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UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND PEACE

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 10:59:34 -0500

Master of Science in Sustainability, Development, and Peace

The United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) invites applications for its postgraduate programme, the Master of Science in Sustainability, Development, and Peace, which starts in September 2011.

This two year programme is intended for recent graduates, professional, and practitioners, offering the unique opportunity to study at a global university within the framework of the United Nations. The programme provides students with the knowledge and skills to make important contributions towards solving global issues, whether through employment by UN agencies, other international organizations, government, civil society, or the private sector.

Applicants for the master's degree programme must possess at least a bachelor's degree (or equivalent), and have excellent written and verbal English language skills.

Tuition fee: USD10,000 per year
A limited number of scholarships are available for outstanding applicants, providing support towards fees and living expenses.

The application deadline: 31 March 2011

For more information, and to download an application form, please visit the UNU-ISP website at:
http://isp.unu.edu/grad/masters/index.html

Contact Information:
Admissions Office
Master's Degree Programme
United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace
53-70, Jingumae 5-chome, Shibuya-ku
Tokyo 150-8925, Japan
Tel: +81-(0)3-5467-1346
E-mail: gdp@unu.edu

UNU plans new "twin institute" in Germany, Mozambique

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 09:42:36 -0500

On 11 and 12 November, UNU is organizing a workshop to solidify the scope and mission of the envisaged new UNU Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and Resources (UNU-FLORES). The focus of the new institute will be on sustainable management of resources, such as water, soil and waste.

UNU-FLORES, in line with the UNU "twin institutes" concept, will have two locations: one in Dresden (Germany) and one in Maputo (Mozambique).
The two-day scoping workshop brings together high-ranking delegates and scientists from Germany and Mozambique, as well scientists from the Africa and the Arab region, and international representatives from UN-Water and other UNU institutes worldwide to develop a strategy for the institute's initial phase.

"I am delighted that this international workshop lays the foundation for a new UNU Institute", said UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder. "UNU-FLORES will focus on issues of crucial importance in the area of sustainability, the hallmark of UNU [and] its work will have an important North-South dimension."

A Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of UNU-FLORES will be signed in the coming weeks by UNU, the German Federal Ministry of Education and and Research, the Free State of Saxony and the Technical University of Dresden.

Scoping Workshop Blog

Media Release

Dr. Elias Ayuk of Cameroon Appointed Director of UNU-INRA

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:51:37 -0500

The United Nations University (UNU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Elias Takor Ayuk as Director of the UNU Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), effective 15 October 2010.
UNU-INRA, based in Accra, Ghana, supports the building of African capacity by strengthening national institutions to promote sustainable use of the continent's natural resources for development. The aim is to help African scientists, technologists and institutions acquire capabilities to generate, adapt and apply knowledge and technology to promote the more efficient utilization of natural resources for self-reliant development. The Director has overall responsibility for the research and management of the Institute.
"In order to accelerate economic growth, reduce poverty and provide essential services to the African populace, the continent must mobilize its diverse wealth and people in a sustained manner to build a strong knowledge base," said Dr. Ayuk. "The UNU-INRA mandate includes two pillars - capacity building and natural resources management - that are central to this effort. The UNU-INRA goal is to ensure that agents of change (scientists, policy makers and researchers) will be empowered to use their capacity, will and knowledge to catalyse change and inform policies for the sustainable management of the continent's rich natural resources."
From 2004-2010, Dr. Ayuk was Senior Program Specialist with the Globalisation, Growth and Poverty programme at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Regional Office for West and Central Africa, in Dakar, Senegal. He had joined IDRC in 2002 as Senior Program Specialist with the Secretariat for Institutional Support for Economic Research in Africa (SISERA), and served as Acting Executive Director of SISERA from 2002 to 2006.
His previous positions included Regional Senior Policy Economist and Project Leader with the Southern African Development Community/World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Agroforestry Research Project (1998-2002, Zimbabwe); Regional Policy Economist (1994-1998, Mali) and Regional Economist and Country Representative (1992-1994, Burkina Faso) with the ICRAF Semi-Arid Lowlands of West Africa Regional Program; and Rockefeller Foundation Visiting Scientist at the International Fertilizer Development Centre - Africa Office (1990-1991, Togo). He also has undertaken consultancies for the World Bank's Soil Fertility Initiative and for UNESCO's World Wide Fund for Nature.
Dr. Ayuk holds M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University (USA). His areas of expertise lie in the social, economic and policy dimensions of natural resource management, marketing and modeling. He has written or co-written numerous refereed journal articles, papers and book chapters, and co-edited the 2007 book The Policy Paradox in Africa: Strengthening the Links between Economic Research and Policymaking (Africa World Press and IDRC).
"I welcome Dr. Ayuk to the UNU family," said UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder. "UNU has pledged to step up its activities in Africa, and the appointment of Dr. Ayuk as director of UNU-INRA is a crucial step in this direction."
To request an interview with UNU-INRA Director Elias Ayuk, please contact the UNU Office of Communications (e-mail: media@unu.edu).
Information on UNU-INRA is available online at http://www.inra.unu.edu/. For more about the global UNU system, see http://www.unu.edu/.

