Rationale
	The UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge is a follow-up activity of two UNESCO world conferences: The World Conference on Higher Education (Paris, 1998) and the World Conference on Science (Budapest, 1999). The Forum constitutes an open platform for intellectual exchange. The building blocks of this initiative are researchers and research. Every year, global Forum events are organized at UNESCO. Parallel meeting and activities are organized in the regions, contributing to shaping the agenda for the global discussions. At the global and regional gatherings, data and research are discussed by researchers, experts and policy-makers from all parts of the world, so as to trigger critical interaction. These activities serve to highlight research and to bring out challenges facing institutions and countries. In this way, the Forum seeks to build on and complement existing and ongoing research, and to facilitate networking and synergistic partnerships between actors. ____________________________________

The Need for Renewal and Renovation Some General Trends and Challenges Research on the Development Agenda No Single Answer