International higher education labor leaders met in Montreal, March 14-16, to discuss how they might leverage power to improve their institutions, the education systems in their countries and the large organization of which they are a part, Education International (EI).

EI has more than 25 million members worldwide. They are teachers, faculty and education personnel who are dealing with issues such as globalization, the rights of educators and the need to educate increasing percentages of their populations even though resources are declining.

A nongovernmental organization (NGO), EI aims to exert influence on international bodies, such as the World Trade Organization and UNESCO, the education branch of the United Nations. At the EI Third World Congress held last summer in Jomtien, Thailand, the delegates passed resolutions on the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS), ending child labor, AIDS education and prevention, and human and trade union rights, among other topics. They also voted on their officers and re-elected AFT president Sandra Feldman as a vice president.

The leaders who gathered in Montreal for the third EI Conference on Higher Education and Research represented 36 national organizations from 26 countries. With the theme of "Reasserting the Global Academic Community," the group picked up where its parent organization left off last year. The academics made presentations on the commercialization of higher education, threats to academic freedom and human rights, understanding intellectual property issues and the growth, internationally, of the contingent work force.

Unquestionably, the issue most on people's minds continues to be GATS. The agreement would allow free market policies for trade in services, including adult and "other" education and possibly extending to higher education. Through the passage of resolutions, AFT delegates have signaled their opposition to any trade policy that threatens to weaken public education--or public services--at home or abroad. The AFT, working with the AFL-CIO, has communicated these positions and works to oppose multilateral organizations or mechanisms that undermine national sovereignty and weaken democracy.

As in the United States, faculty leaders from near and far expressed concern over actions their administrations take that have less to do with institutional missions and serving the public good, and more to do with profits and a bottom-line corporate mentality. International faculty also expressed frustration over the need to raise the awareness of colleagues who are not paying attention to these global issues.

In opening remarks, EI president Mary Futrell noted that at George Washington University, where she serves as dean of the School of Education, and at other institutions, colleges have "commercial appendages" to promote marketable products or to secure research funding. "The question I would ask is, what is the voice of faculty in planning, developing and implementing such initiatives, especially since the world is now viewed as the market by many colleges and universities?"

Futrell also touched on a topic that came up frequently over the weekend: the implications of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on what we teach, how we teach and how we, as influential organizations, advocate for federal spending policies. This was a topic that Mary Burgan, general secretary of the American Association of University Professors, dealt with further in the only conference presentation by an American. [Barbara McKenna / AFT On Campus]

[May 8, 2002]