IAU-HEEFA Newsletter No. 24

HEEFA Newsletter, No. 24, 15 December 2014
Linking the HE Community to EFA and related MDGs
http://www.heefa.net

I. IAU HEEFA Project
HEEFA and e-accessibility for learning
IAU and Haceteppe University organized a Follow-up Seminar on the IAU HEEFA Project and links with ICT for Information Accessibility in Learning (ICT4IAL) from 18 to 19 November in Ankara Turkey. ICT4IAL is a European Union-funded project in which the IAU is a partner. The draft report of the Seminar is available online here. Participants are invited to forward comments by 15 January 2015.
For more information on the Seminar and the HEEFA Project, click here. Contact: Isabelle Turmaine

Nadja Kymlicka who has been working on the IAU HEEFA project since 2006 will be leaving the IAU at the end of 2015 to pursue her career in teaching. She has been working with Isabelle Turmaine on HEEFA since 2006.

II. Other News of Interest (September-December 2014)
Nobel Peace Prize awarded to education advocates. Malala Yousafzai, known for her fierce battle for the right for girls to go to school in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and Kailash Satyarthi, a children’s rights and anti-child labour activist, were awarded this distinguished prize.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2014/
2 IAU Board Members elected on university social responsibility network. Olive Mugenda, Vice-Chancellor of Kenyatta University and Chair of the HEEFA Reference Group, and Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor of University of Ghana, now sit on the Steering Committee of the Talloires Network, an association of higher education universities to strengthen university social responsibility.
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/
Post-2015 developments at UNESCO
EFA Steering Committee Meeting Report. The EFA Steering Committee convened in preparation for the World Education Forum which will set the post 2015 Framework of Action. In reviewing the education goals in the Sustainable Development Goals, it considered that “affordable” higher education should be dropped.
http://heefa.net/files/EFASCMeeting_Report_Oct2014.pdf
World Declaration to streamline education in post 2015. More than 1,000 participants at the 3-day World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, 10-12 November, adopted the Aichi-Nagoya Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development which urged action to mainstream education in the UN post-2015 development agenda.
http://www.unesco.org/
Nagoya Declaration on Higher Education for Sustainable Development. 700 delegates from higher education institutions adopted the Nagoya Declaration on 9 November which reaffirms the responsibility of higher education to pursue sustainable development and commits their support to further advancing sustainable development through education for sustainable development.
Nagoya Declaration: http://www.c-linkage.com/for/hesd/declaration.html
Read the IAU Declaration on Higher Education for Sustainable Development (pp 114-128):
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002301/230171e.pdf
ICTs and persons with disabilities. The first ever high-level conference, From Exclusion to Empowerment: Role of ICT for Persons with Disabilities, held in New Delhi, India, 24-26 November, explored the choices and opportunities available to people with disabilities using ICTs with particular attention given to education, information and knowledge, as well as economic empowerment through improved access to work and more social inclusion.
http://www.unesco-ci.org/ict-pwd/
Post-2015 developments at the UN
UN Secretary-General Synthesis Report. The UN Secretary-General published his synthesis report on the post 2015 agenda, entitled The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet, in which there is no reference to higher education.
http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/5527SR_advance%20unedited_final.pdf
SDG data. The United Nations Secretary-General’s Independent Expert Advisory Group released its report, Mobilising the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development, in which it recommends a special fund to tackle the literacy and posits the idea of a global platform to compile SDG data.
http://www.undatarevolution.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/A-World-That-Counts.pdf
Negotiation process. The Co-facilitators for the intergovernmental negotiations have put forward a series of working methods and a timetable and defined a scope comprised of the SDGs, targets and indicators; implementation and a new Global Partnership; and a monitoring framework. It also includes discussion on possible implications of the post-2015 agenda for the UN system and its institutions ("UN Fit for Purpose").
http://www.un.org/pga/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/11/141114_post-2015-agenda.pdf
Civil society and post 2015 negotiations. The Beyond 2015 Copenhagen CSO Conference, held on 13-14 November, brought together 170 global civil society organizations to take stock of the Post-2015 agenda and the global goals for sustainable development and to engage in CSO strategizing for the crucial and final year of the Post-2015 negotiations.
http://www.beyond2015.org/copenhagen-conference-2014

III. Where to Learn More on Higher Education for EFA
Outreach
Can community action open up universities? Article from the World University News, 14 November.
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20141113101817452
Teacher training
Technology for All – Nothing is Impossible Project brought together higher educational institutions across Asia Pacific to increase awareness of students with disabilities and provide resources on basic assistive technology for teachers’ use.
http://www.unescobkk.org/

IV. Where to Advance Higher Education for EFA
Calls for Participation
Education innovation. The submission period for the 2015 WISE Awards is open which rewards six innovative education projects for their contribution to education and society. Deadline: 15 January
Educational research. Submit a proposal to the European Conference on Education on the theme of Education, Power and Empowerment: Changing and Challenging Communities. Deadline: 1 March
Global Citizenship. The 2015 MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship is now open for nominations. Deadline: 23 January
Lifelong learning. Register your activity for the IX International Council of Adult Education (ICAE) World Assembly on Adult Education and Lifelong Learning to be held at the University of Montréal in June 2015.
Post-2015 Education. UNESCO invites views of the 2016 Global Monitoring Report on the theme of education’s role in sustainable development. Deadline: 28 January
Post-2015 Education. Share your views on how progress in education should be measured by taking part in a global online consultation organized by the Technical Advisory Group and led by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Deadline: 30 January
Post 2015 SDGs. Call for civil society reaction to the UN Secretary-General Synthesis Report was launched by the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service.
Selected events
15-17 December: 2014 International Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations, Re-enchanting the World with the Post-2015 Development Agenda – A collaboration between NGOs and UNESCO, Paris, France
http://www.ngo-unesco.net/en/?page_id=218
19-21 January: Intergovernmental Negotiations on Post-2015 Development Agenda – First Session, New York, USA
http://www.un.org/pga/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/11/141114_post-2015-agenda.pdf
20-22 January: International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HETL), Reaching the Summit: Explorations in Meaningful Learning through Community Engagement, Orem, Utah, USA
https://www.hetl.org/events/2015-hetl-sote-utah-conference/
28-30 January: 2nd UNESCO Forum on Global Citizenship Education, Paris, France
http://en.unesco.org/events/second-unesco-forum-global-citizenship-education
5-6 February: 4th World Forum on Lifelong Learning, Paris, France
http://www.cma-lifelonglearning.org/
5-7 March: 10th Annual Education and Development Conference, Bangkok, Thailand
http://www.ed-conference.org/
9-10 March: 3rd Global Summit on Education, Trends and Challenges in Education, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
http://worldconferences.net/gse2015/
29-30 March: International Summit on the Teaching Profession, Banff, Canada
http://istp2015.org/index.html
29 March – 1 April: ACE-ID 2015 - The Asian Conference on Education and International Development, Education, Power and Empowerment: Education as an Instrument of Global Transformation, Osaka, Japan
http://aceid.iafor.org/

19-22 May 2015 World Education Forum, Incheon, South Korea

HEEFA Team
Next Issue: 15 March 2015