The 21st Session of the IITE Governing Board (GB) was held virtually on 28 October 2021. Dr. Mansoor Al Awar, the Chair of the IITE GB opened the Session by welcoming Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Education, Ms. Stefania Giannini, the representatives of the Russian Government – the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, as well as Board Members from all over the world with ten time zone differences and IITE Team.
In her statement, Ms. Stefania Giannini emphasized the important role of IITE during and post COVID-19 pandemic. She also touched upon the new Medium-term Strategy of IITE for 2022-2025 and mentioned its alignment with UNESCO Strategies and priorities. Ms. Stefania Giannini expressed her gratitude to the Government of the Russian Federation for its continued support to the Institute, and the GB Members for their guidance and advice in implementing programme activities. The Statements from the representatives of the Russian Federation expressed their appreciation to the Institute for its contribution and proposed to continue joint activities and collaboration.
Members of the Governing Board noted more increased collaboration of partners and extrabudgetary funds for IITE. They approved the report by Mr. Tao Zhan, Director of IITE on the activities of the Institute during 2021, financial report of the Institute and Programme work plan. GB Members stressed that IITE had made significant achievements in attracting more new partners thus more joint projects as well as increased its visibility in supporting policy-makers, teachers, and students during the challenging time of COVID-19 pandemic. The GB approved IITE’s new Medium-Term Strategy for 2022-2025. The Chair expressed special thanks to the GB Task Force on new Medium-Term Strategy for supporting IITE team during the preparation of the draft strategy.
In conclusion of the Meeting Dr. Mansoor Al Awar noted that this Meeting of the Board was special for six current members of the Board who were finishing their service by the end of 2021 and urged all GB Members to continue supporting IITE with their guidance and advice. The GB and IITE team expressed their sincere gratitude and appreciation to the GB members who would leave the Board for their valuable contribution to IITE.
The UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) is administered by a Governing Board, which consists of 11 members appointed by the Director-General of UNESCO on a geographical distribution. Members are chosen for their eminence in the field and sit in a personal capacity. The current Chairperson is Dr. Mansoor Al Awar, Chancellor, Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, Dubai, UAE. The Vice Chairperson is Professor Asha Kanwar, President, Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Vancouver, Canada.
The full list of all current members can be found here.