Thematic Area 2: Improved higher education for culture and creative industries 

A major challenge in ensuring the improvement and continuity of long-term strategies for cultural heritage and creative industries in Afghanistan is the current lack of national experts. This absence creates significant gaps between the national ambition of reactivating the central role of ‘culture’ in Afghan society, and a daily practice of institutions incapable of transforming this overall advocacy into practical actions.

To fill these gaps, a more systematic and structured investment targeting needed competencies is required. New institutions will have to be created in areas where they are lacking (University Departments for Heritage Conservation and Management, School of Design, School of Tourism and Hospitality, etc.). 

UNESCO will assist the Ministry of Higher Education and institutions of higher education by providing expert input on curricula, staging seminars, workshops and masterclasses; by translating textbooks (see Thematic Area 3) and by supporting other activities empowering higher education.  

Some activities within this thematic area are: a Conference at Kabul Polytechnic University on the Herat Strategic Plan; a bibliography of key texts established with the Department of Urban Planning of the KPU - that UNESCO will provide; a collaboration with the Urban Planning Department of the KPU on the format and content of its Urban Conservation and Heritage Protection Course with the view to make it project-based (with the participation of specialists orienting students through a series of masterclasses and project guidance sessions); advocacy for exchange programs amongst Afghan universities,  as well as Afghan and foreign universities or specialized schools.