WORLD DECLARATION ON HIGHER EDUCATION
FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: VISION AND ACTION
AND
FRAMEWORK FOR PRIORITY ACTION FOR CHANGE
AND DEVELOPMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
adopted by the
WORLD CONFERENCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century:
Vision and Action
9 October 1998
Owing to the scope and pace of change, society has become increasingly knowledge-based so that higher learning and research now act
as essential components of cultural, socio-economic and environmentally sustainable development of individuals, communities and
nations.
Recalling also the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states in Article 26, paragraph 1, that ‘Everyone has the right to
education’ and that ‘higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit’, and endorsing the basic principles
of the Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960), which, by Article 4, commits the States Parties to it to ‘make higher
education equally accessible to all on the basis of individual capacity’,
Convinced that education is a fundamental pillar of human rights, democracy, sustainable development and peace, and shall therefore
become accessible to all throughout life and that measures are required to ensure co-ordination and co-operation across and between
the various sectors, particularly between general, technical and professional secondary and post-secondary education as well as
between universities, colleges and technical institutions,
MISSIONS AND FUNCTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Article 1 - Mission to educate, to train and to undertake research
Article 1 - Mission to educate, to train and to undertake research
We affirm that the core missions and values of higher education, in particular the mission to contribute to the sustainable development and improvement of society as a whole, should be preserved, reinforced and further expanded, namely, to:
(a) educate highly qualified graduates and responsible citizens able to meet the needs of all sectors of human activity, by offering relevant qualifications, including professional training, which combine high-level knowledge and skills, using courses and content continually tailored to the present and future needs of society;
(b) provide opportunities (espace ouvert) for higher learning and for learning throughout life, giving to learners an optimal range of choice and a flexibility of entry and exit points within the system, as well as an opportunity for individual development and social mobility in order to educate for citizenship and for active participation in society, with a worldwide vision, for endogenous capacity-building, and for the consolidation of human rights, sustainable development, democracy and peace, in a context of justice;
(c) advance, create and disseminate knowledge through research and provide, as part of its service to the community, relevant expertise to assist societies in cultural, social and economic development, promoting and developing scientific and technological research as well as research in the social sciences, the humanities and the creative arts;
(d) help understand, interpret, preserve, enhance, promote and disseminate national and regional, international and historic cultures, in a context of cultural pluralism and diversity;
(e) help protect and enhance societal values by training young people in the values which form the basis of democratic citizenship and by providing critical and detached perspectives to assist in the discussion of strategic options and the reinforcement of humanistic perspectives;
(f) contribute to the development and improvement of education at all levels, including through the training of teachers.
Article 2 - Ethical role, autonomy, responsibility and anticipatory function
In accordance with the Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel approved by the General Conference of UNESCO in November 1997, higher education institutions and their personnel and students should:
(a) preserve and develop their crucial functions, through the exercise of ethics and scientific and intellectual rigour in their various activities;
(b) be able to speak out on ethical, cultural and social problems completely independently and in full awareness of their responsibilities, exercising a kind of intellectual authority that society needs to help it to reflect, understand and act;
(c) enhance their critical and forward-looking functions, through continuing analysis of emerging social, economic, cultural and political trends, providing a focus for forecasting, warning and prevention;
(d) exercise their intellectual capacity and their moral prestige to defend and actively disseminate universally accepted values, including peace, justice, freedom, equality and solidarity, as enshrined in UNESCO’s Constitution;
(e) enjoy full academic autonomy and freedom, conceived as a set of rights and duties, while being fully responsible and accountable to society;
(f) play a role in helping identify and address issues that affect the well-being of communities, nations and global society.
SHAPING A NEW VISION OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Article 3 - Equity of access
Article 4 - Enhancing participation and promoting the role of women
Article 5 - Advancing knowledge through research in science, the arts and humanities and the dissemination of its results
Article 6 - Long-term orientation based on relevance
Article 7 - Strengthening co-operation with the world of work and analysing and anticipating societal needs
Article 8 - Diversification for enhanced equity of opportunity
Article 9 - Innovative educational approaches: critical thinking and creativity
(a) In a world undergoing rapid changes, there is a perceived need for a new vision and paradigm of higher education, which should be
student-oriented, calling in most countries for in-depth reforms and an open access policy so as to cater for ever more diversified
categories of people, and of its contents, methods, practices and means of delivery, based on new types of links and partnerships
with the community and with the broadest sectors of society.
(b) Higher education institutions should educate students to become well informed and deeply motivated citizens, who can think
critically, analyse problems of society, look for solutions to the problems of society, apply them and accept social
responsibilities.
