Representatives of CAUT joined 1,500 educators and researchers from nearly 160 countries around the world in Porto Alegre, Brazil in July for the 4th World Congress of Education International.

The five-day congress, under the theme of education for global progress, began with a keynote address by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who outlined steps his government has taken in a bid to improve the country's education system.

"We know very well that education plays a key role in economic development and in the democratization of knowledge around the world," da Silva said.

"In Brazil, we are now giving education the priority it deserves. In the first 18 months of our government, although not having all the resources that we would like, we have made significant advances. We are reducing illiteracy, improving the quality of basic education, and conducting an ambitious reform of our universities so that our country can better face the future."

Following da Silva's speech, the president of EI, Mary Hatwood Futrell, commented that the rest of the world should learn from Brazil's commitment to making public education a national priority.

"President da Silva understands that when a country educates its people, it is building a nation," Futrell said. "He knows education is a critical component of global progress. Quality public education is not a miracle solution for all the problems we face, but it remains an important step toward social and economic development."

Futrell also said that despite the progress being made in some countries, educators continue to face significant challenges globally, from attacks on employment and professional rights to the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS.

"Across Africa, AIDS is leaving a wake of orphans while devastating community and family networks that used to help poor kids go to school," she said. "As teachers, we must and can do more to fight this terrible disease. AIDS prevention begins in the classroom."

A central focus of workshops and debates was on how to ensure quality education for all. Delegates agreed this requires governments to adequately fund education at all levels.

"We continue to face an international order that is hostile to governments spending money on basic social services, including education," said Fred van Leuven, who is general secretary of Educational International. "Many governments feel they can reduce their role in education and make room for the market. We say that education is a human right. We say that education is an instrument for both social and economic development and that it is therefore a core responsibility of government."

In a message to the congress, United Nations general secretary Kofi Annan echoed the view that education is a fundamental human right.

"More than half a century ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights established that everyone has the right to education," the text emphasized. "The fact that millions are still deprived of it should fill us all with shame."

Much of the focus of the congress was on the threats posed by the privatization and commercialization of education. In particular, several speakers warned that current trade negotiations aimed at including services like education in the General Agreement on Trade in Services could seriously weaken public education.

Delegates from several developing countries stressed that when GATS was first signed in 1996, many of their governments opened up their education services "market" believing this would attract foreign universities and colleges and assist in building their higher education sector. It is understood that foreign providers have simply undercut local universities and colleges.

"This is precisely the problem with the GATS approach," said CAUT president Loretta Czernis. "It takes no account of equity concerns either between rich and poor countries or within nations."

A special EI task force on globalization and higher education and research - created to examine the impact of trade agreements - reported its findings in Porto Alegre, recommending the creation of a new international instrument through UNESCO to govern the cross-border provision of education.

"It's not just enough to say no to GATS," Czernis said. "Post-secondary education has from the beginning been international in scope. We are not opposed to internationalization. We are against the commercialization of education that agreements like GATS would lock-in and intensify. We need a framework that promotes the international exchange of education based on educational, not commercial values."

Held every three years, the world congress is the supreme governing authority of Education International, the largest international federation of educators representing more than 29 million worldwide.