01 Jun 2015 | Education
International Association of University Presidents Fiftieth Anniversary
The International Association of University Presidents (IAUP) celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in Oxford, UK with a conference on 24 May. Entitled Higher Education 2065, the conference took place at Trinity College, University Oxford. Participants considered the political, economic, social, cultural and technological trends that will shape their work. In addition, there was discussion of what higher education institutions must do today to prepare for future challenges. The conference was organized by UNAI member Fairleigh Dickinson University.?
21 May 2015 | Education
Secretary-General's remarks at opening of Academic Impact Forum, 21 May 2015
In May, the Secretary-General visited the Republic of Korea and spoke at the Academic Impact Forum. Read his remarks here.
Good morning.
Thank you very much for participating in this important Forum.
I am delighted to be here.
There are so many great minds in this room.
I applaud your initiative to establish the Korean Association in Support of UNAI. UNAI Korea is bringing together Korean institutions in a common commitment to the United Nations.
Let me say a special welcome to the students here today.
Last month, the United Nations Security Council held a special meeting on youth. That was a quite a unique opportunity for the UN Security Council to discuss about youth issues, which was again a very encouraging meeting chaired by a very young leader.
14 May 2015 | Education
UN at 70: News from UNA Northern Ireland Help sought to create UN archive
UN Academic Impact members in Northern Ireland may be interested in this on 9 May 2015:
As many of your readers may be aware, the takes place later this year.
The United Nations Association of Northern Ireland (UNA-NI), a branch of UNA-UK, is a non-governmental, voluntary organisation. We exist to encourage public and governmental support for the goals of the UN, and we are keen to mark the UN&rsquos 70th anniversary through the creation of an archive.? We hope to document local reaction to the implementation of the UN Charter on October 24, 1945, through accounts, memories and photographs.
11 May 2015 | Economic Development
Rethinking Economic Growth
In this article, the first in a series on Science and Development, scientist Stuart Kauffman discusses his concept of the prestatable and its relationship to economics and development:
The standard theory of economic growth is deeply inadequate. It treats the economy as if it were producing a single good, hence a single sector?and then considers inputs such as labour, capital, human knowledge, ?as well as savings and investment, and sometimes models of spill over of knowledge into neighbouring sectors. The Washington Consensus of good government, stable money, good infrastructure has been a pinion of policy.?
04 May 2015 | Social Development
Global Interactions and Millennium Milestone Maker award
Global Interactions has announced the recipients of its Millennium Milestone Maker award. The Millennium Milestone Maker Awards will be presented to MMM winners on May 16 -17 at the 9th Annual Women's Symposium, taking place on the SIAS International University campus, Henan Province, People's Republic of China. ?
The winners announced by Global Interactions are Denise Love, Rose Mapenda, Michael Murtaugh, and Padmini Murthy.?
Denise Love is being honoured for her work promoting the health of mothers and children in Cambodia. Global Interactions CEO, Jerrie Ueberle, praised Ms. Love in saying that everything you do and have done not only has brought huge dividends to Cambodia but quite literally has saved the lives of many mothers and children.
01 May 2015 | Children
The new United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report
?Education programmes in 15 industrialized countries fail to include child rights education in their schools, according to a new United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report, which also highlights that a fundamental step towards exercising those rights is to know and understand them.?
The report, Teaching and learning about child rights: A study of implementation in 26 countries, also found that none of the countries studied ensure that all teachers are trained in child rights and are familiar with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.?
This report is a wakeup call for countries that have ratified the Convention?to take the necessary measures to ensure systematic implementation of a child's right to learn about her or his rights, said Gérard Bocquenet of UNICEF.?
28 Apr 2015 | Agriculture and Food
New online Pastoralist Knowledge Hub
?– Millions of pastoralists – from the Bedouin of North Africa to the Sherpa in Nepal and Navajo in North America – will benefit from a new online knowledge hub launched today by the United Nations that will help them raise their voices in international policy debates and share valuable information to strengthen their agricultural livelihoods.?
Launched by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and its partners, the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub will enable mobile livestock keepers to connect, to meet and discuss issues like agricultural innovations or land regulations and find shared solutions to common challenges, the agency said in a press release.?
22 Apr 2015 | Education
The XXth Workshop Aggression at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
?
14 Apr 2015 | 和平与安全
Annual UNAI lecture at Monmouth University features UNSG's Special Adviser Vijay Nambiar
Ambassador ?Vijay Nambiar, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Myanmar, delivered the 2015 United Nations Academic Impact annual lecture at Monmouth University entitled Practicing Nonviolence in a Violent World. ?Mr. Nambiar relied on his extensive experience in world conflict zones, including in high-level UN positions, to analyse nonviolence.?
14 Apr 2015 | Human Rights
Nomination call for UN Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize 2015
The first UN Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize has opened the call for nominations. The prize recognizes the achievements of those who dedicate their lives to the service of humanity in the promotion of reconciliation and social cohesion, and in community development, guided by the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
?
The Prize will be presented once every five years as a tribute to the outstanding achievements and contributions of two individuals (one female and one male), not to be selected from the same geographic region.
?
Deadline for receiving nomination is May 18, 2015
Nominations (in English) should be sent to the Secretariat by email at: mandelaprize@un.org.
?
09 Apr 2015 | Data and Statistics
UN bodies present projects showing how 'Big Data' can save lives, fight hunger
?Anonymized data – information from which the identity of the sender has been stripped – from mobile telephone usage could provide vital support in efforts to achieve sustainable development and to respond to humanitarian crises, according to insights derived from a study by the United Nations.?
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Global Pulse – an innovation initiative of the Secretary-General – have teamed up on research projects exploring the link between mobile phone usage and hunger and they are presenting their findings at the Netmob Conference for Scientific Analysis of Mobile Phone Data at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, United States.?
This is a new frontier for humanitarian assistance, said Arif Husain, WFP Chief Economist. As agencies begin adopting these new techniques, information collection will become cheaper and faster, making relief programmes much more responsive to the needs of hungry poor worldwide.?
09 Apr 2015 | Education
LATIN AMERICA, THE CARIBBEAN AND INDIA: Promise and Challenge
UNAI Member ICWA (the Indian Council for World Affairs) launched on 9 April a publication titled LATIN AMERICA, THE CARIBBEAN AND INDIA: Promise and Challenge by Ambassador Deepak Bhojwani who has represented India in Bogota, Caracas, Havana and Sao Paulo. ICWA joined UNAI in January, at the time of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's visit to New Delhi. The Council incudes, among its aims, serving as a clearing house of information and knowledge regarding world affairs.?
26 Nov 2014 | Education
Fourth Anniversary of UNAI
To celebrate its fourth anniversary the UNAI in partnership with Monmouth University and ASPIRE East Stroudsburg South High School presented a conversation on global health at United Nations Headquarter on Tuesday, 18 November 2014.? The proposed programme included a presentation on global health by a UN expert, a student panel and an expert panel from both Academic Institutions. The event was concluded with an interactive dialogue with all panellists on stage.
?
Each expert and each student brought a specific issue to the audience, a particular problematic which moves them deeply.
The various speakers in this conversation warned or informed us about how communication disabilities, academic development issues because of hunger or malnourishment, substance abuse or social exclusion impact the children.