SEFI Selects UNU Rector Osterwalder as 2010 Leonardo da Vinci Medalist

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 09:14:47 -0500

From left: Prof. Borri (who presented the laudation), President Kolmos and Prof. Osterwalder. Photo courtesy of Prof. Francesco Maffioli/SEFI.

The European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), founded in 1973, is the largest European network of higher engineering institutions and individuals involved in engineering education. The SEFI mission is to contribute to the development and improvement of engineering education in Europe. The Leonardo da Vinci Medal, instituted in 1983, is the highest distinction that SEFI bestows. It is awarded to living persons who have made an outstanding contribution of international significance to engineering education. On 21 September, in a ceremony at the Joint International IGIP-SEFI Annual Conference in Trnava, Slovakia, UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder was presented with the 2010 Leonardo da Vinci Medal. The award recognizes both his research, his teaching and his leadership roles (including assistant and associate professor for mathematical physics at Harvard University; professor for mathematical physics at ETH Zurich; rector of ETH; member and chair of university councils in Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy; and rector of UNU).

UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1325, 10 YEARS ON

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 17:12:08 -0500

Women Making Peace

Participants of the expert's meeting. Photo courtesy of Seikyo Shimbun.
2010.09.10 • UNU-ISP hosted an experts' meeting and a public forum to assess progress made towards integrating women's voices, perspectives and skills in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. The day of events at UNU headquarters in Tokyo was organized by UNU-ISP, Global Action to Prevent War (GAPW), Soka Gakkai International (SGI) and the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security.
In October 2000, the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted a groundbreaking resolution on women, peace and security. UNSC resolution 1325 addressed the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women, and recognized the under-valued and under-utilized contributions that women make to conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding.
In the experts' meeting, scholars, activists, policy makers and UN agencies examined the impact of UNSC resolution 1325, the remaining obstacles to women's participation, and indicators to measure progress. The participants also considered the role of the newly-formed UN Women (the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women), which brings together four previously distinct parts of the UN system focusing exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.
Several recent UNU-ISP research projects have examined gender issues in conflict and peacebuilding, resulting in books including Sexed Pistols: The Gendered Impacts of Small Arms and Light Weapons (Vanessa Farr, Henri Myrttinen and Albrecht Schnabel, eds., UNU Press).

