Save the date: UNESCO Chairs Seminars series on the Futures of Higher Education
Following the international conference “Transforming Knowledge for Just and Sustainable Futures” (Paris, 3-4 November 2022), held with the support of the French National Commission for UNESCO to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme, UNESCO is organising three online UNESCO Chairs Seminars on the Futures of Higher Education throughout January, February and March.
Organised at the suggestion of the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, the seminars aim to deepen engagement by HEIs with UNESCO’s recent work concerning the Futures of Higher Education.
Futures of Higher Education
- Seminar 1: Wednesday 25 January 2023, 14:00-15:00 (Paris time)
Beyond Limits: New Ways to Reinvent Higher Education, Roadmap proposed for the 3rd World Higher Education Conference (WHEC2022), Barcelona, Spain, May 18-20, 2022.
Click here to read the concept note for the seminar.
During the first webinar of the series, speakers and participants spoke about key challenges and possible approaches to co-construct the future of Higher Education (HE). These discussions were based on the roadmap entitled “Beyond Limits New Ways to Reinvent Higher Education” that was presented in the 3rd World Higher Education Conference, the WHEC2022, held in Barcelona last May.
The Roadmap was prepared primarily in line with the frameworks of the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, “the Education 2030 Agenda” and the new social contract proposed by the Futures of Education report towards 2050. The approach for designing the Roadmap was participatory, based on wide consultation and extensive research. The EGU report on transforming HE for sustainability was particularly important. A group of 11 technical experts supported UNESCO in compiling information and preparing the Roadmap.
The HE Roadmap was presented by UNESCO at the last World Higher Education Conference, WHEC2022, “as a living document to encourage further thinking, stimulate a global conversation, and activate major transformations to reinventing higher education”. The WHEC stimulated abundant conversation with over 10,000 participants in person and online. About 115 sessions took place and more than 250 knowledge products from multiple stakeholders were and are being shared on the WHEC website.
With all these new perspectives and materials from the WHEC2022, it makes sense to further enhance the Roadmap. We are currently in the process of enriching it by analyzing the WHEC2022 sessions and materials.
Discussions during this first webinar centred on approaches to tackle the inequalities in higher education systems; to facilitate the integration of programmes, flexible learning pathways and lifelong learning; to leverage the power of data; to further engage higher education institutions in the climate crisis; to transform education systems and pedagogies for promoting learners to becoming active and responsible agents of change; to foster the recognition and value of indigenous knowledge; and to advance in gender equality.
- Seminar 2: Wednesday 15 February 2023, 17:00-18:30 (Paris time)
Knowledge-driven actions: Transforming higher education for global sustainability, prepared by Independent Expert Group on the Universities and the 2030 Agenda, UNESCO, 2022.
Click here to read the concept note for the seminar.
Register here
- Seminar 3: Wednesday 15 March 2023, 14:00-15:30 (Paris time)
Reimagining Our Futures Together: A new social contract for education, Report from the International Commission on the Futures of Education, UNESCO 2021.
** Click here to register **
Click here to see the concept note for the seminar.
We invite ideas for future Seminars from across the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme. If you wish propose an event or to be considered as a expert speaker for a UNESCO Chairs Seminar or Public Lecture, please send a one page concept note to: unitwin@unesco.org.
Media related to the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs 30th Anniversary Conference: