On Tuesday 13 November, during Education International’s 11th International Further & Higher Education & Research Conference in Taipei, Taiwan, we will be releasing our latest report produced as part of the Global Response to the growing commercialisation and privatisation of education. Democratising Knowledge: a report on the scholarly publisher, Elsevier, aims to provide the foundations for a critical study into Elsevier’s business model and practices. The study also aims at contributing to developing policy objectives relating to open public access to research and educational materials, academic freedom, researcher autonomy, and the scholarly communication system. This research will form a key part of Education International’s Global Response campaign on the commercialisation and marketisation in and of education aimed specifically at the further and higher education and research sector.

Following a national conference at the University of Bouzarea, the General Union of Free Students states its "categorical refusal of the privatisation of the sector [by] indirect means," and reiterates its support for a transition from indirect support of the student to direct support, with the involvement of students in the education reform process.

A new publication by the ILO confirms PSI’s long-held position: the privatisation of public pension systems has delivered vast returns to a tiny financial elite while diminishing the incomes of workers in retirement.