Emily Helmeid, Fulbright Fellow to UNESCO, Speaks at World Conference on Higher Education in Paris

Emily Helmeid, a Fulbright Fellow to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), spoke at the Closing Session of UNESCO’s 2009 World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE) in Paris, France on a panel about increasing access to higher education.  The speech text is below.  You may view the video of the Closing Session and watch Emily between 1:11:30 and 1:17:00. 

Emily was a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Brazil in 2007-2008. The University of Delaware's UDaily profiled Emily after she returned from the conference.

Emily Helmeid, Fulbright Fellow to UNESCO, speaks at the World Conference on Higher Education

Ministers, experts, professors, colleagues…

You’ve taught us well. 

I cannot speak for all of my fellow students. Indeed, I have not been asked to do so.  But I think that those of us present in this room would be quick to affirm that access to education, at any level, is our right – our human right. 

We might also agree that the current, worldwide economic crisis underscores the necessity for diverse, adaptable and accessible education systems that recognize the “new dynamics” of our globalized world.  

Furthermore, we could likely reach the consensus that higher education institutions are in the best position to foster sustainable development, encourage active citizenship and perpetuate democracy throughout the world.

The steady, sometimes slow, progression of society, of which you and generations previous have been a part, has made such statements “generally” acceptable.

My peers and I have overcome economic and social obstacles to obtain the education that only you could and can provide us and risen to the level of the expectations you have put upon us.  In fact, we have been encouraged to such heights that we have views of horizons that you have yet to explore.  And in another generation, the same will be said of us. 

Education has given us a voice and we mean to use it.  It has empowered us so that we now have as much responsibility to work towards the common interests and overarching goals of our global community as you do.

Last night, I attended a meeting between members of the various student groups that are represented at this 2009 WCHE.  They discussed what they had witnessed during the parallel sessions, especially in regards to their own ability to participate.  One woman mentioned her frantic hand-waving in the back of a session as she tried to gain the attention of the chair. 

We are here.  We are the reason YOU are here. And we have significant contributions to make. 

My peers and I are the future and current generation of teachers, researchers, activists and policy makers; we generally do not fit the profile of those who have come before us.  We have made our way here on different paths.  Some of us attended university in our own countries, some of us abroad.  Many of us could not have gone to school without significant financial support, whether private or public, domestic or foreign.  We are not necessarily in the field of higher education; rather, we are here because higher education is our present, its challenges urgent and immediate. 

We recognize the extraordinary opportunities that we have had because of student-centered higher education institutions that work on behalf of our interests as well as additional learning opportunities such as teaching grants, research grants, scholarships and tuition exchanges through which we may expand our education beyond the confines of our classrooms, our communities and even our countries.

I consider myself an ordinary student.  I do not come from any significant wealth, at least in the monetary sense.  I did not attend an elite university.  And I am by no means a genius.  However the fact that I am standing here before you, as both a Fulbright Fellow working at UNESCO and a representative of my region, clearly demonstrates that I am privileged. Unfortunately, these are opportunities that most students my age could never expect to have.

As a teacher in elementary schools located in Brazil, Mexico and the United States, I have witnessed the incredible impact education has upon the future of its students beginning at the earliest levels.  The expectations of my students, most of them from lower income families, directly mirrored the expectations of their teachers, their parents and their society.

And on that note, I would like to offer my own challenge for the future:

If we expect to realize merit-based access to higher education institutions for all, we must both demonstrate this expectation to every potential student, regardless of their background, and remove the notion of elitism from our dialogues.  Higher education is not limited to PhDs or Masters; it includes any education beyond the secondary level –whether informal, online distance learning, vocational training, a local community college or advanced degrees.  It should cater to the needs of individuals, communities and states.  With the admission that there are many paths to the fostering of effective, active citizens, we will have an education system that works for everyone.

Thank you.

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