The Seventeenth Session of the Governing Board of the UNESCO Institute for Information and Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE) took place on 17 April 2018 in Moscow. The Governing Board meets at least once a year to define the general policy of the Institute, approve IITE’s programme and budget and provide guidance on the Institute’s operations.
During a number of discussions, members of the Governing Board and participants of the meeting reviewed the financial situation of the Institute, Report by the Director on IITE’s Activities in 2017-2018, IITE’s Programme Implementation Plan for 2018-2019 and a number of other issues. The Governing Board’s Chairperson Dr. Mansoor Al Awar, Chancellor of the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (UAE), expressed his appreciation to the Government of the Russian Federation for its generous support and the extrbudgetary contribution allocated by the Ministry to the IITE in December 2017. He highlighted a positive progress during the last two years thanks to the support of the Russian Federation, the UNESCO Headquarters and the leadership of Mr. Tao Zhan, Director of UNESCO IITE. The Russian Federation was represented by Mr. Igor Ganshin, Director of International Department of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, who was appointed as a new Governing Board member last year. Mr. Ganshin spoke about collaboration between the Ministry and the Institute and the increased support to IITE from the Russian Government. The members of the UNESCO IITE’s Governing Board expressed their gratitude to the Ministry of Education and Science for the special attention the Institute has received, as well as the financial contribution from the Russian Government, which allows IITE to realize its major programme activities in the sphere of education in Russia and all over the world.
Following the recommendations and guidance of the Governing Board expressed at its meeting in 2017, IITE has made the encouraging progress regarding its Strategy, programme activities and financial issues. After the UNESCO IITE’s Medium-Term Strategy for 2018-2021 was adopted, the Institute has achieved a number of important results within its six programme activities that have been developed in line with UNESCO’s new Main Line of Actions for education adopted by the 39th General Conference. With the structure and staff changes as well as significant increase of its funding, IITE is facing new opportunities and new challenges. The capacity building of its team and the sustainability of its funding support are two major factors which are crucial to the successful implementation of its new Strategy.