Ei-iE

The EI Standing Committee on Higher education and Research met in Oslo on September 26-28.

In 1992, when the Sinaia Statement on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy was adopted under the auspices of UNESCO, it stated: “history has shown that violations of academic freedom and institutional autonomy have high costs in intellectual regression, social alienation and economic stagnation.”

EI strongly supports the alerts issued recently by both the Council of Europe and UNESCO about bogus Higher Education institutions using their names as marks of accreditation.

EI participated at the Council of Europe's Forum on Higher Education and Democratic Culture 22- 23 June, Strasbourg, France . Participants comprised higher education leaders, student representatives and public policy makers from Europe, North America and other regions of the world.

During its (26-30) June sitting, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a Recommendation on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy.

EI put the case for a new approach to public higher education and research at a high-profile meeting of Education Ministers from 35 countries, convened by the OECD in Athens, Greece, this week (27-28 June).

Striking lecturers at Glasgow University are to have their wages docked as their bosses try to end the deadlock over pay.

EI affiliate the Botswana Teachers' Union (BTU) has expressed concern that the diploma in Primary Education programme by distance learning introduced by the University of Botswana (UB) in 1999 has yet to produce a graduate.

The new issue of EI's bulletin on GATS and the WTO, TradEducation, has just been published. In this issue, we talk about the New Zealand government spearheading an effort to open up their private higher education "market", EI's meeting with key WTO negotiators and rules on domestic regulations.

EI held a series of meetings with the officials and negotiators of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as services negotiations resumed in Geneva this week. Monique Fouilhoux, EI’s education and employment co-ordinator, was joined by representatives of affiliates from Australia, Canada, and Denmark.

The EI Research Network is holding its second meeting in Brussels from 29-30 March. The network comprises research officers from EI affiliates.

On March 23, EI affiliates the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the University and College Lecturers’ Union (NATFHE) organised a conference on “Brain Drain” as the final stage of a two-year project on the subject, which had its origins within the EI’s higher education debates.

EI affiliates the AUT and NATFHE have reacted with astonishment and anger at news today that the Universities and Colleges Employers (Ucea) Association have gone back on a commitment to meet them next week to try and resolve the current pay dispute for higher education staff.

EI recently attended a convention held by the "National Unions of Students in Europe" (ESIB) from 10-14 March in Vienna, Austria, on the "Higher Education and the Lisbon strategy ". EI was also part of a panel on a discussion session entitled "Who cares? Who dares?" on the "Lisbon strategy...

The EI Pan-European Standing Commitee for Higher Education and Research conducted a meeting recently in Sesimbra, Portugal, from 16-18 March, with a seminar on the "New Developments in Higher Education and Research: Consequences for the academic personnel" within the framework of the ETUCE-TRACE Project.

Canadian EI affiliate CAUT has released a new report that shows under-representation of women among academic staff has been a persistent and troubling feature of universities and colleges in Canada.

Members of EI affiliates the AUT and NATFHE are taking strike action today because they say promises to use new money coming into the higher education sector to improve staff pay have been broken.

A coalition of EI affiliates in the UK have joined the National Union of Students (NUS) to fight against any tuition fee increases in the run up to a funding review planned for 2008. This could result in the removal of the £3,000 cap on tuition fees by 2010.