Universitas
The Universitas Programme is one
of the working tools of the KIP-UN initiative and part of the preparatory process
for creating the International School.
Originally set up in 2001 by ILO,
UNDP, and UNOPS, Universitas is based on the premise that universities and research
centres have an important role to play in taking forward the commitments of the
main international summits of the ‘90s and the Millennium Assembly (Millennium Platform).
UNIVERSITAS.
Universitas works with universities
and research institutes of the south and north to design and realize professional
development activities, higher education programmes and action-oriented research
to meet the development priorities of their territories in line with the UN Millennium
Platform. In doing this, it brings together academics and researchers, practitioners,
policy makers and students and engages them directly in concrete development practices:
the programme organizes intensive short courses (summer schools) and post-graduate
diploma courses, and provides technical assistance for setting up local human development
laboratories that encourage the systematization of practice, action research for
innovation and international exchanges among researchers, practitioners and students.
In interested countries, these activities are guided, at national level, by a steering
committee chaired by the Ministry of Higher Education and other pertinent national
institutions. Where interest exists, the programme facilitates the establishment
of international university and decentralized cooperation partnerships for the implementation
of these activities.
Universitas also manages two international
tools for knowledge dissemination, that contribute to the International School’s
cultural campaign:
1 . The Human Development Resource
Net is an open-access electronic library that archives material in four languages
that can contribute to building an organic body of knowledge for the Millennium
Platform and teaching material for interested universities and training programmes.
(www.hdrnet.org)
2 . Universitas Forum is a peer-reviewed
open-access electronic journal that publishes material in four languages and in
various formats related to local human development and the Millennium Platform (www.universitasforum.org),
giving priority to knowledge and know-how coming from southern contexts that may
not be well-known internationally but could be pertinent in other realities. Where
possible, Universitas establishes agreements with international partners to launch
research projects aimed to systematize innovative practice in forms that can be
published as articles, videos, teaching tools and so on.
Click the link below to find more information:
http://www.universitasforum.org/index.php/ojs/article/view/63/277
