MALVERN, Pa. – July 22, 2009 – SunGard Higher Education joined The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and more than 1,000 participants and 60 ministers from more than 150 countries at the World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE). The global conference, held every ten years, closed with a call to increase investment in higher education, encourage diversity and strengthen regional cooperation to serve societal needs.
UNESCO Director General, Koichiro Matsuro, highlighted the changes technology has brought to education, and the increased demand, which is altering the landscape of education.
Chris Howgego, senior vice president of international for SunGard Higher Education, commented, “Technology has helped to fuel the growth of international education. SunGard Higher Education supports this growth by offering institutions and their constituents the platform and services for development in an increasingly global landscape. Learning environments must evolve and be developed to help younger generations succeed beyond current boundaries. We share in the responsibility to provide the context in which this can be achieved.”
Speakers explored themes including the role of education in addressing today’s greatest challenges, the issues presented by a transforming higher education sector and societal commitment to higher education. Several guests took the platform to call for greater cooperation among the educational community and many highlighted the role of education as a critical pillar in resolving the global economic crisis.
Dr. Jill Biden, wife of United States Vice President Joe Biden and a community college teacher, spoke of her passion for teaching and stressed the role education would take under the Obama administration. Secretary General of the OECD, Angel Gurria, spoke of the difficulty students face in the current job market and the need for institutions to focus on creating relevant courses. Benita Ferrero-Waldner; European Commissioner for external relations, echoed that sentiment.
The final conference communiqué outlines the critical areas discussed during the conference, and a call for action to key stakeholders including the member states, and UNESCO. More information about the WCHE event is available at the UNESCO Web site, www.unesco.org/en/wche2009.
About SunGard Higher Education
SunGard Higher Education provides software and support, systems implementation and integration, strategic consulting, and technology management services to help colleges and universities build, unify, and manage their digital campuses. Bringing together people, processes, and technology, SunGard Higher Education assists 1,600 higher education organizations around the world, including colleges, universities, campuses, foundations, state systems, central and district offices to strengthen institutional performance through improved constituent services, increased accountability, and better educational experiences. www.sungardhe.com.
About SunGard
SunGard is one of the world’s leading software and IT services companies. SunGard serves more than 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries, including the world’s 25 largest financial services companies.
SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software.
With annual revenue exceeding $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 435 on the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately held business software and services company on the Forbes list of private businesses. Based on information compiled by Datamonitor*, SunGard is the third largest provider of business applications software after Oracle and SAP. Continuity, Insurance & Risk has recognized SunGard as service provider of the year an unprecedented six times. For more information, please visit SunGard at www.sungard.com.
*January 2009 Technology Vendors Financial Database Tracker http://www.datamonitor.com
Trademark Information: SunGard and the SunGard logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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