Right to use to advanced education be supposed to be a global priority

Giants traffic access grow older and begin to retire. It is time for the next generation to take responsibility for the promotion and spread of higher education as a universal opportunity to take up the battle for education as a public good and a public responsibility and inalienable human right.

Evidence in two important events in the international educational recently showed that the student movement is ready and able to take up the challenge.

In recent decades, and higher education in Europe moved from an elite privilege to a mass phenomenon, institutions and governments to radically change strained statistics for enrollment. But access to higher education still remains largely a thing for low- and middle echelons of society.

The next step - from mass to universal higher education - requires imagination, vision and most importantly, the courage of leaders of institutions and governments. Simply put, universities can no longer afford to act as elite institutions, governments and can no longer allow them to.

Important events in Thailand and Canada

In September and October, two events were held on opposite sides of the world, with remarkable consistency between their performance and sense of purpose of the participants.

In Chiang Mai in Thailand, the third Asia Europe Education was organized seminar "Beyond Academic Benchmark - Public excellence in higher education" of the Asia-Europe Foundation. Shortly thereafter, in Montreal in Canada, the European Access Network organized the first World Congress for access to higher education.

In Thailand, small and carefully selected group of leaders from academia and industry, researchers and students from Asia and Europe discussed common challenges of achieving a "public performance" - a term used to encompass everything from access and support to find work and civic responsibilities graduates

These issues are made even more challenging in the face of strong international competition between countries and universities and at a time when the world's media gives so much confidence in the academic ranking of universities.

How countries and universities can become leaders in social responsibility, and every time the pressure is on them to produce small numbers of specialized graduates?

In Montreal, there was a much larger collection composed of traffic access worldwide engaged in a profound debate about how post-secondary education can become a viable prospect for as many people worldwide as possible. This amazingly broad agenda covered issues of financial mechanisms and strategies for recruitment in science and society for children and repeated the question of gender equality in higher education.