In 2021 the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) initiated a flagship project on the right to higher education. With support in part through a grant from the Open Society Foundations, the aim of this multi-stage project was to advocate for the right to higher education and to introduce a social justice perspective on the right to higher education into the international agenda.

Between April 2022 and January 2023, nine consultations took place. Five consultations were regional (Africa, Arab States, Asia and Pacific, Europe and North America, Latin America and the Caribbean) and four thematic meetings took up pressing topical issues relating the right to higher education with gender equality, people with disabilities, refugees and forcibly displaced people and rethinking merit.

UNESCO IESALC have now published a suite of 9 reports via the UNESCO Digital Library “UNESDOC” presenting the key findings from the regional and thematic consultations on the right to higher education as an integral component of the evolving right to education, incorporating access to higher education, participation and student success, and students’ post-higher education trajectories.

WAHEI is very excited to highlight this work as our Co-PI Dr Nidhi Sabharwal authored the section titled:

“The Promise of the Right to Higher Education for Students from the Disadvantaged Groups: The Role of Affirmative Action in Preparing them for Higher Education Access and Success”

which can be found in the 9^th report titled “The right to higher education and rethinking merit: briefing note compendium”.

UNESCO have also published a tenth document, which is a synthesis report that brings the key findings for each consultation together, adding analysis of the key challenges to the right to higher education, and outlining next steps.

You can also find each report at the following direct links:

1. The right to higher education in Africa: briefing note compendium

2. The right to higher education in the Arab States: briefing note compendium

3. The right to higher education in Asia and the Pacific: briefing note compendium

4. The right to higher education in Europe and North America: briefing note compendium

5. The right to higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean: briefing note compendium / El derecho a la educación superior en América Latina y el Caribe: compendio de notas conceptuales

6. The right to higher education for people with disabilities: briefing note compendium

7. The right to higher education and gender equality: briefing note compendium

8. The right to higher education for refugees and forcibly displaced people: briefing note compendium

9. The right to higher education and rethinking merit: briefing note compendium

10. Synthesis report: Towards a roadmap to promote international consensus on the right to higher education