As we near the end of MDGs in 2015, there is already a process in motion in the UN system and global civil society to begin to articulate the next big idea(s) for human development. One of the key Development Goals set up during the Millennium Summit in 2000 was access to primary education and basic literacy. Similar global commitments were enshrined in Education for ALL (EFA) declarations made even earlier—in 1990. As a consequence of these global commitments, and civil society pressures to fulfill these obligations, governments in many countries took important steps to universalize primary education and undertake large-scale programmes of functional literacy. In several countries, like India, substantial increases in public sector investments to primary education have been made since then. Many governments have created legislative mandates to make education a basic right. A Right To Education Act was passed in India in 2009 which creates the legal framework for education as a right for each child in India.

New school year begins in India this time around; all parents  are anxious to get their kids into a new school or class; new books, bags and uniforms have arrived; there is the fragrance  of a new beginning in the air as spring is giving way to the onset of summer as well. In this milieu, heated discussion is going on in public spaces about the feasibility of delivering this right to education to all kids, specially those from the poor and excluded households. The conditions and stipulations laid down in the implementation of this right to education are so utopian that the practical result may not show such desirable results.

The world has just last week celebrated International Women’s Day—a symbol of women’s struggles for equality and recognition. In thinking about the many different ways in which women’s leadership will be exercised around the world in the next 20 years, it became obvious that women’s leadership in institutions of post-secondary and higher education would be most critical.

In many parts of the world, in institutions of higher education, in higher education councils, ministries and other policy-making bodies, women continue to play  important leadership roles. Yet, more—much more—needs to happen. Women’s leadership in higher education will help shape the values and competencies of the next generation of leaders to develop resilience in responding to social conflicts and pressures from climate change. These challenges for the next generation of leaders can be posed to them as they prepare themselves in their years in institutions of higher education; in addition, the next generation of leaders can learn the repertoire of competencies that women’s leadership inspires and stimulates.

Dear Colleagues

I am writing this letter to you in deep anguish, as I read and hear about the numerous allegations and comments on ‘foreign funding’ of NGOs during the last couple of days.

News has just come in from UNESCO, Paris that a new UNESCO Chair on “Community-based Research and Social Responsibility of Higher Education” has been sanctioned. Dr Budd Hall of University of Victoria, Canada and Dr Rajesh Tandon of Society for Participatory Research in Asia, India have been nominated as Co-Chairs of this new initiative.

By approving the setting up of this UNESCO Chair, the global inter-governmental agency responsible for the promotion of higher education has publicly acknowledged the need for strengthening the practices of community-based research in institutions of higher education. It has also signaled the importance of higher education as a public good that must be sensitive to its larger social responsibility. This is the first time in the history of global policy-making on higher education that UNESCO has approved the creation of a stream of work on community-based research and social responsibility on higher education.

Post-secondary education in emerging markets must be developed through the lens of life-long learning for all. This was one of the conclusions reached by an eminent group of educationists, academics and policy-makers during the recently held Oxford Symposium on Tertiary Education in Emerging Markets.

The above perspective was necessitated by the scale and nature of demand for tertiary education in emerging markets. More and more young people, as well as practitioners in mid-careers, are looking for educational opportunities to upgrade their knowledge and skills to be able to productively improve their quality of life. Delegates from India, China, Brazil, South Africa, Colombia and Malaysia emphasized the need to analyse this demand beyond the requirements of growing economy. While demand for trained human resources was a critical determinant of demand for post-secondary education, changing individual, familial and societal aspirations for a better and more ‘enlightened’ life were also important determinants of such a demand.

The year 2011 will be remembered almost like 1968; student revolts on campuses across continents in 1968 brought in the recognition that educational institutions were not fulfilling the aspirations of the youth. Protests of students on campuses then focused on many aspects of their lives—from freedoms to education. In contrast, youth protest movements in 2011 have gathered in city centres and town-halls; the focus of protest is yearning for a better life for them, and a better world for all. The students in Chile have been demanding that post-secondary education be treated as a public good, and hence subsidized by the state. The movement of students began in April after a state university was ‘privatised’. Last year (and this year too), students in UK have been protesting against a three-fold rise in educational fees at post-secondary level. Students led the protest in Senegal against the regime’s authoritarian tendencies; so it was the youth of Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain…And, now the youth in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland are demanding livelihood with dignity.

The youth ‘unrest’  is a phenomenon worldwide today; it has multiple manifestations and sites of protests. The central question to understand this phenomenon is the nature and meaning of this ‘unrest’. Youth today spend nearly 20 years of their formative years in some educational institution---nursery, primary, secondary, tertiary. The design of all these educational institutions, the curricula, the pedagogy, and the assessment of outcomes are all controlled by ‘experts’-with-age. All educational institutions are thus in the hands of the ‘non-youth’, meant to ‘educate’ the youth. It is this contradiction in the perspectives and lens of youth and non-youth that creates the conditions for conflicts and dissatisfactions.

It is perhaps a season of economic gloom around the world. Eurozone crisis continues unabated; severe austerity measures and cuts in public spending in Ireland, UK, Greece, Spain and Italy—just to name a few---are affecting access to livelihood and basic social services to millions of Europeans today. Economic forecasts for America do not look much healthier either. Big Asian economies are facing high inflation, specially in food prices.

In this era of economic distress, discourse on ‘lifelong education’ may seem out of place; one may be tempted to ask about the relevance of education when survival is at stake. It is not that economic woes didn’t exist in pre-industrial societies; but, the coping mechanisms in those days were meditation and reflection. Reflection on the current state of economic crisis may suggest that this is precisely the time for mainstreaming lifelong education, not only in Europe, but elsewhere too.

Several recent events seem to have re-focused global attention on educational challenges of our times.

President Obama has been presenting science and technology innovations awards to students and scholars in America; he has been noticing that nearly half of the recipients are born outside the country. Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh has recently asked the research establishment of the country to move towards excellence in research and its applications to societal problems. The forthcoming UNESCO APEID conference is focusing on innovations and creativity in education. The Chinese government has been encouraging its graduates to spend some post-graduate time to study in Europe and North America so that they get global competitive knowledge.

Around the world, two phenomena have suddenly gained attention of political, economic and social leaders of our times. The first, of course, is the intensified, vocal, visible and powerful citizens’ movement—from Senegal, Thailand, India, Tunisia, Egypt, UK, Chile—everywhere. At the base of these movements are youth—young people from all strata and spaces of society. The message from these citizen movements is clear—the young citizens want to be engaged in the democratic development of their societies and communities.

The second phenomena is the increasing—rapidly increasing—demand for post-secondary education in all its myriad dimensions, forms and contents. Millions of aspirants are queuing up for enrolment, only constraints being cost, quality and delivery. Educational administrators, planners and policy-makers are yet to figure out how to respond to this surge and diversity of demands from all societies.