Ei-iE

EI’s 7th International Higher Education and Research Conference was held in Canada, from 10-12 September, and was attended by more than 130 participants from all corners of the globe.

More than 35 participants from Africa, Europe and the Middle East have converged in Fribourg, Switzerland, to assess developments in education across the French-speaking world.

Following the success of 7 September’s general strike, trade unions in France have called for another coordinated national strike across all sectors in opposition to the pension reform proposals being rushed through Parliament by President Sarkozy’s administration.

The non-profit organisation ‘Peace One Day’ has launched a free global education resource pack with lesson plans to help young people learn about non-violence, conflict resolution and inter-cultural cooperation in schools.

World leaders are gathering in New York this week for an historic event: the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit.

EI Latin America (IEAL) Women’s Network has celebrated its fourth Southern Cone regional meeting in Argentina from 8 to 9 September.

EI has launched a global on-line petition calling on the Colombian government to release Miguel Ángel Beltrán, a university professor and trade unionist who has been imprisoned on charges that violate his basic right to academic freedom.

The latest issue of EI’s flagship magazine features a series of articles on World Teachers’ Day; the failure of recent G8 and G20 summits on education, and development from the E-9 Ministers’ Education Forum amongst others.

Unions have marked International Literacy Day with a series of global events. EI participated in the Centre for Universal Education and International Reading Association’s launch of a study into early reading which calls for urgent support of assessments and instruction.

Despite unequivocal evidence of the economic crisis resulting from unrestrained financial markets a new report from the OECD argues for spending efficiencies and pursuit of failed market mechanisms in education.

The latest issue of EI's Asia-Pacific Newsletter is now available for download on the EI website.

On 5 October, World Teachers’ Day, tens of thousands of students, parents and activists around the world will pay homage to all teachers who have been directly, or indirectly, affected by a major crisis.

Public sector unions in South Africa have been in negotiation with the government to secure a living wage and increased housing allowances for workers.

The parliament in Australia’s most populous state has voted to allow same-sex couples the same rights to adopt as heterosexuals.

A European Union-funded programme to support Somali administrations in developing a well-structured education and training system has been launched in north east and north west Somalia.

With EI's help, three Pakistani teachers' organisations will support thousands of educators who lost their homes and personal belongings. They will provide up to 30,000 victims with aid supplies including clean water, clothing and tents.

Prior to the UN Millennium Development Goal Summit, held in New York from 20-22 Sep, Global March is launching a campaign for the inclusion of child labour elimination as a priority to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Many teaching positions within German schools remain vacant just weeks before the start of a new school year. Research from Germany’s largest education unions, the GEW and VBE, estimates that almost 45,000 posts are unfilled, with acute shortages in subjects such as mathematics and the sciences.