2012/12/14

IAU-HEEFA Newsletter No. 16

I. IAU Higher Education for EFA Project

A successful third IAU Collaborative Workshop on HE for EFA!
IAU is pleased to announce that the third IAU Collaborative Workshop: A three-step activity to envisage Higher Education for Education for All locally, held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 6-7 December was a resounding success. Organised in collaboration with Tribhuvan University, an IAU member, the event brought together over 50 high-level representatives from the higher education sector (Vice-Chancellors, Rectors, Deans and academia from 6 higher education institutions), Ministry of Education, and other local EFA stakeholders. The Workshop ended with recommendations aimed at strengthening higher education engagement in EFA.
Read the programme and participant list.
The recommendations and all conference documents will be soon available on the IAU website.
The next IAU Collaborative Workshop will be held in Nairobi, Kenya on 24-25 January 2013, organised in collaboration with the University of Nairobi.

Higher education recognized as a stakeholder by international and regional NGOs
IAU has successfully advocated that higher education be considered a stakeholder in achieving EFA at the 6th Meeting of the UNESCO Collective Consultation of NGOs on Education For All (CCNGO/EFA) held on 24-26 October in Paris. The Meeting was convened to reinforce efforts to achieve EFA by the 2015 deadline and to feed the Post-2015 development agenda. It ended with the adoption of the 2012 Declaration, Pushing EFA Through 2015, which recognized:
          “There needs to be an accelerated push by all stakeholders, including the higher education sector…” (Article 14).
Elected by participants, IAU now sits on the 10-member Coordination Committee of the CCNGO/EFA. The Committee is responsible to propose a biennial work-plan; collaborate with UNESCO in the coordination and follow-up of the work-plan and propose CCNGO/EFA activities; identify opportunities for joint action and advocacy between UNESCO and CCNGO/EFA; facilitate communication between the CCNGO/EFA and UNESCO. This marks yet another important step of the growing recognition by UNESCO and the international civil society of the contribution higher education can make to achieving EFA.
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/coordination-mechanisms/collective-consultation-of-ngos/6th-meeting/ 

HEEFA Portal gets a makeover!
Check out the new HEEFA Portal and become the first to publish your projects, documents or expertise in the databases! Open a data-provider HEEFA account and share! 
The redesigned HEEFA Portal is more user-friendly. It includes:

• Spotlight on new members and projects: When you post your CV or publish new projects and documents, they are immediately featured on HEEFA’s homepage.
• Three databases: experts; projects; documents (theses, articles, reports)
• Upgraded search functions: a new basic search function and upgraded advance database search function
• An improved personal workspace: you can edit, stock and publish your data at any time
• Discussion forums: an interactive space to share your documents and to dialogue with the HEEFA community
• HEEFA Newsletter: send us information to publish and get read by 1000 subscribers worldwide

Tell us what you think about the new HEEFA Portal. Post your ideas in the forum or send us an email to help us improve the Portal.

 

II. News from the Reference Group
Global framework media and information literacy indicators
The IAU with selected members from the Reference Group have established a taskforce to work on a new initiative with the UNESCO Communication and Information Sector to develop a set of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) indicators as a standard so that countries can measure their citizen’s abilities to participate in Knowledge Societies. The project aims to provide a full package of tools and resources needed for the assessment of MIL competencies among teachers at higher, secondary and primary education level. Details to follow on the project and the IAU Reference Group's engagement.
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/media-development/media-literacy/global-framework-on-mil-indicators/

III. Other News of Interest (September-December 2012)
International
EFA progress stalling: 2012 Global Monitoring Report
The 2012 EFA Global Monitoring Report (GMR) shows that EFA progress is stalling and paints a stark picture of the global skill deficit. The report, Youth and skills: Putting education to work, focuses on skills necessary for young people to become productive citizens and examines how skills development programmes can be improved to boost young people’s opportunities for decent jobs and better lives.
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/reports/2012-skills/ 
UN Education First launched
The UN Secretary-General launched Education First, a new global initiative, aiming to raise the profile of education on the global agenda and energize on-going efforts to achieve EFA and MDGs committed to by the international community. Emphasising the long-term economic and social benefits of education investment, which stretch beyond 2015, Education First has laid out three priorities: putting every child in school; improving the quality of learning; fostering global citizenship.
http://www.globaleducationfirst.org/  
UNESCO Launches New Teacher Strategy for 2012-2015
UNESCO launched its teacher strategy for 2012-2015 which provides a three-objective framework for activities to be developed by UNESCO. It includes capacity development and reinforcement of teacher training institutions; improving teacher quality; informing the global debate on teaching.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002177/217775E.pdf?utm_source=Master+Newsletter+List&utm_campaign=ccd12b9c30-Newsletter_10_17_1210_17_2012&utm_medium=email 

