UNESCO 2022 World Congress on Higher Education lays out roadmap for the next 10 year
Last week, more than 2,000 people attended the UNESCO 2022 World Congress on Higher Education in Barcelona, with the theme "Reinventing higher education for a sustainable future". The event was held with the collaboration of the City Council through Barcelona Science and Universities and was organized for the first time outside its headquarters in Paris. In addition, the World Higher Education Week was also held during the same week with the aim of giving citizens a voice in this international debate.
From 18 to 20 May, 27 ministers, 15 deputy ministers and 200 rectors and vice-rectors, 8,000 virtual participants and more than 1,700 face-to-face participants focused on higher education and the roadmap for the next ten years. During these conferences, the desire for the university of the immediate future to be more open, more inclusive and accessible, more flexible and more transversal was underlined. It was also stated that it should as well play a more relevant role in the social transformation of a complex world and carry the principles of the right to education, i.e. non-discrimination and equal opportunities, as its banner.
On the other hand, the sustainability of the education system was also part of the conversation. Miriam Nicado, Rector of the University of Havana, pointed out that “to achieve global sustainable development, universities have to link up with their socio-economic environment in order to transform not only the environment, but also society with its most vulnerable sectors”. Furthermore, it was concluded that “people’s right to higher education has to be made possible through equitable, highly funded and sustainable access”.
Stefania Gianninni, Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO, reaffirmed during the Congress that higher education has to continue to grow and improve, thinking outside the box, and that the way to do so is “learning, sharing, collaborating and acting together to lead the way in reinventing higher education and unleashing talent around the world”.
In parallel to this congress, activities have been held in various venues around the city as part of the World Higher Education Week. A week full of debates and round tables on topics such as the adaptation of higher education to the challenges of this century, inequalities in access to higher education and the link between higher education and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).