HIGHER EDUCATION, INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE AND SOCIAL DIMENSION

1
HIGHER EDUCATION, INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE AND
SOCIAL DIMENSION

• Sjur Bergan
• Council of Europe
• Nicosia, April 4, 2008

2
LIVING IN THE AGE OF THE ECONOMY?

• Employment
• Competitiveness
• Use of resources
• Purchasing power as a political issue
• Economic performance

3
ONLY THE ECONOMY?

• Four events end 2007
• Pakistan
• Kenya
• Hand over of EU Presidency from Portugal to
  Slovenia
• Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and the
  International Panel on Climate Change
• And one on April 4
• Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King 40 years
  ago

4
SO IT IS NOT JUST THE ECONOMY

• Environmental sustainability
• Climate change
• An inconvenient truth
• Coping with diversity
• Cultural
• Linguistic
• Religious
• Living conditions
• Social cohesion

5
HIGHER EDUCATION

• Fundamental to developing democratic culture
• Not a once in a lifetime experience
• Provides individuals with opportunities
• Allows societies to make the best possible use of
  the potential of its members
• The contribution of HE to the economy is
  important, but does not exist in a vacuum

6
MAJOR PURPOSES OF HIGHER EDUCATION

• Labor market
• Democratic citizenship
• Personal development
• Knowledge base

7
HIGHER EDUCATION ON CAMPUS

• Higher education is international
• .. but is this reflected on campus?
• A community of many nationalities or many
  national communities?

8
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION

• Students and staff of all nationalities and
  cultural backgrounds interact easily
• Your background does not determine your social
  life
• Cultural differences are fully respected
• By the institution
• By its members
• Campus a venue of dialogue

9
HIGHER EDCUATION IN BROADER SOCIETY

• Provide learners with a set of competences
• must include ability and willingness to engage in
  intercultural dialogue
• Develop attitudes and abilities
• Show good practice
• Practice what you preach
• Actors in broader society societal responsibility

10
INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE AND DEMOCRATIC CULTURE

• Require open minds
• but also convictions
• Willingness to question our own ideas, opinions
  and behavior
• but also those of others
• Intellectual curiosity

11
ULTIMATE QUESTION

• Education for what?
• What kind of society do we want?
• Cf. Eugenio Tironi El sueño chileno. Comunidad,
  familia y nación en el Bicentenario