World Access to Higher Education Day
NEON Global Events
Date
26/11/2019
Time
All Day
The second World Access to Higher Education Day (WAHED) will be on November 26th 2019.
WAHED is the global day of action focusing on increasing access and participation in higher education for those from low income and other marginalised groups. The first WAHED in 2018 engaged over 100 organisations from 30 countries in delivering events and social media based campaigning. The aim of WAHED is to act as a catalyst for change at the local, regional, national and international level. Inequality in access to higher education is one of the major global challenges and access to quality tertiary education for all women and men by 2030 is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
WAHED is being led by the National Education Opportunities Network (NEON) in the UK and supported by NCUK.
As the Director of NEON and WAHED, Dr. Graeme Atherton, states:
‘The first WAHED showed the range of innovative work being done to support more equitable access to higher education, but also the challenges that exist. The first global survey of national HE equity policy produced for WAHED showed that only 11% of countries have such a policy’.
WAHED is based on a principle of collective action meaning any individual and organisation can get involved by doing something in their own organisation and area. This can include organising an event, running a social media campaign, becoming a WAHED supporter, submitting student voice stories and making a WAHED pledge. The theme of this year’s WAHED will be Advocating for Equity. We want to focus on encouraging governments, universities and others to make meaningful commitments that will lead to greater equity in access and participation in higher education.