Today there is no more doubt about the role of educational technologies as a means to enable higher education institutions to increase the outreach and the quality of their programmes significantly. The introduction of e-learning however, greatly affects the organisational culture of higher education institutions.

That is why the United Nations University Vice Rectorate in Europe (UNU-ViE) in collaboration with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the support of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) invited e-learning experts and representatives of African National Higher Education Commissions, the Interuniversity Council of East Africa (IUCEA) as well as university leaders from all over Africa to the UN Campus in Bonn. In the course of a highly interactive 3-day expert meeting they debated the potential and challenges of e-learning.

UNU and UNITAR held a joint workshop on „Becoming an E-Tutor“ to train 13 participants from organisations of nine countries in the Asia and Pacific region. The workshop took place in New Delhi, India, from 3 to 7 August 2009 at the Indian Institute for Public Administration.

Please refer to the official UNITAR website.

The portal of the Dialogue “Sustainable Solutions – Science for Sustainability”, or D4S, was launched and is now online. The website will strengthen scientific and policy networks among Germany and major emerging economies. It will increase the visibility of sustainability science and technology and contribute to the generation of sustainable solutions through research.

A delegation of two representatives of UNU-ViE/UFS-DiMTEC (University of the Free State - Disaster Risk Management Training and Education Centre for Africa) visited Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, to meet with senior government officials and politicians from 8 to 15 August 2009. The delegation gathered information for the establishment of a disaster risk management centre in Brazzaville.

Representatives were Ms. Jessica Johmann, Head of Executive Office of UNU-ViE and the Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and IDEAS programme coordinator, and Prof. Andries Jordaan, Director of DiMTEC. They attended several meetings with high-level executives in Brazzaville and also carried out field visits to major vulnerable sites in the area.

UNU-ViE actively contributed to the seminar “Challenges and Strategies for Science Cooperation with Africa” organised by the German UNESCO Commission in Bonn, Germany on 8 to 9 September 2009.

The seminar was organised in order to create awareness about the importance of science cooperation with sub-Sahara Africa and reverse the current trend of decreased student numbers from sub-Sahara Africa at German universities.

The central question was how different German and international stakeholders can better connect in order to support the development of sub-Sahara Africa through science cooperation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues and Friends!

By 31 July 2009 the most exciting chapter of my – up to now - 40 year-long professional life came to a close. After having served almost six years as founding director of the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and more than two years as Vice Rector a. i. of UNU I have retired (following the UN age limit regulation) from the UN system.

It is my pleasant obligation to thank all of you for the unique opportunity to serve science and to promote the objectives of the United Nations simultaneously. Donor ministries, my superiors, colleagues and collaborators of UNU, UN colleagues and many many scientific partners from universities, research institutes and governments gave their best to help UNU-EHS from its first steps to become within a short period of five years a trusted partner and a recognized scientific institution.

On Thursday, 24 September 2009, UNU-ViE invites you to join its “University 2.0” Workshop at the EFQUEL Innovation Forum which takes place on 24-25 September 2009 in Espoo, Finland.

Please visit the official website of the EFQUEL Innovation Forum for the programme and registration details.

The European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning (EFQUEL) is the biggest network for quality in e-learning worldwide. Based in Brussels, Belgium, EFQUEL is a network with over 70 member organisations from Europe and beyond comprising universities, corporations and national agencies.

On 17 July 2009 UNU-ViE hosted Prof. H.S. Mukunda of the Combustion, Gasification and Propulsion Laboratory, at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who presented his biomass research at the UN campus in Bonn. He met with representatives of UNU-ViE, UNU-EHS, UNU/ZEF and IHDP who gave an overview of their activities.

The presentations focused on the Dialogue for Sustainability, StEP - Solving the E-Waste Problem, the energy component of the project on Sustainable Land Management in the High Pamir and Pamir-Alai Mountains, and the human dimensions of global environmental change.

From 6 – 24 July 2009 UNU-ViE invites you to an online discussion about future concepts in African higher education. The initiative, "Universities 2.0", is a series of face-to-face workshops in Africa and online events which aim at exploring ways to empower African higher education.

E-Learning specialist Tony Bates from Canada stimulated the discussion during the first week on the “Opportunities and Challenges” on the pathway of transforming universities into global learning organizations.

From 20 July, we will tackle the topic "vision for Uni 2.0". To participate, please register on the Science Connect platform and then join the online discussion here.

A delegation of three interdisciplinary experts from Congo Brazzaville was dispatched to South Africa from 4th – 11th June where they attended, amongst others, the training course on “Disaster Risk Reduction and Vulnerability”, a UNU-ViE initiative organized by the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and the Disaster Risk Management Training and Education Centre for Africa (DiMTEC) of the University of the Free State (UFS). The ultimate goal of the trainings is to establish a center for disaster risk management and prevention in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo.

After the success of “Five years UNU in Bonn”, edited by Ilona Roberts, the second edition of the publication is now available.

Five fruitful years have passed since the first seeds of UNU in Bonn were planted. This publication looks back at the growth and accomplishments of UNU-EHS, and other entities of UNU in Bonn such as UNU-ViE and the two hosted entities UNW-DPC and UNU-IHDP. The publication assembles the thoughts and memories of all those who contributed and supported the UNU in Bonn, as well as facts and figures concerning all entities.

For a detailed and colorful look at the Five Years of UNU in Bonn (2nd Edition), please download the report here.

Some sixty German and Indian policy-makers and scientists came together and discussed energy and land use research and development at the second German-Indian Conference on Research for Sustainability. The event, entitled “Science for Sustainability – Driver for a Common Future”, was co-organized and hosted by the Vice Rectorate. It took place at the UN Campus, Bonn on 27 to 28 April 2009.

At the “Science meets Media” lecture a communication specialist explains how scientists, experts and others can use the media to get their messages across.
The open event is organized by UNU-EHS and takes place on 25 June 2009 at 5:30 pm in room 2705 at the UN Campus, Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10, 53113 Bonn.

Everyone is welcome – prior registration and early arrival is necessary for access to the campus. Please register by emailing to:

UNU organizes a pre-conference workshop for the major event “eLearning Africa” to explore how e-learning can transform educational institutions. International higher education stakeholders will be the panellists at the workshop which will take place on 27 May 2009 in Dakar, Senegal.

Official website of eLearning Africa.

An exponentially growing number of students need to be educated, academic staff urgently need to be up-skilled and solutions need to be invented to address the pressing development challenges embodied by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Can universities of the 21st century afford to go on business as usual?