(c) To achieve these goals, it may be necessary to recast curricula, using new and appropriate methods, so as to go beyond cognitive
mastery of disciplines. New pedagogical and didactical approaches should be accessible and promoted in order to facilitate the
acquisition of skills, competences and abilities for communication, creative and critical analysis, independent thinking and team
work in multicultural contexts, where creativity also involves combining traditional or local knowledge and know-how with advanced
science and technology. These recast curricula should take into account the gender dimension and the specific cultural, historic and
economic context of each country. The teaching of human rights standards and education on the needs of communities in all parts of
the world should be reflected in the curricula of all disciplines, particularly those preparing for entrepreneurship. Academic
personnel should play a significant role in determining the curriculum.
(d) New methods of education will also imply new types of teaching-learning materials. These have to be coupled with new methods of
testing that will promote not only powers of memory but also powers of comprehension, skills for practical work and creativity.
Article 10 - Higher education personnel and students as major actors
FROM VISION TO ACTION
Article 11 - Qualitative evaluation (Quality Evaluation
(a) Quality in higher education is a multidimensional concept, which should embrace all its functions, and activities: teaching and
academic programmes, research and scholarship, staffing, students, buildings, facilities, equipment, services to the community and
the academic environment. Internal self-evaluation and external review, conducted openly by independent specialists, if possible with
international expertise, are vital for enhancing quality. Independent national bodies should be established and comparative standards
of quality, recognized at international level, should be defined. Due attention should be paid to specific institutional, national
and regional contexts in order to take into account diversity and to avoid uniformity. Stakeholders should be an integral part of the
institutional evaluation process.
(b) Quality also requires that higher education should be characterized by its international dimension: exchange of knowledge,
interactive networking, mobility of teachers and students, and international research projects, while taking into account the
national cultural values and circumstances.
(c) To attain and sustain national, regional or international quality, certain components are particularly relevant, notably careful
selection of staff and continuous staff development, in particular through the promotion of appropriate programmes for academic staff
development, including teaching/learning methodology and mobility between countries, between higher education institutions, and
between higher education institutions and the world of work, as well as student mobility within and between countries. The new
information technologies are an important tool in this process, owing to their impact on the acquisition of knowledge and know-how.
Article 12 - The potential and the challenge of technology
Article 13 - Strengthening higher education management and financing
Article 14 - Financing of higher education as a public service
Article 15 - Sharing knowledge and know-how across borders and continents
Article 16 - From ‘brain drain’ to ‘brain gain’
Article 17 - Partnership and alliances
http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/wche/declaration_eng.htm
FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: VISION AND ACTION
AND
FRAMEWORK FOR PRIORITY ACTION FOR CHANGE
AND DEVELOPMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
adopted by the
WORLD CONFERENCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century:
Vision and Action
9 October 1998
Owing to the scope and pace of change, society has become increasingly knowledge-based so that higher learning and research now act
as essential components of cultural, socio-economic and environmentally sustainable development of individuals, communities and
nations.
Recalling also the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states in Article 26, paragraph 1, that ‘Everyone has the right to
education’ and that ‘higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit’, and endorsing the basic principles
of the Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960), which, by Article 4, commits the States Parties to it to ‘make higher
education equally accessible to all on the basis of individual capacity’,
Convinced that education is a fundamental pillar of human rights, democracy, sustainable development and peace, and shall therefore
become accessible to all throughout life and that measures are required to ensure co-ordination and co-operation across and between
the various sectors, particularly between general, technical and professional secondary and post-secondary education as well as
between universities, colleges and technical institutions,
MISSIONS AND FUNCTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Article 1 - Mission to educate, to train and to undertake research
Article 1 - Mission to educate, to train and to undertake research
We affirm that the core missions and values of higher education, in particular the mission to contribute to the sustainable development and improvement of society as a whole, should be preserved, reinforced and further expanded, namely, to:
(a) educate highly qualified graduates and responsible citizens able to meet the needs of all sectors of human activity, by offering relevant qualifications, including professional training, which combine high-level knowledge and skills, using courses and content continually tailored to the present and future needs of society;
(b) provide opportunities (espace ouvert) for higher learning and for learning throughout life, giving to learners an optimal range of choice and a flexibility of entry and exit points within the system, as well as an opportunity for individual development and social mobility in order to educate for citizenship and for active participation in society, with a worldwide vision, for endogenous capacity-building, and for the consolidation of human rights, sustainable development, democracy and peace, in a context of justice;
(c) advance, create and disseminate knowledge through research and provide, as part of its service to the community, relevant expertise to assist societies in cultural, social and economic development, promoting and developing scientific and technological research as well as research in the social sciences, the humanities and the creative arts;
(d) help understand, interpret, preserve, enhance, promote and disseminate national and regional, international and historic cultures, in a context of cultural pluralism and diversity;
(e) help protect and enhance societal values by training young people in the values which form the basis of democratic citizenship and by providing critical and detached perspectives to assist in the discussion of strategic options and the reinforcement of humanistic perspectives;
(f) contribute to the development and improvement of education at all levels, including through the training of teachers.
