UIL: The Annual Report 2010

The Annual Report 2010 has been published online
Published bilingually in English and French, it covers UIL’s activities in adult and non-formal education and literacy within an overall perspective of lifelong learning, as well as its organizational structure, publications and budget.
The Annual Report can be downloaded on this page under “Information resources”. The print version of the report will be available shortly.
Global policy dialogue on lifelong learning
UNESCO – through UIL and the Bureau of Strategic Planning (BSP) – the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO co-organised the Shanghai International Forum on Lifelong Learning from 19 to 21 May 2010, during the World Expo. The Forum brought together over 200 participants from 35 countries and experts from across the world to discuss learning concepts and practices within a lifelong learning perspective. The Forum offered a unique opportunity for practitioners, policy-makers, advocates and academics to share experiences and achievements, and to debate the crucial issues facing contemporary education in a series of plenary sessions, thematic debates and visits to lifelong learning institutions in Shanghai. Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, in her address to participants, reaffirmed the role of lifelong learning in addressing global development issues and encouraged all participants to work together with optimism, creativity and commitment to make lifelong learning a reality. Mr Yuan Guiren, China’s Minister of Education, emphasised the importance and urgency for China of building a lifelong education system and highlighted national strategies to modernise education and build a learning society by 2020.
The Forum stressed the principle that holistic and sector-wide educational reforms are required, redesigning all sub-sectors of the education system to cater for lifelong and lifewide learning with learning opportunities in all settings (formal, non-formal and informal) for infants, children, youths and adults. More concretely, the Forum identified the following issues which have policy implications for building a lifelong learning system: financing, curricular reform in schools and universities, qualifications frameworks, the development of ICT as an alternative delivery mechanism, and accessible learning opportunities.