Regional
Africa: Teachers for EFA
The International Task Force on Teachers for EFA convened to review the first phase of this global alliance, from 27 to 30 November in Windhoek, Namibia. It held a Policy Dialogue Forum, Three years of global partnership to address the teacher challenge - Three years from the 2015 EFA Benchmark: Achievements and Perspective and a PACTED meeting for the implementation of the African Union’s roadmap on Teacher Education in Africa adopted by the 5th Conference of Ministers, responsible for education in Africa (April 2012).
http://www.teachersforefa.unesco.org/int/en/overviewnamibia.html 

IV. Calls for Participation
Calls for papers
Education for development: Online consultation is open for the 2013 EFA Global Monitoring Report on the theme of teaching and learning for development. Comments and links to research reports, policy papers, evaluations, and other documents or datasets are welcome.
http://gmr2013consultation.wordpress.com/ 
Education and development: The UKFIET International Conference on Education and Development will accept papers from 7 January 2013 on the theme of Post 2015 Agenda.
Deadline: 1 March
http://www.cfbt.com/UKFIET/default.aspx 
Evaluating social impact: Engagement Australia invites proposals for the 2013 Next Steps Conference. Themes are Creating and evaluating social impact; Co-producing knowledge; Creating an engagement culture.
Deadline: 11 February
http://engagementaustralia.org.au/next-steps-conference/2013-conference/call-for-proposals/  
Literacy: The International Association for the Improvement of Mother Tongue Education (IAIMTE) invites papers for its 2013 International Colloquium, Literacies and effective learning and teaching for all.
Deadline: 20 December 2012
http://www.creteil.iufm.fr/evenements/9eme-colloque-international-iaimte/  
Post-2015 EFA Agenda: UNESCO and UNICEF seek input on online thematic discussions on education which will shape the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Four themes are scheduled from now to the end of February 2013.
http://www.worldwewant2015.org/education2015 
University-community engagement: Proposals are being accepted for the 6th International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education which will analyze how to build transformative knowledge to drive social change.
Deadline: 21 December 2012 
http://www.guninetwork.org/guni.conference/2013-guni-conference 
University-community engagement: Proposals are being accepted for the 2013 MacJannet Prize to award outstanding student community engagement initiatives.
Deadline: 8 February
http://talloiresnetwork.tufts.edu/about-the-macjannet-prize/  
Youth and outreach: The AYVP@AsiaEngage is looking to implement in-country projects with diverse stakeholders from higher education.
Deadline: 15 February
http://www.asiaengage.org/news-updates/ayvpasiaengage-ukm-call-for-in-country-project-partners/

 

V. Selected Publications and Information Sources
Articles
Community engagement and university rankings
http://pascalobservatory.org/pascalnow/blogentry/community-engagement-and-university-rankings  
Blogs
Taking the Plunge, a blog on university-community engagement
http://www.universityaffairs.ca/taking-the-plunge/ 
Publications
2012 EFA Global Monitoring Report: Youth and Skills, Putting Education to Work
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/reports/2012-skills/ 
AsiaEngage Conference Report: Higher Education-Community-Industry Engagement: Forging Meaningful Partnerships across ASEAN & Asia
http://talloiresnetwork.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/AsiaEngage-Conference-Report-2012-For-web-14-copy.pdf  
Community Engagement in African Universities: Perspectives, Prospects and Challenges
http://shop.niace.org.uk/engagement-in-african-universities.html  
Post-2015 Education MDGs
http://www.odi.org.uk/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/7776.pdf

VII. Prizes
2012 WISE Awards: Sub-category: Transforming Education
http://www.wise-qatar.org/content/2012-wise-awards  
Child Literacy: Read about the 32 projects to create innovative solutions to improve early grade reading in the developing world, selected for the All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development grant competition.
http://allchildrenreading.org/innovations  
EFA Crowdsourcing Challenge Prize winners
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/efa_crowdsourcing_challenge_prize_winners/ 

VII. Selected Upcoming Events (January-March 2013)
10-11 January: VI World Universities Forum: The role and future of universities in a changing world, Vancouver, Canada
http://ontheuniversity.com/conference-2013/  
21-23 January: International Conference in Higher Education Research: The Role of Multidisciplinary Research in the Reinvention of Higher Education: New Paradigms, Innovations, and Growth, Jakarta, Indonesia
http://www.iamure.com/?page_id=11988 
5-8 February: 5th World Conference on Educational Sciences, Rome, Italy
http://www.wces.info/index.htm 
21-24 February: IMPACT National Conference on Community Service, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
http://www.impactconference.org/  
4-6 March: 7th International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED), Valencia, Spain
http://iated.org/inted2013/ 
14-15 March: International Summit on the Teaching Profession, Amsterdam, Netherlands

The HEEFA Team
Next issue: 15 March 2013