Irish Federation of University Teachers » Non-Irish Education

IFUT donates €2000 to Haiti fund

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:54:35 +0000

IFUT has donated €2000 to assist relief efforts in Haiti, following the recent devastating earthquake there. The donation is being provided to a Fund co-ordinated by Education International, the World federation of teacher unions, and in full consultation with CNEH, IFUT’s sister teacher unions in Haiti.

The IFUT Press Release is available here.

Universities threatened by market-based funding, warn international experts

admin — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:52:09 +0000

Universities are being subjected to the same market-based, profit-driven policies that caused the crisis in the financial markets and face an increasing risk of a crisis in academic standards and credibility, David Robinson, Associate Executive Director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), stated at the IFUT seminar in Dublin.

Mr Robinson warned that the drift in western countries towards commercialised universities and dubious quality providers must be resisted if universities are to preserve their function as reservoirs of research and innovation.

Danish speaker, Jens Vraa-Jensen, of Education International (EI), warned that universities cannot be managed according to market principles and at the same time fulfil their basic mission.

Mr Vraa-Jensen said: “The basic raison d’être for any private enterprise is to create profit for its owners. The purpose of a university is not profit but to spend money in the most appropriate way on teaching students and conducting research to develop the intellectual capacity of future generations and provide the society with new knowledge for future development and welfare”.

Mike Jennings, IFUT General Secretary, said: “Irish universities must not become the pawns of market forces and private speculators, who view education as just another source of profit and their students like customers in a supermarket”.

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here.

Biographical notes of the speakers and outlines of the themes of their talks are available on our seminar page.

Will Marketisation destroy the University ideal?

admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:57:47 +0000

IFUT is holding an important seminar on Saturday, 31 October 2009 in the Gresham Hotel, O’Connell Street, Dublin, entitled Will Marketisation Destroy the University Ideal?.

The seminar will hear keynote contributions from David Robinson and Jens Vraa-Jensen, two of the foremost world authorities on the topic of the threat posed to universities and academic freedom by marketisation, commercialisation and privatisation.

The seminar will start at 14:30. The full schedule and biographical notes of the speakers and outlines of the themes of their talks are available on our seminar page.

World Teachers’ Day 2009

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:58:26 +0000

Monday, 5 October 2009 is World Teachers’ Day. World Teachers’ Day, held annually on 5 October since 1994, commemorates the anniversary of the signing in 1966 of the UNESCO/ILO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers. It is an occasion to celebrate the essential role of teachers in providing quality education at all levels and an occasion to celebrate the immense contribution made by the world’s approximately 55 million teachers to their students, schools and societies.

This year, Education International (EI), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), UNESCO, UNDP and UNICEF have issued a joint statement calling upon governments, communities, national and international institutions everywhere to act decisively to achieve Education for All. In addition, they are seeking mechanisms that protect teachers and ensure that education investments match demand at all levels of education.

“There is an acute shortage of qualified and trained teachers, especially in the developing world where enrolments at all levels are increasing. It is estimated that 2.4 million teachers (1.2 million new teacher posts) will be needed between 2007 and 2015 in sub-Saharan Africa alone to achieve Universal Primary Education. Lack of training, professional development and growing recruitment on a contract basis weaken education quality. But the profession is also gravely affected by poverty, the HIV and AIDS pandemic, natural disasters, conflict and violence against teachers in school”, according to the statement.

The Education International Press Release is available here. The UNESCO Press Release is available here.

The Joint Statement is available here.

The Press Release and Joint Statement are available in other languages on the EI Website, the UNESCO World Teachers’ Day Webpage, the World Teachers’ Day Website and the IFUT World Teachers’ Day 2009 page.

IFUT signs further reciprocal membership agreements

admin — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:39:44 +0000

IFUT has signed reciprocal membership agreements with sister teacher unions in Australia, Canada and Sweden.We have previously reported that IFUT now has a reciprocal membership agreement with the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) in the UK.Under the terms of this agreement, IFUT members going to work in the UK will automatically have their IFUT membership (which should continue while they are in the UK) treated as, effectively, membership of the UCU for a period of up to two years.IFUT is pleased to announce that we have now reached agreements for identical reciprocal arrangements with the National Territory Education Union (NTEU) in Australia, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and the Swedish Association of University Teachers (SULF), and we are very confident that we will shortly conclude agreements with our sister unions in Denmark and Norway.The text of these agreements will soon be available here. In the meantime, please advise members (and prospective members!) accordingly. Any member who intends to go to any of the above countries to work should contact Head Office for details of the agreement.Click on the photos below for the full size version.