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UNU Update | |
The newsletter of United Nations
University and its network of research and training centres and programmes |
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Issue 20: October 2002 |
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environmental education initiative The Norwegian Government is contributing US $2 million towards the creation of a new UN University unit responsible for developing the Global Virtual University (GVU). The announcement was made by Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The new unit will be located at UNEP/GRID-Arendal and will be implemented by a core partnership between UNEP/GRID-Arendal, Agder University College and UNU. The partners will establish the international network of cooperating universities.
UNU Rector Hans van Ginkel welcomed the support of the Norwegian Government and stated: "This new initiative will build upon the work of the UNU on the virtual university which has been on-going since 1996. In particular, we see it has a great opportunity to harmonize the use of the best available educational technologies with high-quality course contents from UNEP/GRID and the UNU." The GVU will offer education for the common future, providing scientific knowledge supporting the prudent management of the environment and helping to map out national and regional pathways to sustainable development.The studies will increase people’s sensitivity to and involvement in
finding solutions for environment and development problems, develop
expertise to understand the potential and limits of the environment and
foster ethical awareness, values and attitudes. Courseware will be
developed in a collaborative, global network of academic institutions, and
the studies will be on-line and decentralized, with a focus on developing
countries. Ernst Håkon Jahr, the Rector of Agder University College, says: "GVU will expand our existing international network of universities and improve our capacity in e-Learning.” During the initial phase, the UNU operating unit in Norway and UNEP/GRID-Arendal will establish the GVU and provide course materials based on their activities. The GVU will grow into a network organization focused on e-Learning and building competencies related to sustainable human development in developing countries through partnerships with cooperating universities and research organizations. New information and communication technologies will be used to bridge
the digital divide and to deliver up-to-date access to quality learning
across wide geographic regions at reasonable costs. |
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