Higher education in Asian countries and the role of international ...

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On 12 th of December 1960 the General Conference a resolution on the role of education in
economic and social development was adopted. In this resolution it was recognized that
assistance in development is ineffective if not matched by the development of Primary,
Secondary, Technical and Higher education. The conference also instructed to the Executive
Board and the Director General to continue to give priority to education in future programs.
Furthermore this resolution stressed upon same consideration for educational projects as for
economic development projects 20 .
In 1964 UNESCO launch a pilot world literacy program in eight selected countries after an
adoption of resolution by the General Conference (Declaration: Education of illiteracy in the UN
development decade- 13 C/Res.1.27). In the same year a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
was signed between UNESCO and the World Bank [the International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (IBRD)] as a result UNESCO sent three missions to member states to work on
the financing of education projects (UNESCO, 1965). In the following year a world congress of
Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy was organized by UNESCO in Teheran.
In December 1968 UNESCO organized a Conference on Trends in the Teaching and Training of
Engineers. This was the first conference of nature and with the objective to evaluate the quality
of teaching and effectiveness of programs 21 .
Today UNESCO is fostering and encouraging innovation in education at all levels including
higher education in order to make education and institutions responsive to the social and market
needs, to find and identify new means and opportunities. These initiatives are aimed to make
higher education accessible for young people of the society particularly those who are in the least
developed regions. To achieve the set objectives UNESCO is engaged in promoting policy
dialogues, quality enhancement and capacity development in higher education institutions to
conduct research, knowledge generation and knowledge sharing across borders. The core
objective of UNESCO assistance to its member states is to ensure equal opportunities with an
enhanced accessibility to higher education and this is being attained by supporting education
20 Source: UNESCO Archives (E/3387; 11 C/DR/182 Rev, 11 C/PRG/SR.46, 50)
21 Source: UNESCO Archives (ED/217), (SC/MD/12)