficiency in the education system through research and development, capacity-building and training, policy dialogue and advocacy.
http://www.bracu.ac.bd/academics/institutes-and-schools/ied

Europe and North America
Charter on third mission: 20 Irish University Presidents publicly signed up to the 10 point Campus Engage Charter on Civic and Community Engagement. Under the Charter, the Presidents underscore their commitment to the civic and community engagement role and responsibilities of their institutions.
http://www.campusengage.ie/
Master’s Degree: The first European Master’s on Education Policies for Global Development, led by a consortium of five European universities, was awarded an Erasmus grant by the European Commission. The Master’s program will start in September 2015.
http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/
MOOC on teaching literacy: The University of London and Dyslexia International will open a MOOC on best practices in teaching literacy and supporting children with difficulties in reading and writing on 1 October 2014.
https://www.coursera.org/course/dyslexiaintro

IV. Where to Learn More on Higher Education for EFA
Combining Excellence in Education, Research and Impact: Inspiration from Stanford and Berkeley and implications for Swedish universities
http://www.sns.se/sites/default/files/utbildning_forskning_samverkan_english.pdf
Generating Evidence to Improve Learning
http://blogs.worldbank.org/education/generating-evidence-improve-learning
Community-Campus Partnerships in Action
http://www.campusengage.ie/
Higher Education: A Key Development Need for Refugees
http://www.merit.unu.edu/higher-education-a-key-development-need-for-refugees
McGill University Community Engagement Day
http://ced.conference.mcgill.ca
Higher Education in the World 5: Knowledge, Engagement and Higher Education: Contributing to Social Change
http://www.guninetwork.org/guni.report/heiw-5-2013
Conflict and Education: Scenarios for future interaction in research and policy
http://www.norrag.org/en/themes/conflict-violence-and-education.html
Winners All Round: A University and Football Code to Facilitate Reading in the Primary School Classroom
http://ijlll.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.254/prod.58
Building South African women’s leadership: A cohort model for the PhD in student affairs
http://www.jsaa.ac.za/index.php/JSAA/article/view/47/47

V. Where to Advance Higher Education for EFA
Calls for Participation
Education in emergencies: The Journal on Education in Emergencies invites submissions of papers for its two sections: EiE Research and EiE Field Notes. Deadline: 15 October.
Education in emergencies: The Globalisation, Societies and Education series published by Tandis & Francis Online is accepting abstracts for its special issue on Education, Fragility and Conflict. Deadline: 30 September.
Education in emergencies: A Call to Action has been published to gather advocacy updates and achievements made within the Education Cannot Wait, a movement to ensure quality education in emergencies. Contact: advocacy@ineesite.org.
Educational research: The Education Research in Africa Award is accepting proposals to award education research in African universities, research institutes and networks among Africans in institutions in other parts of the world. Deadline: 15 October. Contact: eraa@afdb.org
Educational research: Papers can be submitted to the 3rd Global Summit on Education (GSE 2015) on the theme of Trends and Challenges in Education. Deadline: 1 December 2014
Empowerment: Submit a proposal to the Inaugural Asian Conference on Education and International Development on Education, Power and Empowerment: Education as an Instrument of Global Transformation. Deadline: 1 December.
Primary and secondary education: Academicians and related professionals are invited to forward papers to the Chicago ICE 2015 on the theme of putting together individual "pieces" of the complex puzzle that is elementary and secondary education. Deadline: 1 October
Teaching: Faculty and administrators are invited to submit papers on proven and innovative methods in teaching at all levels of education for the 2015 International Education Conference. Deadline: 3 December.

Selected events
16 September – 1 October: 69th Session UN General Assembly, Theme of general debate: Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda, New York, USA
http://www.un.org/en/ga
25-28 September: The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) North American Conference on Education, Transforming and Changing Education: Power, In/equalities and Social Justice, Providence, USA
http://nace.iafor.org
29 September - 1 October: Annual International Association for Research on Service-learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE) Conference, Reaping what we sow: growing a culture of community engagement, New Orleans, USA
http://www.researchslce.org/conferences
5 October: World Teacher’s Day
http://www.worldteachersday.org
14-15 October: 2014 UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education Conference, New Challenges for Pedagogy and Quality Education: Massive Online Courses, Clouds and Mobiles, Moscow, Russia
http://iite.unesco.org/anons/13
28-30 October: First Asia-Pacific Conference, Ethics Education for All: Searching for a New Paradigm of Learning to Live Together, Hua Hin - Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand
http://www.unesco.org/
28 October-1 November: Sixth Asian Conference on Education, Transforming and Changing Education: Individuals, Communities, Societies, Osaka, Japan
http://ace.iafor.org
29-31 October: 17th UNESCO-Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID) International Conference: The Powerhouses of Education: Teachers for the Future We Want, Bangkok, Thailand
http://www.unescobkk.org/
29-31 October: 3rd ICOINE 2014 (International Conference on Interdisciplinary Research in Education), Milano, Italy
www.icoine2014.org
4-6 November: 2014 World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), Imagine – Create – Learn: Creativity at the Heart of Education, Doha, Qatar
http://www.wise-qatar.org/2014-summit-creativity-education
9-11 November: African Education and Development Conference, Bangkok, Thailand
http://www.aedconference.org
17-20 November: 2nd AsiaEngage Regional Conference, Innovation and Creativity: Collaborating with Communities to Tackle Problems across ASEAN, Asia and Beyond, Bali, Indonesia
http://asiaengage.ui.ac.id
18-19 November: IAU HEEFA-ICT4IAL Seminar, Ankara, Turkey
https://www.facebook.com
10-11 December: Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa (ERNWACA) International Colloquium, Education and Training for integration, peace and socio-economic development in Africa, Bamako, Mali
http://www.rocare.org/colloque2014/web

HEEFA Team
Next Issue: 15 December 2014