1. Home
  2. Blog
  3. Decolonizing Higher Education

Decolonizing Higher Education

20 March 2024

Publication cover art that represents decolonizing education through the metaphor of a book being reclaimed by nature, with flowers and leaves growing out of its pages.

Our higher education institutions helped create the world we live in today, and they continue to influence our societies and open doors for those who attend. But it’s long past time we acknowledged that these institutions emerged from a settlers’ perspective, and the system they operate in continues to largely exclude the perspectives and ways of knowing of Indigenous Peoples. 

Given the precarious state of our planet today due to the climate crisis and widespread environmental degradation, it is time to bring Indigenous people and approaches on board—and higher education into the 21st century—by decolonizing education.

Actually, “on board” and “into the 21st century” are understatements. Indigenous higher education advocates are calling for a complete reconstruction of higher education systems to ensure they include Indigenous people, knowledges, perspectives, and ways of knowing and can help solve the urgent, existential problems we face today. Researchers are increasingly embracing open science and the decolonization of knowledge and pressing universities for these changes.

Everyone wins

It’s a win/win situation if we can make it happen. Indigenous people benefit when post-secondary institutions work to ensure students have ready access to higher education, are properly supported and respected as they pursue it, and encounter traditional languages and ways of acquiring knowledge in their studies. Support can take the shape of:

  • Equitable funding for Indigenous institutions
  • Free tuition and financial support for Indigenous students
  • Mentorship, peer support and campus services for Indigenous students
  • Support for Indigenous languages, cultures and student organizations
  • Practical help and accommodations for students who continue to support geographically distant communities while studying
  • A greater proportion of Indigenous faculty and scholars, including in administrative roles

Institutions who put these changes and supports in place stand to benefit from: 

  • Greater access to diverse worldviews and talent
  • Enhanced cultural competencies across staff and student bodies
  • More innovative projects and partnerships
  • Approaches to problem-solving that draw on thousands of years of traditional knowledge (particularly when it comes to the environment)
  • The chance to play a role in supporting the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Recent advocacy

Numerous Canadian and international organizations have begun to speak out about the need to decolonize higher education. Here is a recap of what’s been happening:

  • In 2019, UNESCO launched a global consultation on the futures of education. The resulting report calls for a new social contract for education grounded on principles of human rights, social justice, human dignity and cultural diversity. It also recommends that we rethink research and knowledge with an updated research agenda that is wide-ranging, multifaceted, future-oriented, and planet-wide. 
  • At the 2022 UNESCO World Higher Education Conference in Barcelona, a panel on Indigenous perspectives on higher education called for a great shift in higher education. Members proposed decolonizing, Indigenizing, and rebuilding higher education institutions to include Indigenous knowledge systems for the benefit of all. The subsequent report calls for higher education systems to be “deconstructed and co-created” into new ones that respect and incorporate Indigenous knowledge and values. These structures, it says, “should be redesigned to feel inclusive to Indigenous students and should explore what Indigenous wisdom and culture—developed over millennia—can offer humankind.”
  • In 2022, the Indigenous Advanced Education and Skills Council published a report containing 18 Calls to Action—aimed at UN member states and post-secondary institutions—that seek to decolonize higher education so it can better serve both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
  • Here at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (CCUNESCO), we are contributing to the conversation by seeking out and inviting Indigenous perspectives to join this global dialogue. We have been hosting conferences, publishing reports, and looking for opportunities and strategies to share these ideas more widely. In 2023, we co-organized a gathering in Ottawa that brought together scholars and leaders in the decolonization of higher education in Canada. Insights shared during this gathering are presented in our 2024 publication Toward a Better World for All: Decoding, Deconstructing, and Decolonizing Higher Education in Canada and Beyond which aims to support higher education institutions, partners, foundations and research councils in advancing this work.

What does decolonizing look like?

Indigenizing the existing structure of higher education could take the shape of: 

  • Incorporating Indigenous perspectives and contexts into curricula and research
  • Developing innovative programs that recognize Indigenous peoples needs and opportunities
  • Revitalizing Indigenous languages
  • Building bridges between Indigenous ways of being and thinking and Western ways of gathering and processing knowledge
  • Recognizing Indigenous science and land-based education for their role in ensuring that life on Earth remains sustainable
  • Creating Indigenous institutes that are places of language revitalization, community engagement, inclusiveness and accessibility
  • Thinking beyond just open access to research and examining the power structures within which western knowledge systems have been embedded into our higher education institutions

Indigenous worldviews and ways of learning and teaching can benefit not only Indigenous

students, but all of humanity. By improving equity, decolonizing knowledge, opening science, tackling racism, and offering robust and culturally attuned supports and curricula to students, Indigenous higher education models can support the achievement of the SDGs.

For more information

Indigenous perspectives on higher education 

 Decolonizing science 

Transforming knowledge for higher education

Related Posts

  • Tag Indigenous cultures
  • Tag Indigenous languages
  • Tag Reconciliation in action
  • Tag Inclusive society
  • Tag Sustainable development