Two UNU Books Launched at UNESCO

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:00:10 -0500

On the panel at the book launch (from left): Sol Iglesias, Vesselin Popvski, Irina Bokova, Luk Van Langenhove, and Lidia Brito. Photo: UNESCO/Andrew Wheeler
UNU's Office in Paris (UNU-OP) and UNESCO held an event to launch the UNU Press books Engaging Civil Society: Emerging Trends in Democratic Governance and Building Trust in Government: Innovations in Governance Reform in Asia. These books, part of the "Trends and Innovations in Governance" series, result from collaborative research conducted by the UNU Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) and the East-West Center, University of Hawaii.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova opened the event and acknowledged the contribution of the two books to the essential debate on the kind of governance necessary to ensure globalization is more just, democratic and inclusive. Ms. Bokova reaffirmed the importance of collaboration between UNU and UNESCO as natural partners in building bridges between academia, policy makers, civil society and the private sector. She stressed the importance of the creation of UNU-UNESCO Chairs worldwide to serve this purpose. Ms. Bokova congratulated UNU for its advanced policy relevant research and for developing post-graduate degree programmes.
The two UNU books were introduced by Vesselin Popovski, their co-editor and Head of the Peace and Security Section of UNU-ISP. Other speakers included Luk Van Langenhove, Representative of UNU-OP; Lidia Brito, Director of the Division of Science Policy and Sustainable Development, UNESCO; and Sol Iglesias, Director of the Asia Europe Foundation, Singapore.
Contributors to the book series "Trends and Innovations in Governance" include leading scholars on governance, political science and Asia studies. Engaging Civil Society examines the changing roles of civil society in global and national governance, and identifies factors that influence the effectiveness of civil society in promoting democratic governance. Building Trust in Government examines the sources and elements of trust in government, discusses factors that lead to decline or growth of trust, and presents ways to reform the policy process to ensure that governance is truly representative and participatory.
The series will continue with a third title, Cross-Border Governance in Asia: Regional Issues and Mechanisms.

Inauguration Ceremony Held for Students of UNU-ISP Postgraduate Programme

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:10:15 -0500

CLASSES BEGIN

Inauguration Ceremony Held for Students of UNU-ISP Postgraduate Programme UNU Rector, staff, students of the postgraduate programme, and special guests. Photo: UNU-ISP 2010.09.13 • An invitation-only inauguration ceremony for the students of the new UNU Institute for Sustainability and Peace postgraduate programme was held at UNU Headquarters today with master of ceremonies Professor John Clammer welcoming students to "a unique moment in UNU's history." UNU Rector Professor Konrad Osterwalder called the day "a moving moment for me... this is the day we become a real university." In his address the rector spoke of another kind of renewable energy, "that which is in our heads. "This century," he said, "will become the century of education and learning." Speaking of how the world has been brought to the brink of environmental catastrophe by the "shameless and boundless exploitation of the world's riches," Professor Osterwalder called on students to "let's make a second attempt, using not the riches from the earth but from our heads." UNU Vice-Rector and UNU-ISP Director Kazuhiko Takeuchi presented students with an overview of the institute. "For the past 35 years," he said, "UNU was famous as the university without students. But now that has changed and we are a real university." UNU-ISP Senior Academic Programme Officer Skrikantha Herath then gave additional course details to students and spoke of the open learning environment they would enjoy during their studies at UNU. The keynote address was delivered by Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, director of the Japan Foundation for the United Nations University, who spoke on sustainability science and the challenges presented by the need for holistic approaches to the pressing problems of our time. Also present on the panel was Professor Janette Lindesay from Australian National University who has been an instrumental member of the course development working group. UNU extends a very warm welcome to the 5 students who begin their master's degree studies today, the 8 research students who will join them, and the 22 students from partner universities around the world. May your studies be challenging and rewarding!

The Global Coral Reef Management Guide produced by UNU-INWEH is helping protect dying reefs across the world.

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:12:32 -0500

The waters of the Caribbean Sea are the warmest on record and the region's imperilled corals are bleaching and beginning to die, experts warn.

Coral reefs are found in less than one percent of the world's oceans but are home to 25 to 30 percent of all marine species. Some one billion people depend directly and indirectly on reefs for their livelihoods.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers coral reefs one of the life-support systems essential for human survival.

A colourful piece of coral is made up of thousands of tiny animals called polyps, which create cup-like limestone skeletons around themselves using calcium from seawater.

Prior to the 1980s only one large-scale bleaching event had ever been recorded. An increase in water temperature of just one or two degrees Celsius above the average summer peak period is enough for bleaching to begin.

