Literacy and the Role of the University. Selected Papers Presented at a UNESCO International Conference on Education Roundtable (Geneva, Switzerland, September 3-8, 1990).

This publication presents a series of papers on the role of the university world wide in advancing universal literacy. Chapter 1 looks across the Asian and Pacific Region and shows the large regional disparities which exist in addressing literacy issues at the university level. The second chapter describes the magnitude of illiteracy in the Caribbean and the regional character of the University of the West Indies with its strengths and limitations in the expansion of literacy provisions. Chapter 3 provides a critical discussion of the context in which adult literacy is addressed in North America. The fourth chapter contains an account of the great need for universities in the Arab States to address all of the areas in which they might contribute to literacy. The fifth chapter discusses the advances made by African universities in responding to their social service responsibilities as well as periods and instances when literacy has received a low priority. The final two chapters provide personal perspectives on specific literacy related topics. One article reflects on attitudes towards adult learners' writing and its place in the academy, and the other addresses the broader issue of literacy in the university and the international economic order. (JB)