In early May, the Global Challenge in Higher Education and Research (GHEAR) convened a planning workshop at UMass under the leadership of Joseph B. Berger, the chair of the WUN Global Challenge.
The Worldwide Universities Network’s (GHEAR) addresses the sources, mechanisms, and social structures that give rise to today's higher education challenges, and works collaboratively across the network to propose reform policies for international research and education.
The workshop was framed in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which emphasize lifelong learning and have a multiple emphases on the role of higher education as a key contributor to quality education at all levels. In fact, 6 of the ten targets for SDG 4 (Quality Education – Ensure Inclusive and Quality Education for All and Promote Lifelong Learning) focus on higher education in some manner.
GHEAR’s global challenge to address the sources, mechanisms, and social structures that give rise to today's higher education challenges, and works collaboratively across the network to propose reform policies for international research and education. More specifically, the GHEAR Steering Group has endorsed an approach that focuses on improving the outcome of mobility and equitable access to high quality and contextually relevant higher education that is supported by necessary levels of public and private financial investment.
University representatives attended the workshop from Australia, England, Ghana, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa and Taiwan, as well as US universities. Faculty and graduates of IE/CIE made presentations to discussion groups during the two-day workshop including:
Nigel Brissett (Ed.D. 2010) (right) A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Sangeeta Kamat & Ximena Zuniga – Inclusive Universities: Linking Diversity, Equity and Excellence for the 21st Century.
Kate Hudson & Cristine Smith (left) – Global Perspectives on Faculty Development around Teaching.
Joseph B. Berger & Gerardo Blanco Ramirez – SDG Targets and GHEAR: An Aligned Research Agenda.
Many current graduate students from the international education and the higher education programs in the College of Education attended the sessions.