Caribbean Tertiary Level Personnel Association

IASAS’s International Member Associations Call for more cross-border solidarity to advance SDGs   

 

The world requires solidarity above all: networks, collaboration, and mutual support in times of crisis, now more than ever, everywhere across regions across the globe.

 

This is the assertion of the 15 Higher Education Student Affairs Associations who met on 18th of November 2021 in a virtual meeting. The associations and organizations joined in an online meeting which is the second meeting of its kind held and hosted by the International Association of Student Affairs and Services (IASAS).

 

“The aim of the meeting was to broaden the network and deepen the relationships across borders and regions and communities and the communities of support, and align higher education student affairs, student support and development agendas among institutions to help widen access to higher education across the globe,” said Andrea Strachan, IASAS regional director for Oceania region.

 

IASAS is a global network of Student Affairs and Services Associations who supports the global community of Student Affairs, Student Support and Development and Student Services practitioners to deepen the work with students and institutions, and research, scholarship and practice.

 

The International Association Meeting aimed to broaden the network and deepen the relationships across borders and regions, hear about Covid-19 related challenges and achievements and also see how to fortify solidarity across regions, based on shared and also local issues, so as to bolster the position of students and institutions in advancing the goals of higher education and the SDGs more broadly.

 

The first discussion focussed on Covid-19 and the related challenges and advancement, current and in the future. While the wealthier countries are beginning to return to a more stable and predictable higher education context, the disadvantaged regions, mainly in the Global South, especially Africa, are facing significant challenges as a result of Covid-19. The vaccinations available in Africa are by and large insufficient due to a range of reasons, including difficulties with speedy roll-out due to infrastructure challenges and also due to the hording of vaccines of some wealthier countries. In addition, distrust of governments and authority, and a persistent anti-scientific stance in some parts of the world and within some countries makes some vaccination roll out programmes ineffectual. The bracketing out of countries via travel bans isolates these and deepens their already fragile economy, widening the wealth and gender gap, intensifying the crises these countries deal with.

 

Participants shared other challenges such as the impact of climate change on their contexts, challenges around indigenous reconciliations, securing mental health support options for students and staff, the digital divide and access to reliable and stable WIFI networks, student employability and career services during economic insecurity, the success of students returning to our campuses, and the wellbeing of staff.   

 

Community partnerships, partnering across regions and supporting institutions  regionally have been an important source of support for SAS practitioners to manage these challenges facing students and their institutions.

 

It is around these and many other humanitarian crises, that the meeting foregrounded the importance of solidarity.

 

Vaccine equity is only one aspect of global inequity that was discussed. Participants emphasised the importance of global responses to global problems: leaving out or bracketing regions is unethical and delays achievements of globally shared goals. Participants highlighted concern about the crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, climate disasters in the Caribbean, the slow progress at COP26 and gave examples of how these issues impact not only locally but have implications for wider regions. Participants discussed how to put solidarity into practice and highlighted the importance of internationalisation in order to advance awareness and knowledge of different regions and cultures and their challenges.  “Internationalisation should not only rely on mobility programmes, but rather focus on ‘internationalisation at home’, focusing on processes and structures in a way that local practices are inclusive of international realities, thus spreading the internationalisation benefits to a broader group of students, staff and institutions,” said Birgit Schreiber, vice president of IASAS.

 

Mental Health appeared as a recurrent focus with the international associations expressing concern about the deterioration of mental health among students and indeed also staff in higher education.

 

Higher education can play a key role in the education of students around building solidarity with regions that face crises. “An example is how institutions are partnering with external entities to offer data packages for students, creating self-help guides, assisting financially in times of weather disasters, and sharing resources with practitioners regionally,” said Lisa Bardill Moscaritolo, general secretary of IASAS.

“Overall discussions supported international dialogue opportunities for peace-building and providing support and included the creation of a new competency framework for graduates and graduate attributes for sustainability competences and confidences,” said Mirela Mazalu, a board member of IASAS.

 

The Associations attending this International Meetings affirmed their commitment to educating students towards recognising their responsibility in shaping an equitable world, through international cooperation and mutual support. 

 

The Associations will meet again at the IASAS Global Summit in Ireland in May 2022.

 

Please reference or hyperlink the report published in the University World News:

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20211216141210152