Education reform is "a marathon, not a sprint", and long-term goals should not be sacrificed for short-term gains, an international panel of experts has argued.

Irina Bokova, director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, told delegates at the World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha that it was vital to convince governments to continue to invest in education throughout the recession.

"The costs of cutting funding today will be felt by individuals for generations," she said at the event last week. "The stakes are high. Education is important for growth, and it provides individuals with the tools to respond to change and make the most of it. However difficult, governments must protect education budgets."

Steen Jorgensen, sector director in human development at the World Bank, agreed that education funding was vital and argued that "the main funder of education is, and should be, government".

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"I am an economist today because I was fortunate enough to grow up in a culture which values education," Mr Jorgensen said.

Scott Cowen, president of Tulane University, a private research institution in New Orleans, US, said that it was not possible to reform education and its funding effectively by looking at schools and universities separately.

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"The future of higher education is primarily dependent on the compulsory education system," he said. "In the long run, the higher education system can be no better than the system that feeds it."

Dr Cowen argued that a "small investment" in education yielded "outstanding" results in improving a country's economic and social wellbeing. In the US, for example, evidence showed that graduates were five times more likely to volunteer than their peers who left education after high school, he said.

The panel suggested that global solutions were needed to the widespread problems facing education funding, advocating a culture of "raise it globally, spend it locally".

Ms Bokova said: "'Business as usual' simply won't work any more. What we do now to fund education will lay the foundations for the decade ahead."

Mr Jorgensen proposed a model for industry investment based on "education credits", along similar lines to the carbon credits bought by businesses to offset their carbon use.

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Ms Bokova said that wherever funding came from, it was vital for the long-term future of society that it be maintained. She paraphrased a Chinese proverb: "If you are planning for a year, plant a tree. If you are planning for a decade, plant trees. However, if you are planning for life, educate people."

sarah.cunnane@tsleducation.com