From 26 to 27 October 2022, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) celebrated its 70th anniversary and held the symposium on Harnessing the Power of Lifelong Learning. High-level guests, key partners, scholars and experts from around the world attended the event and celebrated the70th anniversary of the UIL both in Hamburg and online.
Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, participated the event. As one of the key partners of the UIL, President Jia Wei and Vice-President Zhang Jin of the Shanghai Open University (SOU) were invited to attend the symposium, signed the new contract with UIL and unveiled the plague for “SOU-UIL Campus for International Capacity Development and Research in Lifelong Learning”.
In his speech, Jia Wei said, “as pointed out in UNESCO's very important recent published report Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education, ensuring that citizens receive quality education throughout life is a common social cause and common interest of all mankind, and the creativity and innovation of higher education institutions, from supporting research and advancing scientific progress to serving their communities and global educational institutions as partners, can make a unique contribution to fulfilling the social contract of lifelong learning. To this end, in the next three years, SOU will deepen its cooperation with the UIL, upgrade from the first phase of the Project Cooperation Office to the Campus for International Capacity Development and Research in Lifelong Learning, jointly carry out capacity-building activities, research and consultation, knowledge production and dissemination, personnel exchanges and internships, we expect this SOU-UIL Campus to become an innovative, leading and iconic new platform for global cooperation.”
David Atchoarena, Director of the UIL, said the collaboration between the UIL and SOU would write a new chapter. He looked forward to the signing of the new cooperation agreement and the greater achievements of cooperation with SOU, and the establishment of the SOU-UIL Campus in the next three years (2023-2025) would mark a strengthened cooperation between the two sides, which was expected to be a great success. Together, both sides would foster capacity building and lifelong learning policy development. Both sides would promote knowledge production and dissemination through thematic research in the field of higher education institutions’ engagement with lifelong. Both sides would work together to advance lifelong learning for all through this remarkable partnership.
