The 1,400 delegates attending the 6th World Congress of Education International in July unanimously passed a resolution introduced by CAUT calling for greater balance in global copyright rules.
     
In presenting the motion at the gathering in Cape Town, South Africa, CAUT president Wayne Peters urged delegates to advocate for a “pro-education and pro-development” copyright regime.
     
“By supporting this motion, you will make it clear our priority is to ensure all students, teachers and researchers across all sectors of education and in all parts of the world have better access to the learning materials they need and deserve,” Peters also told delegates.
     
The resolution was seconded by the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) in Ghana.
     
Association president Christian Addai-Poku emphasized the importance of the resolution for the education community in developing countries.
     
“In Ghana, the time to complete a PhD is rising mainly because students don’t have access to the library resources and research materials they need,” Addai-Poku said. “Libraries can’t afford books and journals and digital content on the Internet is increasingly locked up.”
     
The CAUT resolution calls on EI to advocate at the international level for a more balanced approach to copyright rules, one that respects the rights of owners but allows exemptions for non-commercial educational and research purposes.
     
CAUT’s delegation to this year’s congress also held a number of side meetings with counterpart organizations from around the world, and signed a mutual cooperation agreement with NAGRAT.
     
“We’re very pleased to be able to establish this working relationship with our colleagues from Ghana,” Peters said. “Academic staff globally are facing serious pressures and we need to strengthen our international ties in order to confront these challenges. NAGRAT has done a superb job in mobilizing its membership in very difficult circumstances. We have much to learn from their experiences.”
     
Addai-Poku also welcomed the agreement and expressed a desire to find out more about CAUT’s training programs.
     
“Union training is something we need to develop and learning from CAUT’s experience provides a tremendous opportunity,” he added.
     
Prior to the official opening of the congress, affiliates with members in the higher education sector held a one-day caucus devoted to reviewing the agenda and programme, and to identifying EI’s priorities for the sector over the next four years.
     
CAUT associate executive director David Robinson was asked to present to the caucus an over­view of global trends in higher education in which he expressed concerns about a “paradox” in the sector.
     
“Virtually every politician of every political stripe, every government, every business leader and every international organization recognizes that expanding the quality and accessibility of higher education are vital priorities,” he noted. “And yet, around the world academic staff are facing unprecedented challenges. Precarious appointments are on the rise, terms and conditions of employment are deteriorating, and academic freedom is increasingly under assault.”
     
Robinson urged academic staff unions to expose this contradiction in order to mobilize for a new vision for higher education that recognizes that teachers and researchers are at the heart of the sector.
     
Education International is the global federation of education unions and organizations, including CAUT, representing more than 30 million education workers in 171 countries and territories. The EI World Congress, held very four years, brings together delegates from all member organizations and observers from international organizations and intergovernmental agencies.