Presentation by Djeneba Traore, Director General, West Africa Institute (WAI), Cape Verde, at International Association of Universities Conference 'From HEEFA to SDG4: Building on Achievements', Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site 8 - 9 October 2015 - Barcelona, Spain

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The Commitment of Higher Education to EFA
Statement of the HEEFA Workshop at the Hacettepe University Ankara, Turkey,
on 18-19 November 2014
The HEEFA Project is a unique and innovative process that started in Maputo, Mozambique
in 2007 at the IAU Experts Seminar titled: “Higher Education and Education For All: The
Case of Two Solitudes?” The meeting was the response of a real and urgent need for
exploration of the linkages between higher education and the EFA initiative. Further to its
holding, several actions were undertaken in order to build a bridge between the two
education levels, notably:
 An international Reference Group was created;
 An Information kit was drafted and published to both address and answer the
questions of what is EFA, why and how should HE get involved; where can HE
activities be developed, and who is engaged?
 The collaborative HEEFA Portal and the HEEFA Newsletter were set up to respond to
the request of more information sharing, and
 The collaborative workshop “A three-step activity to envision higher education for
Education for All to the request of developing capacity building activities” took place.
EFA, as scheduled by the UN agenda of 2000, will end in December 2015. EFA
achievements are remarkable, but it must be underlined that any goal has been fully reached
and in addition, new issues (for instance ICT4ALL; innovative learning and teaching;
paradigm change in the relationships between teachers & students) have emerged requiring
immediate international responses based on research works).
In order to pursue the efforts carried out, the UN has drafted a new development agenda,
called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 adopted in September 2015. To
date, the SDG Working Group outcome document has defined 17 sustainable development
goals, with one focusing on education including Universities for the first time. The education
goal is Goal 4. It aims at ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting
life-long learning opportunities for all. Universities are cited in target 4.3.
The 2015 World Education Forum of May 2015 has set the international education agenda to
2030 marking the end of the Dakar Framework for Action. Aligned with the UN post 2015
development agenda - ratified during the 68th session UN General Assembly, in September
2014 - this new framework will be the culminating result of several conferences and events
which outcomes will feed into the WEF discussions.
To specially underline the growing significance of the involvement of Higher Education in the
EFA process, a HEEFA workshop was organized at the Hacettepe University in Ankara,
Turkey, from 18-19 November 2014.
The participants to the workshop expressed their full engagement for EFA and emphasized
the following key reasons:

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1. Through its triple-pronged mission of teaching, research and outreach/community
service, higher education has potentially much to offer to the realization of the EFA and
MDG targets, through its triple-pronged mission of teaching, research.
2. Education requires an holistic approach, its different levels being inter-related and
interdependent.
3. Multi stakeholder partnerships are the way forward given that the success of EFAand
MDGs will impact on all sectors of society, therefore a constructive dialogue on how to meet
these objectives is highly recommended.
4. Local challenges are best solved locally. To this effect, academics and researchers can
draw on long-standing experience of international exchanges and comprehensive networks
to access and adapt expertise from elsewhere to local needs.
5. Higher Education involvement in EFA inevitably and equally serves the HE sector:
Making solid contributions to EFA and MDGs will improve higher education’s overall image,
at times still considered as isolated in an ivory tower. Furthermore, HE needs to study and
plan for the impact of achieving EFA and MDGs on its own absorptive capacity and develop
policies to meet the challenge of increased numbers of secondary-school graduates and
adults seeking (continuing) their education.
The question now is: How can concretly Higher Education get involved in the
achievement of the EFAand MDGs?
The participants to the Ankara workshop made following proposals :
As a Higher Education institution or research center, it is possible to encourage,
promote, and lead research projects, teach and create a link with the local communities in
order to offer services related to the different areas which contribute to meeting the EFA and
MDGs goals;
As a faculty, department, or laboratory, Higher Education can develop new research
projects and encourage students to undertake post-graduate research in EFA/MDGs.
As an HE professor or researcher, it is possible to teach, to conduct research projects
and carry out community service activities to issues related to EFA or MDGs. They can also
create awareness of these initiatives and stimulating dialogue with students; HE professors
and researchers can also participate in conferences and capacity building programmes
related to EFA and MDGs.
The contribution of HE students can also be relevant. Indeed, they can choose a research
theme linked to EFA and MDGs’ issues. They can ask questions or consider how learning
and research in any field being undertaken may relate to the challenges of EFA and MDGs
and finally, they can participate in community service activities related to EFA and MDGs.
It is obvious that HE can bring a relevant contribution to the realization of EFA and MCGs.
The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 by the UN shows that an
important path has been carried out in this perspective. For the first time, further to the
actions undertaken by the HEEFA Project in terms of advocacy and outcome sharing, the
involvement of HE for EFA has been clearly required. In the solving process of EFA
constraints and challenges, the expertise and potential of academics and researchers will be
a great add value.
However, the issue of how to fund an ambitious HEEFA research program has to be solved.