The longer the water temperatures remain above normal, the greater the bleaching. Those corals can recover if the stress is temporary -- lasting weeks, instead of months.

The greenhouse effect resulting from carbon emissions, largely from the burning of fossil fuels, is trapping more heat in the atmosphere and is gradually heating up the oceans. In July, the global ocean surface temperature reached a record 0.62 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average, according to NOAA.

In Southeast Asia, ocean temperatures were 4.0 degrees above normal in May. Sixty to 80 percent of corals in various regions near Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia bleached, and some died, according to surveys done by the Wildlife Conservation Society, based in Indonesia.

Scientists there expect 2010 will be worse than the 1998 bleaching that killed 30 percent of reefs in the Indian and the western and central Pacific Ocean. That year, 16 percent of the world's corals died due to bleaching.

Until the last decade or so, overfishing, pollution and coastal development were the biggest killers of coral. Those threats still exist, although there have been attempts to protect corals in marine protected areas (MPAs) and "no- take" fishery reserves.

But despite best intentions, those efforts have largely been ineffective, says Peter Sale, of the United Nations University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health.

"Most MPAs do not work. We call them 'paper parks'," Sale told Tierramérica. They suffer from poor management and from design that fails to take into account the fact that reefs do not exist in isolation.

If coastal development results in pollutants or sediments flowing into the ocean, the nearby reefs are done for, even if they are in an MPA, he said.

There is also a stunning shortage of scientific data. "We don't know how big an MPA should be to be effective," said Sale.

In the Caribbean, the most important local fishing sector is lobster. But, according to Sale, no island fishery knows where its lobster comes from, so how could lobster be properly managed?

After hatching, lobster larvae are free-floating for an average of nine months, which enables them to travel hundreds of kilometres away from where they hatched, according to new research.

This new data is part of a larger project that has produced an MPA management guide: "Preserving Reef Connectivity: A Handbook for Marine Protected Area Managers".

He stressed that proper local protection and management of corals is absolutely essential to help them withstand the effects climate change: bleaching and ocean acidification, a process that weakens reef's calcium skeleton.

In the early 1980s, the residents of two small islands in the Philippines brought their coral reefs and fisheries back from the brink of extinction by setting up and managing no-fishing reserves.

Today, they catch more fish with less effort, while earning a good tourist income, Sale said.

In the Caribbean, MPAs need to be managed as a regional network that is connected to the continental coastal zone.

"Done well, corals, fisheries and the coastal environment will all benefit," he said.

(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.)

UNU unveils the "Art of Tea" Architecture

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:18:42 -0500

The lobby of the UNU Headquarters in Tokyo has recently been playing host to the winning entries of an Architectural competition held by the Architectural Institute of Japan. The UNU was pleased to present the collaborative efforts of the talented young Architects whose designs overcame fierce competition and were chosen to be constructed on 1:1 scale. The competition was created in 2009 when Archi-TV and Gin Cha-kai combined their efforts organize a competition in which Architectural students were given the chance to enter their designs of tea houses, the winning entries of which would be constructed. Merchants from Tokyo's Ginza area who arrange a series of events in the Ginza area every autumn to promote the "art of tea" had originally planned to display the constructed tea house's in the local farmers market. However Rector of the UNU Konrad Osterwalder invited the the students to avail of the UNU facilities in Tokyo, so that they may adequately display the skillful designs of the winning tea house's. Architectural Students from all over Japan competed for this illustrious prize,18 tea house designs were submitted and scrutinized by a panel of judges. Students were permitted to design their entries as a team or to work on their own individual designs. The winning team of the tea house used by the Edo-senke school (tea house with canopy) was from Chiba University, four students: 1. Shouta Kanehira, 2. Takahide Nishimura, 3: Yu Kawase, 4. Toshikazu Hino.The winning team of the tea house used by the Mushakouji-senke school (tea house with bamboo) was from Shibaura Institute of Technology, 15 students: 1: Mr. Naoto Arai, 2: Mr. Takahiro Ideshita, 3: Mr. Hiroki Otsuka, 4: Mr. Kazuma Okada, 5: Ms. Ikue Kanesaki, 6: Mr. Takuma Kurihara, 7:Ms. Azusa Sato, 8: Ms.Miho Tominaga, 9: Mr. Daisuke Nakayama, 10: Mr. Soutaro Nemoto, 11: Mr. Yuta Nakayama, 12: Mr. Masato Nagumo, 13: Mr. Yuya Miyazaki, 14: Mr. Haruki Sato, 15: Mr. Shintaro Hurutachi The 2 winning designs were selected to be built in the Ginza area for actual use by the Gin Cha-Kai organization for their "art of tea" event. In Ginza, teachers and students from the Tea Schools of Edo-senke and Mushakouji-senke served tea and sweets to more than 1000 guests inside the two winning tea houses. The UNU recognizes the promotion of study, practical learning and experience in the field that this competition represents.The UNU aspires to be a world-class international research, policy study, teaching and capacity development institution that can contribute to helping present and future generations. Competitions that require this level of research and academic excellence are in line with the vision of the UNU and its ethos.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visits UNU in Tokyo

