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NINTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA

UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status
of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel, 1997

Text adopted by the 29th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO

1. At its 268th Session (March 1997) the Governing Body reviewed an Office paper⁽¹⁾  summarizing recent developments on this subject, including the outcome of the UNESCO Meeting of Governmental Experts which examined, revised and proposed for adoption the text of the draft Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel. Copies of the report of the experts' meeting and the revised text of the draft Recommendation were made available to the Committee.⁽²⁾  The Governing Body took note of the relevant section of the Committee's report and the provisions of the draft UNESCO Recommendation which fell within the competence of the ILO. It invited the Director-General to communicate the record of the Governing Body's examination of this item to the Director-General of UNESCO for communication to the 29th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO and to ensure ILO representation in the discussion of this item by the General Conference.⁽³⁾ 

2. By letter of 24 June 1997, the Director-General communicated the record of the Governing Body's decision to the Director-General of UNESCO. Subsequently, in response to an invitation to participate in the General Conference discussion of this item, an ILO delegation headed by Mr. Tapiola, Deputy Director-General, participated in the debate in Commission II of the General Conference on the draft Recommendation.

3. The Recommendation was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 11 November 1997, with minor amendments proposed by Commission II.⁽⁴⁾  While supporting the Recommendation's aims of securing academic freedom and human rights for higher-education teaching personnel and the principles contained in Part IX "Terms and Conditions of Employment", the representatives of Australia, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom expressed reservations on this section, which they regarded as too detailed in areas that are the responsibility of individual member States and their institutions.

4. Concerning the question of monitoring the application of the new instrument, section X "Utilization and Implementation" of the Recommendation refers only to the preparation by the Director-General of UNESCO of a "comprehensive report on the world situation in regard to academic freedom and to the respect of human rights of higher-education teaching personnel". The Governing Body recommended that monitoring of the new instrument should be undertaken by the existing Joint Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (CEART), subject to an extension of its present mandate. This position was reiterated in the statement made on behalf of the ILO to the UNESCO General Conference, which also noted that, at its September 1997 Session, CEART members had indicated that they would welcome the extension of the Joint Committee's mandate as a logical and natural addition to the CEART's present role, but that adequate resources to facilitate monitoring would be essential.

5. No action, however, was taken by the General Conference with regard to this point. Procedurally, the matter will need to be discussed by the Executive Board of UNESCO with a view to a decision concerning the legal and practical aspects of this question and, as appropriate, a proposal made to the 30th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO, which is scheduled to be held in 1999. This would require the preparation by the secretariats of the two agencies of a revised mandate for discussion and approval by the UNESCO Executive Board and the Governing Body of the ILO. The Executive Board of UNESCO is scheduled to meet twice in 1998, in May and in September, should the Governing Body wish to instruct the Office with regard to a position of the ILO on this matter.

6. The Committee on Legal Issues and International Labour Standards may wish to recommend that the Governing Body --

(a) take note of the adoption of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel by the 29th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO;

(b) invite the Director-General to continue consultations with the Director-General of UNESCO with a view to submitting to the Executive Board of UNESCO at one of its future sessions a proposal concerning the legal and practical aspects of monitoring of the Recommendation by the Joint ILO-UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (CEART);

(c) invite the Director-General to submit a report to the Governing Body at its 273rd Session (November 1998) on the outcome of these consultations and any action taken by the Executive Board of UNESCO.

Geneva, 26 January 1998.

Point for decision: Paragraph 6.

1. GB.268/LILS/9.

2. Final Report, Meeting of Governmental Experts to examine the draft Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel, UNESCO, Paris, 8-9 October 1996.

3. GB.268/8/2, para. 95.

4. Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel. For reasons of economy the text is not appended. Copies may be obtained on request and will be available at the Committee's meeting.