UNITWIN Award Winners

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, opened today the World Forum of UNESCO Chairs. The UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme is one of UNESCO’s major activities in the field of higher education. The Director-General presented the Forum as “an opportunity for open and constructive dialogue on the question: Where do we go from here?”

 
With over 400 UNESCO Chairs and some 80 UNITWIN Networks, established in 113 Member States, and involving over a thousand higher education institutions, several thousand university teachers, researchers and students, UNESCO’s UNITWIN Networks are among its most successful grassroots activities.

In considering steps needed to ensure the future development of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme, the Director-General defined seven areas for priority action namely, bridging the knowledge gap, promoting the free flow of ideas, the use of information and communication technologies, sustainable development, teacher education and training, stemming the brain drain, and the preservation and promotion of cultural diversity.

The Director-General emphasized that “UNESCO is a networking organization, one which should operate around the world not only through its field offices but also through broad partnerships with a large range of institutions, organizations and individuals. Among the key institutions that have clear UNESCO links are the UNITWIN Networks and UNESCO Chairs, which are active outposts and relays of UNESCO’s action in all its fields of competence.”

On the occasion of the Forum, the Director-General was particularly pleased to be able to sign a new agreement between UNESCO and the University of Paris I (Sorbonne) for the establishment of a UNITWIN Network on Cultural Tourism. Expressing his satisfaction, the Director-General stressed that “this agreement with University of Paris I, one of the best universities in terms of education in art, culture, and heritage, involving institutions in 17 countries in all regions, will enable other UNESCO UNITWIN Chairs to benefit from the experience of the Sorbonne and serves as a concrete example of how UNESCO Chairs can preserve and promote cultural diversity and sustainable development.”

The Director-General took the opportunity to announce specially created UNITWIN Awards for 17 UNESCO Chairs.

- UNESCO "Oliver Tambo" Chair of Human Rights, University of Fort Hare, South Africa

- UNESCO Chair in Educational Sciences (CUSE), Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS), Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Senegal

- UNESCO-Cousteau Ecotechnie Chair/Network in Environment and Sustainable Development, South Valley University, Aswan, Egypt

- UNESCO Chair in Water Resources, Omdurman Islamic University, Khartoum, Sudan

- NKK/UNESCO Chair in Metallurgical Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

- UNESCO Interdisciplinary Chair in the Rational Use of Drugs at the Public Health College, Chulalongkorn University (CU), Thailand

- UNESCO Chair in Comparative Rural Sociology, Chubu University, Japan

- UNESCO Chair on Human Rights, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

- UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Development, Universidad Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

- UNESCO Chair on Education for Human Rights and Peace, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

- UNESCO Chair on Peace, Human Rights and Democracy, European University Center for Peace Studies (EPU), Stadtschlaining, Austria

- International Network of UNESCO Chairs in Communications (ORBICOM) , Canada

- Réseau méditerranéen UNITWIN et chaires UNESCO-UNU-Ville de Cannes sur les ressources en eau, le développement durable et la paix : Participation des universités, villes et acteurs économiques , Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, France

- The Global University Network for Innovation (GUNI) , Universidad Polytechnica de Cataluna, Spain

- UNESCO-Cousteau International Ecotechnie Chair/Network , University of Bucharest, Romania

- UNESCO Chair in Energy Conservation and Renewable Energies, Belarusian National Technical University, Belarus

- UNESCO Chair for Fine Arts and Architecture , Russian Academy of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia