27 May 2024

2024 Meeting of the UNESCO Chairs in Switzerland

All UNESCO Chairs from Switzerland met for an exchange in Geneva under the leadership of the Swiss UNESCO Commission. The Swiss UNESCO Commission intensifies the coordination of the Swiss UNESCO Chairs within UNESCO.

Under the leadership of the Swiss Commission for UNESCO, the activities of the respective UNESCO Chairs were presented to each other and, as an association of all UNESCO Chairs in Switzerland, a joint approach was discussed on how your position within UNESCO can be strengthened in the future and how you can receive appropriate visibility.

UNESCO bases its activities on intellectual cooperation and is therefore open to exchanges with academic institutions and research. The UNESCO Chairs commit themselves to go beyond the parameters of their subject area and to relate their work to global challenges. Representatives of the 10 currently recognised UNESCO Chairs from numerous universities and colleagues were present at the meeting in Geneva. Two interesting presentations took place: Dr. Sobhi Tawil, Director of Future of Learning and Innovation Team at UNESCO headquarter: "The UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs: state of art of the programme at UNESCO and upcoming event of interest " and Dr. Bernhard Fuhrer, Director of Swiss Network for International Studies [SNIS]: “Networking: challenges, potential, success ”. Reference was made to an upcoming Transforming knowledge for Africa’s future  conference and that intensive preparatory work is already underway.

Moreover, it was concluded that an annual reunion and more intensive exchange between the Swiss Commission for UNESCO and UNESCO with headquarters in Paris should be sought in the future and that this is also in the interest of Switzerland's multilateral and -national research exchange. Its aim is to promote and strengthen international cooperation, especially North-South, South-South and North-South-South cooperation between universities, colleagues and research institutions.