Key Themes of the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference
● Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and society.
● Disruption effects on higher education (public, private).
● Response of higher education to COVID-19 crisis.
● Moving ahead to the “new normality” and facing new emergencies.
● Innovative solutions and lessons learned from COVID-19 disruption. Higher Education and the SDGs
● Relevant research agendas for human development.
● Global citizenship: embedding the 17 SDGs in teaching, learning, research.
● SDG4: progress, gaps, and options (role of higher education to improve the whole education system and the teaching profession).
● Capacity building for research in higher education institutions and other actors.
● Third mission of higher education institutions: community services and local practices adopting global perspectives. Inclusion in Higher Education
● Leaving no one behind: enabling vulnerable groups to enter, transit and complete higher education.
● Equity policies and equal distribution of opportunities; right to higher education.
● Financial support to youth from low-income families (including scholarships).
● Enhancing gender equality in higher education.
● The value of ethnic diversity and multiculturality in higher education.
● Universal service and design to ensure inclusion of individuals leaving with disabilities.
● Diminishing inequities, promoting diversity and maximising outcomes for all graduates. Quality and Relevance of Programmes
● Diversification and flexibility of curriculum, programmes, and courses.
● Expanding use of ICTs and AI to enhance learning and collaboration.
● Quality assurance of innovative higher learning modalities and spaces.
● Partnerships for success: students, teachers, employers, communities.
● Advancing learning skills for evolving workforce paths.
● Innovative post-secondary options in tertiary education. Academic Mobility in Higher Education
● National and institutional policies and practices for widening access to students with different backgrounds.
● Institutions as lifelong learning communities for all.
● Teachers and researchers in an increasingly diverse campus.
● Building a global campus of learning, teaching and research.
● Acknowledging talents, skills, knowledge, and competences for diversity.
● Recognition of qualifications concerning higher education. Higher Education Governance
● System level governance in higher education.
● Higher education institutions governance and responsiveness to dynamic contexts.
● Participation, diversity, and pluralism in higher education.
● Institutional autonomy, organisational effectiveness, and accountability. Financing Higher Education
● Financial options for access, quality, equity and inclusion in higher education.
● Per-student investment in higher education.
● Optimising public investment in higher education: impact and accountability.
● Private sector investment in higher education.
● Cost-effectiveness in higher education.
● Developing/sustaining a global fund for higher education. Data and Knowledge Production
● Monitoring higher education in the framework of SDG4 and the 2030 Agenda.
● Towards global quality standards of data collection, processing and delivery.
● Machine learning, big data and data analysis in higher education.
● Use of information for policy decision making and organisational quality improvement.
● Mapping global quality, equity and inclusion. International Cooperation to Enhance Synergies
● Articulating inter-governmental initiatives in favour of higher education.
● Collaboration strategies of international donors and sponsors in higher education.
● Higher education and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
● Links with open sciences and open learning movements.
● Networks, platforms and knowledge management for advancing international cooperation.
● Use of knowledge, technology, and innovation to promote collaboration. The Futures of Higher Education
● Higher education for the global common good beyond 2030.
● Critical risks and challenges for higher education beyond 2030.
● Long term trajectories in higher education for sustainable societies.
● Implications of disruptive change for educational, research, and civic missions.
● Epistemologies, research and knowledge for the common good.
● Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and society.
● Disruption effects on higher education (public, private).
● Response of higher education to COVID-19 crisis.
● Moving ahead to the “new normality” and facing new emergencies.
● Innovative solutions and lessons learned from COVID-19 disruption. Higher Education and the SDGs
● Relevant research agendas for human development.
● Global citizenship: embedding the 17 SDGs in teaching, learning, research.
● SDG4: progress, gaps, and options (role of higher education to improve the whole education system and the teaching profession).
● Capacity building for research in higher education institutions and other actors.
● Third mission of higher education institutions: community services and local practices adopting global perspectives. Inclusion in Higher Education
● Leaving no one behind: enabling vulnerable groups to enter, transit and complete higher education.
● Equity policies and equal distribution of opportunities; right to higher education.
● Financial support to youth from low-income families (including scholarships).
● Enhancing gender equality in higher education.
● The value of ethnic diversity and multiculturality in higher education.
● Universal service and design to ensure inclusion of individuals leaving with disabilities.
● Diminishing inequities, promoting diversity and maximising outcomes for all graduates. Quality and Relevance of Programmes
● Diversification and flexibility of curriculum, programmes, and courses.
● Expanding use of ICTs and AI to enhance learning and collaboration.
● Quality assurance of innovative higher learning modalities and spaces.
● Partnerships for success: students, teachers, employers, communities.
● Advancing learning skills for evolving workforce paths.
● Innovative post-secondary options in tertiary education. Academic Mobility in Higher Education
● National and institutional policies and practices for widening access to students with different backgrounds.
● Institutions as lifelong learning communities for all.
● Teachers and researchers in an increasingly diverse campus.
● Building a global campus of learning, teaching and research.
● Acknowledging talents, skills, knowledge, and competences for diversity.
● Recognition of qualifications concerning higher education. Higher Education Governance
● System level governance in higher education.
● Higher education institutions governance and responsiveness to dynamic contexts.
● Participation, diversity, and pluralism in higher education.
● Institutional autonomy, organisational effectiveness, and accountability. Financing Higher Education
● Financial options for access, quality, equity and inclusion in higher education.
● Per-student investment in higher education.
● Optimising public investment in higher education: impact and accountability.
● Private sector investment in higher education.
● Cost-effectiveness in higher education.
● Developing/sustaining a global fund for higher education. Data and Knowledge Production
● Monitoring higher education in the framework of SDG4 and the 2030 Agenda.
● Towards global quality standards of data collection, processing and delivery.
● Machine learning, big data and data analysis in higher education.
● Use of information for policy decision making and organisational quality improvement.
● Mapping global quality, equity and inclusion. International Cooperation to Enhance Synergies
● Articulating inter-governmental initiatives in favour of higher education.
● Collaboration strategies of international donors and sponsors in higher education.
● Higher education and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
● Links with open sciences and open learning movements.
● Networks, platforms and knowledge management for advancing international cooperation.
● Use of knowledge, technology, and innovation to promote collaboration. The Futures of Higher Education
● Higher education for the global common good beyond 2030.
● Critical risks and challenges for higher education beyond 2030.
● Long term trajectories in higher education for sustainable societies.
● Implications of disruptive change for educational, research, and civic missions.
● Epistemologies, research and knowledge for the common good.
