The provisional agenda of the conference comprises the following themes: I. The role of higher education in response to the greatest global challenges: the eradication of poverty; sustainable development; and education for all. II. From 1998 to 2009 and beyond: the new dynamics of higher education and research. III. Actions to foster higher education and research. IV. Promoting excellence in order to accelerate African development: toward an African Higher Education and Research Area.

For its part, from June 01- 02 in Lima, Peru IESALC-UNESCO held the II Meeting of University Networks and Councils of Chancellors of Latin America and the Caribbean (ENLACES). ENLACES is a network of networks, and resulted from proposals coming out of the Regional Conference on Higher Education (CRES) held last year in the city of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. The creation of ENLACES is one of the major objectives of the Plan of Action of CRES 2008 .

This event sponsored by UNESCO-IESALC had among its objectives to identify concrete experiences and proposals to give form to ENLACES. To this end, those attending participated in five cycles of presentations that treated themes such as: assessment, accreditation, and the recognition of titles and diplomas; university reforms and curricular convergence; academic cooperation; education observatories and forums for regional dialogue; and knowledge management and electronic solution banks for the management of higher education. In addition, the meeting provided a timely venue for discussing the positioning of the region in regard to the Second World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE 2009).

Various countries have hosted congresses and seminars aimed at preparing for discussions that will take place at the world conference. In Mexico, the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), was headquarters for the IX International Congress on "University Challenges and Expectations" which on this occasion had as a central theme: "Ten Years After the Paris Declaration". The event was attended by hundreds of representatives of universities in Mexico and other countries.

The Director General of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Dr. José Enrique Villa Rivera, gave me the honour of inviting me to present the inaugural address at this event. The subject to be treated was "Ten Years After the Paris Declaration. A Necessary Reflection". I analyzed the impact of the recommendations of the Declaration of Paris on higher education in Latin America, and a proposal for positioning our region at the world conference in which one of the most critical points was the discussion on the nature of higher education in the face of the progress of attempts to reduce it to the category of merchandise subject to the laws of the market, and thus susceptible to the regulated by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Latin America and the Caribbean committed themselves at the preparatory conference in Cartagena to defend the principle that higher education, whether offered by State or by private institutions, "is a human right and social public good".

by Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim