International Consultative Meeting for Establishing the UNESCO-Global Learning Cities Network in Hangzhou, China

Under the framework of the 2012 Hangzhou International Conference on Educational Innovations, UIL, in close cooperation with the National Commission of China for UNESCO and the Education Commission of the Xiacheng District of Hangzhou City, organized an international consultative meeting for establishing the UNESCO Global Learning Cities Network (UNESCO GLCN) from 28 to 29 November in Hangzhou, China. Representatives of the founding partners or potential funding partners for establishing the UNESCO GLCN participated in this meeting. UIL was represented at the conference by its Director, Mr Arne Carlsen, who spoke on the aims and potentials of Learning Cities and Lifelong Learning.

The meeting reviewed progress made in the preparatory phase of setting up the UNESCO GLCN, clarified the objectives and functions of the UNESCO GLCN, and developed a roadmap and a communication strategy for establishing the UNESCO GLCN.  An important content of the meeting was the discussion on drafting a UNESCO GLCN index with both quantitative and qualitative indicators. The emphasis of the discussion was on how to make the index manageable and applicable at city-level in all development contexts.  Based on the discussion in the meeting, UIL will refine the indicators and organize the piloting of the index in a small selection of cities in the various UNESCO regions.