Ei-iE

Digital platforms are routinely used in universities to support teaching and learning, but they can also challenge academic freedom and intellectual property (IP) rights. In our new report for Education International, ‘Behind the platforms: Safeguarding intellectual property rights and academic freedom in Higher Education’ , we reviewed the landscape of...

On September 28, the International Day for Universal Access to Information, Education International hosted an online event entitled Pathways to pedagogy: Overcoming copyright obstacles for teacher resource access. The event launched three new pieces of research commissioned by Education International on copyright regimes and their impact on education and educators...

As the daughter of a refugee, education as a necessity was drummed into me. ‘You need to get a good education’ was my father’s lead mantra. My father was denied that right, and although he spoke seven languages, he could barely read one. My father saw education as a way...

For teachers who work across national borders, copyright and licensing restrictions can create barriers that prevent them from doing their work. This affects the quality of instruction, and also impedes the growth of global learning strategies that otherwise have the potential to lower the North/South gap in educational access.

Copyright gives authors exclusive control over their works. In education, however, the balance between access to information and respect for copyright is a major challenge. It is essential that we guarantee equitable access to protected knowledge while preserving the rights of artists and authors. Against this backdrop we have conducted...

Is it acceptable that we cannot use all the material we need to teach? What if we must submit every pedagogical decision involving something produced by a third person for legal clearance? When the alternative is to pay, what restrictions and exclusions does it imply?

The 43rd meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) concluded with major wins for the rights of teachers and researchers to adapt and choose materials for quality education and research. Education International participated together with member organisations CONADU (Argentina), AUSPS (Fiji),...

Legislation is meant not only to protect but to bring equity. And copyright legislation is not meant to be any different. However, the reality on the ground in a developing country like Fiji has only reinforced the inequity of access to and, more importantly, the use of information for learning...

E-commerce has emerged in recent years as critical part of commercial activity. With mounting online sale of goods and delivery of services, the implications of e-commerce for the education community arise at both the commercial and policy levels. Indeed, e-commerce and online education delivery played an increasingly prominent and important...

Access to knowledge is an important aspect of the right to education . In order to respond to the needs in the classroom, teachers often complement traditional teaching resources (e.g., textbooks and other curated materials) with a wide spectrum of materials from a variety of sources (e.g., short videos, images,...

This year’s World Intellectual Property Day is being dedicated to the theme of youth empowerment . The focus is on recognition of the role of youth “stepping up to innovation challenges, using their energy and ingenuity, their curiosity and creativity to steer a course towards a better future.” Intellectual property...

A legal instrument on copyright exceptions for the use of materials for teaching, learning, research, and the work of cultural heritage organisations is still not available. According to Education International, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) missed an opportunity at its recent Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR)...

Education International and six other Global Union Federations joined together in the Asia-Pacific Region to condemn the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), signed on Sunday, 15 November 2020. The trade pact was negotiated in secrecy over more than seven years and many provisions remain unknown. The GUFs cited the danger...

The World Intellectual Property Organization’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights meets this week against the backdrop of a global health crisis that has fundamentally changed the way we teach and learn. Now copyright law must catch up.

On the occasion of World Teachers’ Day, 5 October, the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union (KTU) called on the government to improve educators’ working and living conditions and the quality of education at all levels.

Many economists predict that the COVID-19 pandemic will produce the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Policies and the details of their implementation will not only determine if economic recovery is successful, but if that recovery accelerates or slows the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals...

On World Intellectual Property Day, 26 April, Education International calls for copyright legislation to be urgently updated to ensure open access to research and education materials for teachers and researchers across the world. This need has been intensified by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has caused an unprecedented disruption in...

The measures taken by most governments to try to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have been varied, and in some cases inadequate or too late. But almost everywhere in the world, cessation of face-to-face educational activities at all levels has been the rule.