Masterplan Paradigm for Employment Centric Tertiary / Higher Education

1. There is an unprecedented demand for and a great diversification in teritary/higher education, as well as an increased awareness of its vital importance for sociocultural and economic development, and for building the future, for which the younger generations will need to be equipped with new skills, knowledge and ideals.

2. Tertiary/Higher education includes ‘all types of studies, teaching, training and research at the post-secondary level, provided by universities or other educational establishments that are approved as institutions of tertiary/higher education by the competent authorities.

3. Everywhere tertiary/higher education is faced with great challenges and difficulties related to financing, equity of conditions at access into and during the course of studies, improved staff development, skills-based training, enhancement and preservation of quality in teaching, research and services, relevance of programmes, employability of graduates, post-graduates and doctorates, establishment of efficient co-operation agreements and equitable access to the benefits of international co-operation.

4. At the same time, tertiary/higher education is being challenged by new opportunities relating to technologies that are improving the ways in which knowledge can be produced, managed, disseminated, accessed and controlled. Equitable access to these technologies should be ensured at all levels of education systems.

5. The initial years of this century and the last 50 years of the twentieth century will go down in the history of tertiary/higher education as the period of its most spectacular expansion: an over sixfold increase in student enrolments worldwide. But it is also the period which has seen the gap between the industrially developed, the developing countries and in particular the least developed countries with regard to access and resources for tertiary/higher learning and research, already enormous, becoming even wider. It has also been a period of increased socio-economic stratification and greater difference in educational opportunity within countries, including in some of the most developed and wealthiest nations.

6. Without adequate tertiary/higher education and research institutions providing a critical mass of skilled and educated people, no country can ensure genuine endogenous and sustainable development and, in particular, developing countries and the least developed countries cannot reduce the gap separating them from the industrially developed ones. Sharing knowledge, international co-operation and new technologies can offer new opportunities to reduce this gap.

7. Tertiary / Higher education has given ample proof of its viability over the centuries and of its ability to change and to induce change and progress in society. 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.

8. Tertiary / Higher education itself is confronted, therefore, with formidable challenges and must proceed to the most radical change and renewal it has ever been required to undertake, so that our society, which is currently undergoing a profound crisis of values, can transcend mere economic considerations and incorporate deeper dimensions of morality and spirituality.

9. It is with the aim of providing solutions to these challenges and of setting in motion a process of in-depth reform in tertiary / higher education worldwide that we are designing a Masterplan Paradigm for introducing development systems for strengthening the cause of tertiary / higher education in the third millennium.

We, the Countries in the Afro-Asian region,

10. Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states in Article 26, paragraph 1, that ‘Everyone has the right to education’ and that ‘tertiary / 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 tertiary / higher education equally accessible to all on the basis of individual capacity’.

11. 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.

12. Believing that, in this context, the solution of the problems faced in the twenty-first century will be determined by the vision of the future society and by the role that is assigned to education in general and to tertiary / higher education in particular.

13. Aware that at the beginning of a new millennium it is the duty of tertiary / higher education to ensure that the values and ideals of a culture of peace prevail and that the intellectual community should be mobilized to that end.

14. Considering that a substantial change and development of tertiary / higher education, the enhancement of its quality and relevance, and the solution to the major challenges it faces, require the strong involvement not only of governments and of tertiary / higher education institutions, but also of all stakeholders, including students and their families, teachers, business and industry, the public and private sectors of the economy, legislatures, the media, the community, professional associations and society as well as a greater responsibility of tertiary / higher education institutions towards society and accountability in the use of public and private, national or international resources;

15. Emphasizing that tertiary / higher education systems should enhance their capacity to live with uncertainty, to change and bring about change, and to address social needs and to promote solidarity and equity; should preserve and exercise scientific rigour and originality, in a spirit of impartiality, as a basic prerequisite for attaining and sustaining an indispensable level of quality; and should place students at the centre of their concerns, within a lifelong perspective, so as to allow their full integration into the global knowledge society of this new century; and

16. Also believing that international co-operation and exchange are major avenues for advancing tertiary / higher education throughout the world.

Proclaim the following:

We affirm that the core missions and values of tertiary / 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:

17. 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.

18. Provide opportunities for tertiary / 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.

19. 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.

20. Help understand, interpret, preserve, enhance, promote and disseminate national and regional, international and historic cultures, in a context of cultural pluralism and diversity.

21. 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; and

22. Contribute to the development and improvement of education at all levels, including through the training of teachers.

Tertiary / Higher education institutions and their personnel and students should :

23. Preserve and develop their crucial functions, through the exercise of ethics and scientific and intellectual rigour in their various activities.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. Exercise their intellectual capacity and their moral prestige to defend and actively disseminate universally accepted values, including peace, justice, freedom, equality and solidarity.

27. Enjoy full academic autonomy and freedom, conceived as a set of rights and duties, while being fully responsible and accountable to society.

28. Play a role to help identify and to address issues that affect the well-being of communities, nations and global society.