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:56:50 -0500

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed UN staff in Tokyo at a town hall meeting at UNU Headquarters recently. Mr. Ban was visiting Japan to meet with Prime Minister Kan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Okada, and other senior officials and to attend ceremonies on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japan.
At the town hall meeting, moderated by UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder, Mr. Ban said that the core theme of his visit was peace and disarmament. He hoped to send a strong message, he said, through his presence. On Friday, August 6, Mr. Ban became the first secretary-general to attend the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony.
Before taking questions from the audience, Mr. Ban also spoke of the creation of a new agency for women and gender equality. UN Women will unite those entities and programs now working on these issues.

Workshop explores local peacebuilding experiences and perspectives

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:06:45 -0500

Peacebuilding in Conflict-Affected Societies

UNU-ISP and McMaster University (Ontario, Canada) held a workshop at the University of Sarajevo from June 23 to 25 as part of a joint research project which draws upon local perspectives to deepen understanding of peacebuilding challenges, and thereby recommend ways to improve UN and inter-governmental approaches to peacebuilding.

The workshop engaged local researchers, policy analysts and practitioners with experience of peacebuilding activities in their own countries, including Croatia, Guatemala, Kosovo, Mozambique and Timor-Leste, as well as Bosnia-Herzegovina. It explored the successes and failures of peacebuilding in these countries, from conflict prevention and conflict resolution to the process of post-conflict reconstruction, including economic development, democracy assistance and good governance, strengthening the rule of law, demobilization and reintegration of armed combatants, and reconciliation.

The Sarajevo workshop builds upon a previous workshop held in Accra, Ghana, in September 2009, featuring experts on peacebuilding in Afghanistan, Burundi, Kosovo, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.

Analysis of local needs and ownership in peacebuilding remains underdeveloped, and local voices are not always present. The UNU-ISP project "Peacebuilding in Conflict-Affected Societies: Comparative Experiences and Local Perspectives" addresses these shortcomings by considering local experiences and perspectives in four areas: the legacy of violent conflict; local resources and capacity; scope, priority and sequencing of peacebuilding activities; and the balancing of local and international engagement.

The project outcomes will be disseminated through an edited academic volume, a UNU Research Brief, and a workshop report to be published in the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development.

UNU Holds First Global Seminar in the Caribbean

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:03:20 -0500

Regional Governance: Challenges and Opportunities

The United Nations University recently held its first global seminar in The Caribbean. The seminar, hosted by the Institute of International Relations (IIR), University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago on the theme "Regional Governance: Challenges and Opportunities" was held from June 28 to 30. In his opening remarks, Timothy M. Shaw, the director of the Institute of International Relations at UWI stated that the UNU Global Seminar would build on existing networks between UWI and other United Nations agencies, and as UNU's first seminar in the Caribbean region, would open new opportunities for research collaboration between UNU researchers and researchers in the region.

