UNESCO launched the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme in 1991 as an international action plan for academic solidarity to strengthen inter-university co-operation with particular emphasis on support to higher education in the developing countries.
The programme works towards establishing and reinforcing strong and durable linkages amongst higher education and scientific institutions worldwide and at facilitating the transfer of knowledge while combating the brain drain. Special attention is paid to providing assistance through inter-regional and (sub)regional linkages.
The UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme encompasses a broad spectrum of activities requiring very flexible modes of action. It is based on genuine, equal partnership among the higher education institutions which initiate various projects within its framework.
Two types of closely interrelated and interdependent activities have emerged as the base for the major strategies for implementing the Programme: inter-university networks and international UNESCO Chairs. While individual chairs responding to specific needs are possible, the programme endeavours to create the proper conditions to allow each chair to be a focal point of a network or to be a part of a network.
The UNITWIN network on Interreligious studies
NEWS
New UNESCO Chair in Inter-religious Understanding and Relations
16.03.10
We are pleased to inform you all that the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO supports the Victoria University of Wellington's initiative to establish a UNESCO Chair in Inter-religious Understanding and Relations. The position of UNESCO Chair is being held by Professor Paul Morris, who serves as Program Director for the Religious Studies Program at Victoria University in Wellington. As a key participant in the New Zealand Diversity Action Program, he wrote the National Statement on Religious Diversity. The launch of the Chair, the first UNESCO Chair in New Zealand, took place on 26 February 2010, at the 7th National Interfaith Forum, Keeping Faith in the Modern World in Christchurch. Professor Morris delivered an address entitled "What's religion got to do with it? Sustainable futures and faith".
