Fifth Annual Conference, 2 to 4 December 1993
The Hague, The Netherlands
The theme of 'Europe and Beyond' was spoken of in various depths by many of the speakers at the conference. Willem Deetman, Chairman of the Dutch Parliament and of Nuffic, spoke in the Opening Plenary of the need to guard against a 'Fortress Europe' mentality and instead to build up cooperation with developing countries. Ismail Serageldin, Vice President for Environmentally Sustainable Development at the World Bank, talked a lot about the European Idea and the need for European university's to help fight against the increasing gaps that are occurring in terms of technology and knowledge. Colin Power, Assistant Director for Education at UNESCO, also spoke of this and said, 'Without adequate institutions of higher learning and research, the developing countries cannot hope to master and apply the latest advances in technology, let alone to make their own contribution to scientific progress. It is only through the development of local skills and competencies that they reduce the gap separating them from the developed countries and thus reduce their prolonged dependence on external assistance'. He talked about the major difference between rich and poor countries are the inequality of access to higher education as, in general, the poorer the country, the higher the relative cost per student. 'UNESCO considers international cooperation and international assistance important remedies of the situation'.
The Hague conference was a significant step forward in focusing on what are commonly referred to as North-South issues - issues dealing with the discrepancies between the developing world and the developed world. In fact, during this conference, a meeting was organised to establish a provisional Special Interest Group on North-South cooperation within the EAIE.
The 1993 social events included guided tours of the Peace Palace, daily musical performances, and the EAIE Dance, in addition to the reception and concert kindly offered by the municipality of The Hague and Nuffic.
Alan Smith delivered the Closing Plenary which was also is a bit of an opening to next year's conference in London as he spoke on 'Quality and international education' and introducing a quality assurance element into the international dimension of higher education.