In his keynote remarks, UNU Vice-Rector Kazuhiko Takeuchi presented UNU's current and future plans for graduate programmes, twin institutes, and integrated interdisciplinary approaches to global sustainability challenges. Following Prof. Takeuchi's remarks, John Agard, a renowned climate scientist, spoke on the relevance of sustainability science and the importance of developing an interdisciplinary understanding.

The seminar was attended by 45 students selected mainly from the undergraduate and graduate programs at UWI and the United Nations Youth Association for Trinidad and Tobago. The seminar featured 15 guest lectures delivered by leading experts selected from UWI, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, UN agencies and regional organizations based in Trinidad. Some of the guest lecturers included Anita Montoute, Matthew Bishop, Mark Kirton, Michele Reis (all from UWI), Luis Andrade Fall of the Association of Caribbean States, Jens Ulrich Poppen from UN Volunteers, and Reita Gabrielle of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The seminar was jointly facilitated by Obijiofor Aginam of the UNU Institute for Sustainability and Peace, Tamara Brathwaite (IIR, UWI), Amanda Laurence (UNIC), and Solange Cross-Mike (IIR, UWI) who supervised the group work and presentations of the students on four topics related to the challenges of regional governance in the Caribbean region.

Sustainable Decision-Making in a Time of Crisis: Public and Private Perspectives

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:13:47 -0500

Asia Pacific Academy of Business In Society (APABIS) Annual Conference

Date: November 4-5, 2010

Location: U Thant Hall, UNU Headquarters

This important international conference reflects lessons learnt and being learned from the global financial crisis, from the climate change prognosis and from rethinking global governance. 2010 is also the 10th anniversary of the UN Global Compact and the International Year of Biodiversity. The conference also immediately precedes the Asia Pacific Economic Community (APEC) 2010 Summit (10 - 11 November in Yokohama, Japan). Given the birth of the G20 group of nations, the inexorable diffusion of economic power to the Asia Pacific region, and the rise of new organisational forms and business models, this conference is particularly timely and relevant. On the conference programme are sessions which discuss: "how and to what extent does decision making differ between the public and private arenas?", and "given the imperative for new global governance how can private and public decision-making work together for the common good?"

The conference facilitates open dialogue and learning between academics, experts on business planning and public sector policy, civil society and the media. It considers external and internal factors involved in decision-making, exploring the balance between long and short term goals and pressing needs in times of crisis. Topics of particular focus will include the immediacy of climate change, sustainability, emerging low carbon sustainable enterprise economy agenda, and peacebuilding as a sustainability approach to peace.

Read more at isp.unu.edu

Winners of the 2010 Young Scientist Award announced

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:08:56 -0500

The Prosper.Net-Scopus Young Scientist Award in Sustainable Development is given annually to young scientists or researchers, based in the Asia-Pacific region, who have made significant contributions in the area of Sustainable Development. The award is open to those researchers who are under the age of 40 and are engaged in graduate education and research activities that emphasise sustainable development.

For 2010, awards were given in each of four areas: Energy, Water, Agriculture & Food Security, and Economics, Business, & Management.

There were five winners this year. The winners and runners-up presented their research at a symposium held at Tongji University, Shanghai, China, on 5 July 2010, and were honoured with awards the same day.

Read the list of winners at ias.unu.edu

Empowering European Universities

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:41:26 -0500

Together with, among others, Maastricht University Rector Jo Ritzen, European Research Council Professor Helga Nowotny and Vice-chancellor of Greenwich University and former UK Higher Education Minister Baroness Tessa Blackstone, UNU-MERIT Director Luc Soete has worked out and signed a manifesto called Empowering European Universities. The manifesto calls for increased private finance as the solution to raising funds for higher education in the future and solve the problem of under-finance which many universities currently suffer from.

Related items:
(PDF) Manifesto Empower European Universities
(PDF) Press release

Photo: Jo Ritzen, Rector of Maastricht University