On National Aboriginal Solidarity Day, June 21st, the Assembly of First Nations released a discussion paper entitled Taking Action for First Nations Post-Secondary Education: Access, Opportunity, and Outcomes.

The paper was prepared by First Nations experts on post secondary education and sets out an ambitious and innovative agenda to strengthen and enhance First Nations education.

The words above are cut from a text published on this site:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2010/21/c6408.html

The paper can be downloaded from here: www.afn.ca

WINHEC delivered a written global statement on indigenous higher education to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, ninth session, during the first week of the forum.

The statement raises important issues and recommendations regarding indigenous higher education as well as recommendations to UNPFII to follow up some issues. Read the whole statement here.

Veronica Arbon has asked if we could send a reminder out to our WINHEC members inviting them to contribute to this years Journal. We will do so, and we strongly encourage all of you that have articles, essays or papers in English to send them to the WINHEC Journal editor Veronica Arbon at mail: veronica.arbon(at)deakin.edu.au

The WINHEC Journal of 2010 will focus on Indigenous Research and will have the title of Indigenous Voices Indigenous Research.

4TH INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE CONFERENCE, 6-9 JUNE 2010, AUCKLAND, AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND

"Kei muri i te awe kapara he tangata ke - behind the tattoed face a stranger stands: Recognising, engaging, understanding difference"

traditionalknowledge2010.ac.nz

The Conference will discuss strategies for generating social, educational, intellectual, and economic opportunities by building relationships that engage, understand, and accommodate difference to overcome the adverse effects resulting from failure to understand sufficiently the differences among indigenous and non-indigenous communities and societies. Target groups for the conference include: academics, emerging researchers, graduate students; community groups/workers/activists; tribal and community elders and leaders; and local and national government representatives. Welcome one and all!

You are invited to submit an abstract for the 6th International Conference on Indigenous Education: Pacific Rim to be held in Cairns, Australia from Saturday, December 18th to Tuesday, 21st December 2010.

The conference will take place at the Pacific International Hotel, The Esplanade, in tropical Cairns. This conference will draw together delegates from the Pacific Rim to present academic papers, poster or cultural displays on issues in Indigenous education. Twenty minutes will be allocated for each presentation.

The deadline for abstracts has been extended to April 30, 2010.

WINHEC Head Office invite all members to propose nominees for the WINHEC Honours according to the proposal guidelines:

Guide to Nominations for WINHEC Honours (pdf)

The four WINHEC Honours are

A) Chiefs of Indigenous Leadership
B) Elders of Indigenous Wisdom
C) Scholars of Indigenous Knowledge
D) Service to Indigenous Education

As we have done every year, we especially encourage the host nation of this year's AGM, Sápmi, to propose nominees.

The proposals (Nomination Form and other documentation) should be sent by e-mail to the head office: winhec@samiskhs.no prior to June 15, 2010.

For the WINHEC Annual General Meeting August 24-26, 2010, in Guovdageaidnu, Norway, there is now a new web site on the address: www.winhec2010.org. There you find the link to the registration form. Very Welcome to Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino!

WINHEC Research & Journal Working Group has recommended the WINHEC Research Standards (Principles) document to be uploaded to the WINHEC website as DRAFT until finalised. It is published on the Research and Journal Working Group site under Working Groups on your left hand side.

The Final draft version is planned to be presented by the working group at the 2010 AGM. Please read and discuss with your colleagues, and please e-mail comments to working-group head Veronica Arbon: veronica.arbon(at)deakin.edu.au

The American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, this year held in Denver, Colorado on April 30 - May 4 (2010) has a session on the topic: "Cross-institutional Collaborations in Indigenous Education". The session chair is Professor Ray Barnhardt from University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Abstract: The session will examine various models of cross-institutional collaboration that have been implemented in support of undergraduate and graduate research programs serving indigenous students and communities across the U.S. and beyond. Examples will be drawn from experiences of institutions serving American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Canadian First Nations, as well as indigenous peoples in the Circumpolar North and South Pacific regions. The formation of an International Indigenous Graduate Education Alliance under the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium will also be discussed.