Institutes

As part of UNESCO's efforts and commitment to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 4, which calls on countries to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, UNESCO has brought to life different institutes around the world to address various areas of education. Discover UNESCO Institutes and together let's transform education for our humanity.

UNESCO considers two categories in which its institutes and centres are locate:

Institutes or Centres are institutionally and legally part of UNESCO and are considered an integral part of the Organization's Programme and Budget.

As of August, 2021, there are a total of nine Category 1 Institutes and Centres. Of these, seven of them are education-related, the list can be seen below:

• International Bureau of Eduaction (IBE);
• Internation Insitiute for Educational Planning (IIEP);
• UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL);
• Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE);
• UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC);
• International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA);
• Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP);
• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS);
• The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP).

Institutes or Centres are under the auspices of UNESCO, but are entities legally external to the Organization. They are associated with the Organization through various arrangements, as approved by the General Conference.

UNESCO can be represented on their governing bodies, but they do not apply UNESCO’s rules and regulations and are not led by UNESCO staff members.

• Natural Sciences
• Oceans
  • Regional Research Centre on Oceanography for West Asia (RCOWA) -  Iran (Islamic Republic of) (2015, extended until 31 January 2023)
  • International Training Centre on Operational Oceanography - Hyderabad, India (2018)
  • International Centre for Capacity Development: Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Societal Change (GRÓ) – Fisheries Training Programme (FTP) – Reykjavik, Iceland (2020) (First UNESCO cross-sectorial Centre)
• Social and Human Sciences
  • International Center for Human Sciences (CISH), Byblos, Lebanon
  • International Centre for the advancement of Human Rights, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • International Centre of Martial Arts for Youth Development and Engagement, Chungju, Republic of Korea
• Communication and Information