United Nations Academic Impact
Encyclopedia
The United Nations Academic Impact, also known by its acronym UNAI, is a United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 initiative to align institutions of higher education, scholarship and research with the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 and with each other.

In the words of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...

: “The Academic Impact aims to generate a global movement of minds to promote a new culture of intellectual social responsibility. It is animated by a commitment to certain bedrock principles. Among them: freedom of inquiry, opinion and speech; educational opportunity for all; global citizenship; sustainability; and dialogue.”

Furthermore UNAI aims to support the realization of the Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...

 focusing on the reciprocal relationship between education and sustainable development.

History

The initiative was formally launched on November 18, 2010 by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...

 at UN Headquarters in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. On this occasion, he outlined the purpose of UNAI:

“By sharing ideas, across borders and disciplines, we can find solutions to the interconnected problems that cause so much suffering.
Climate change is not just an environmental threat; it is closely tied to poverty. Poverty is not just about jobs, it is directly related to food security. Food security has an impact on health. Health affects generations of children. Children hold the key to our future. And education can lead to progress on all these fronts.”

Until now more than 700 institutions in over 100 countries and some 40 academic networks joined the initiative.

The 10 UNAI principles

Academic Impact is informed by a commitment to support and advance ten basic principles:
  1. A commitment to the principles inherent in the United Nations Charter
    United Nations Charter
    The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member countries...

     as values that education seeks to promote and help fulfill;
  2. A commitment to human rights
    Human rights
    Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

    , among them freedom of inquiry, opinion, and speech;
  3. A commitment to educational opportunity for all people regardless of gender, race, religion or ethnicity;
  4. A commitment to the opportunity for every interested individual to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary for the pursuit of higher education
    Higher education
    Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

    ;
  5. A commitment to building capacity in higher education systems across the world;
  6. A commitment to encouraging global citizenship through education;
  7. A commitment to advancing peace and conflict resolution through education;
  8. A commitment to addressing issues of poverty through education;
  9. A commitment to promoting sustainability
    Sustainability
    Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...

     through education;
  10. A commitment to promoting inter-cultural dialogue and understanding, and the “unlearning” of intolerance, through education.

UNAI in Action

Participating institutions are expected to show their support of one of the 10 UNAI principles by undertaking one activity per year which tangibly supports and furthers the realization of those principles. Examples include lectures, publications, online activities and especially events that promote intercultural dialogue and the international exchange of ideas. UNAI established various communication channels. In order to get in contact and intensify dialogue with academia around the world UNAI uses social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...

, such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 or for the Chinese audience, Sina
Sina.com
SINA is an online media company for China and Chinese communities around the world. SINA operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, SINA Mobile, SINA Online, and SINA.net. SINA has over 100 million registered users worldwide...

.

Ten UNAI members have been designated hubs for each one of the principles.
  1. Commitment to the UN Charter, J.F. Oberlin University
    Obirin University
    is a private university in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. The university's name was derived from that of pastor and philanthropist J. F. Oberlin, and the name also shows the university's historical ties with Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, which the university's founders attended...

     in Japan
    Japan
    Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

  2. Human rights, Benedict College
    Benedict College
    Benedict College is a historically black, liberal arts college located in Columbia, South Carolina. Founded in 1870 by northern Baptists, it was originally a teachers' college. It has since expanded into a four-year college.-History:...

    , USA
  3. Education opportunity for all, Lahore University of Management Sciences
    Lahore University of Management Sciences
    The Lahore University of Management Sciences, usually referred to by its acronym LUMS, is a university located in Lahore, Pakistan. LUMS was established in 1984 by a group of industrialists and people belonging to Pakistan's leading private and public sector corporations, to provide rigorous...

    , Pakistan
    Pakistan
    Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

  4. Higher education opportunity for every interested individual, Hadassah College, Israel
  5. Capacity building in higher education systems, Handong Global University
    Handong Global University
    Handong Global University is a privately run, four-year university located in Pohang, North Gyeongsang province, South Korea.- Overview :...

    , Republic of Korea
  6. Global citizenship, Lehigh University
    Lehigh University
    Lehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...

    , USA
  7. Peace and conflict resolution, Calcutta University
    University of Calcutta
    The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...

    , India
    India
    India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

  8. Addressing poverty, University of KwaZulu-Natal
    University of KwaZulu-Natal
    The University of KwaZulu-Natal or UKZN is a university with five campuses all located in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville.-History:-University of...

    , South Africa
    South Africa
    The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

  9. Sustainability, Black Sea University Network, Romania
    Romania
    Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

  10. Intercultural dialogue and understanding and the unlearning of intolerance, Escuela Politécnica Javeriana del Ecuador, Ecuador
    Ecuador
    Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...


List of participating institutions

For a list of participating institutions see: http://academicimpact.org/currentmemberlist.pdf

See also

United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...



Secretary-General

Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...



http://outreach.un.org/unai/
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