Article 2 - Ethical role, autonomy, responsibility and anticipatory function
In accordance with the Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel approved by the General Conference of UNESCO in November 1997, higher education institutions and their personnel and students should:
(a) preserve and develop their crucial functions, through the exercise of ethics and scientific and intellectual rigour in their various activities;
(b) be able to speak out on ethical, cultural and social problems completely independently and in full awareness of their responsibilities, exercising a kind of intellectual authority that society needs to help it to reflect, understand and act;
(c) enhance their critical and forward-looking functions, through continuing analysis of emerging social, economic, cultural and political trends, providing a focus for forecasting, warning and prevention;
(d) exercise their intellectual capacity and their moral prestige to defend and actively disseminate universally accepted values, including peace, justice, freedom, equality and solidarity, as enshrined in UNESCO’s Constitution;
(e) enjoy full academic autonomy and freedom, conceived as a set of rights and duties, while being fully responsible and accountable to society;
(f) play a role in helping identify and address issues that affect the well-being of communities, nations and global society.
SHAPING A NEW VISION OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Article 3 - Equity of access
Article 4 - Enhancing participation and promoting the role of women
Article 5 - Advancing knowledge through research in science, the arts and humanities and the dissemination of its results
Article 6 - Long-term orientation based on relevance
Article 7 - Strengthening co-operation with the world of work and analysing and anticipating societal needs
Article 8 - Diversification for enhanced equity of opportunity
Article 9 - Innovative educational approaches: critical thinking and creativity
(a) In a world undergoing rapid changes, there is a perceived need for a new vision and paradigm of higher education, which should be
student-oriented, calling in most countries for in-depth reforms and an open access policy so as to cater for ever more diversified
categories of people, and of its contents, methods, practices and means of delivery, based on new types of links and partnerships
with the community and with the broadest sectors of society.
(b) Higher education institutions should educate students to become well informed and deeply motivated citizens, who can think
critically, analyse problems of society, look for solutions to the problems of society, apply them and accept social
responsibilities.
(c) To achieve these goals, it may be necessary to recast curricula, using new and appropriate methods, so as to go beyond cognitive
mastery of disciplines. New pedagogical and didactical approaches should be accessible and promoted in order to facilitate the
acquisition of skills, competences and abilities for communication, creative and critical analysis, independent thinking and team
work in multicultural contexts, where creativity also involves combining traditional or local knowledge and know-how with advanced
science and technology. These recast curricula should take into account the gender dimension and the specific cultural, historic and
economic context of each country. The teaching of human rights standards and education on the needs of communities in all parts of
the world should be reflected in the curricula of all disciplines, particularly those preparing for entrepreneurship. Academic
personnel should play a significant role in determining the curriculum.
(d) New methods of education will also imply new types of teaching-learning materials. These have to be coupled with new methods of
testing that will promote not only powers of memory but also powers of comprehension, skills for practical work and creativity.
Article 10 - Higher education personnel and students as major actors
FROM VISION TO ACTION
Article 11 - Qualitative evaluation (Quality Evaluation
(a) Quality in higher education is a multidimensional concept, which should embrace all its functions, and activities: teaching and
academic programmes, research and scholarship, staffing, students, buildings, facilities, equipment, services to the community and
the academic environment. Internal self-evaluation and external review, conducted openly by independent specialists, if possible with
international expertise, are vital for enhancing quality. Independent national bodies should be established and comparative standards
of quality, recognized at international level, should be defined. Due attention should be paid to specific institutional, national
and regional contexts in order to take into account diversity and to avoid uniformity. Stakeholders should be an integral part of the
institutional evaluation process.
(b) Quality also requires that higher education should be characterized by its international dimension: exchange of knowledge,
interactive networking, mobility of teachers and students, and international research projects, while taking into account the
national cultural values and circumstances.
(c) To attain and sustain national, regional or international quality, certain components are particularly relevant, notably careful
selection of staff and continuous staff development, in particular through the promotion of appropriate programmes for academic staff
development, including teaching/learning methodology and mobility between countries, between higher education institutions, and
between higher education institutions and the world of work, as well as student mobility within and between countries. The new
information technologies are an important tool in this process, owing to their impact on the acquisition of knowledge and know-how.
Article 12 - The potential and the challenge of technology
Article 13 - Strengthening higher education management and financing
Article 14 - Financing of higher education as a public service
Article 15 - Sharing knowledge and know-how across borders and continents
Article 16 - From ‘brain drain’ to ‘brain gain’
Article 17 - Partnership and alliances
http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/wche/declaration_eng.htm
