OZ 2009/4

128 ORGANIZACIJA ZNANJA 2009, LETN. 14, ZV. 4 NEW DYNAMICS OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH FOR SOCIETAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT Stamenka Uvaliæ-Trumbiæ UNESCO, Division of Higher Education Kontaktni naslov: s.uvalic-trumbic @ unesco.org In the late eighties, before joining UNESCO in 1990, I had the privilege of being the Secretary-General of the Association of Universities of Yugoslavia. In this stimulating period in my professional life, the University of Maribor played a prominent role. Dr Dane Melavc, the Rector of Maribor University, was elected President of the Association at the same General Assembly in Subotica in 1987 at which I was elected Secretary-General. He played an important leadership role in helping the Association get back on its feet by developing a healthy business plan. We worked together to link Yugoslav Universities into major international trends such as becoming signatories of the Magna Charta Universitatum in 1988 or getting involved in the TEMPUS programme, the first EU mobility programme open to Central and Eastern Europe. Abstract The best route towards larger European integration is regional cooperation. In the Western Balkan countries, a pivotal role is played by Slovenia and IZUM with its COBISS.Net. The World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE) has been one of the most visible initiatives of UNESCO, and it has been following the global trends, such as rising demand, massification, private higher education, the ICT revolution, mobility, cross-border higher education, and internationalisation of quality assurance. The Bologna Process in Europe provides some inspiration for other regions in their journey towards harmonizing their higher education systems. UNESCO, in particular, endeavours that higher education is promoted in developing and transition countries. Keywords UNESCO, WCHE, World Conference on Higher Education, CBHE, Cross Border Higher Education, GIQAC, Global Initiative on Quality Assurance Capacity Izvleček Regionalno sodelovanje je najboljša pot do združene Evrope. Na področju Zahodnega Balkana imajo zelo pomembno vlogo Slovenija, IZUM in njegov COBISS.Net . Svetovna konferenca o visokem šolstvu (WCHE) spada med najbolj vidne pobude Unesca in sledi naslednjim globalnim trendom, kot so rast potreb, množičnost, privatizacija visokih šol, informacijska revolucija, mobilnost, prekomejno visokošolsko izobraževanje, internacionalizacija zagotavljanja kakovosti. Bolonjski proces, ki poteka v Evropi, spodbuja tudi druge regije k poenotenju delovanja visokega šolstva. Unesco si še posebej prizadeva za krepitev visokega šolstva v deželah v razvoju in v tranzicijskih državah. Ključne besede UNESCO, WCHE, World Conference on Higher Education, CBHE, Cross Border Higher Education, GIQAC, Global Initiative on Quality Assurance Capacity Internationalisation and being part of European integration processes was high on the agenda of the Association. Internally, we worked on the elaboration of a Strategy for the Scientific and Technological Development of Yugoslavia (Uvalić-Trumbić, 1990). One feature of these efforts was an exciting project, led by Tomaž Seljak, the Director of the Institute of Information Science, to set up a computerized university information system linking all 19 Yugoslav universities and their libraries into a network. I still remember the day when Tomaž Seljak sent a van to our offices in Belgrade bringing us computers to replace our typewriters. It was all part of University of Maribor’s contribution to revitalising the Association. Many changes have happened since then. A few days ago we marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin