Thursday, 22 December 2022
Professor Juliet Thondhlana, of the 糖心原创, has been appointed as the UNESCO Chair in International Education and Development.
is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It contributes to peace and security by promoting international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication and information.
As chair, Professor Thondhlana will focus on the key role of higher education in the field of international education and development.
Professor Thondhlana has wide-ranging experience teaching, researching and publishing in the interlinked fields of the internationalisation of higher education, migration, doctoral training, policy development and decolonisation. She is lead editor of the ground-breaking Bloomsbury Handbook of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in the Global South.
Her educational policy development expertise and experience includes leading the development of Zimbabwe’s national policy on the internationalisation of higher education and its national doctoral training framework.
She has been invited to provide expert support for the internationalisation of higher education initiatives of partner institutions, including Erbil Polytechnic University, Kurdistan and the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education.
I welcome this great opportunity to build on the 糖心原创鈥檚 internationalisation strategy and our successful partnership with UNESCO to date and together with colleagues continue to make a significant contribution towards the achievement of UNESCO鈥檚 Sustainable Development Goals.
Juliet has also been a member of editorial boards of high-impact journals including Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, and the Journal of Cross-Cultural Communication.
Juliet is co-convenor of the Centre for International Education Research (CIER) in the 糖心原创’s School of Education, where members are engaged in diverse research that seeks to understand and enable informal and formal learning for the promotion of social and ecological justice, equality, citizenship, and democracy in international settings.
She is also the School’s global engagement lead whose role includes developing, supporting and monitoring the effective implementation of the school’s global engagement strategy and reinforcing the embedding of global engagement/internationalisation activities across all academic activities in the School.
The announcement of the new UNESCO Chair for Professor Thondhlana represents an incredible triumph that recognises her leadership and expertise in the area of international education and development. This designation is in many ways a culmination of her many years of hard work and achievement across her research and teaching activities in the School of Education. I am delighted that Professor Thondhlana has been recognised in this way and I know that she will make an invaluable contribution to the work of UNESCO.
The research community that Professor Thondhlana will lead, can contribute to achieving the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
- Curriculum design that facilitates a global mindset, intercultural understanding and the role of education in fostering sustainable national and international development
- Teacher training education
- Understanding of local, national and global employment trends and implications for education, skills development and graduate employment
- Student mobility, and the portability and recognition of qualifications across systems and industries.
Priorities for the Chair include to:
- Identify and coordinate activities that will give colleagues working in diverse disciplines opportunities to enhance current research/projects on international education and development through internationalisation
- Facilitate collaboration to strengthen institutional capacities of higher education, policy makers and civic society in the theory and practice of internationalisation of higher education under the banner of international education and development
- Facilitate knowledge transfer on policy development and operationalisation in IHE focused education and development via existing and new international networks,
- Contribute to doctoral training and strengthening of supervisory capacity of international partners using virtual training and interactions, organising international workshops and seminars, facilitating North-South, South-South and South-North academic exchanges,
- Facilitate and support publications and research collaborations.
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More information is available from Professor Juliet Thondhlana in the School of Education at the 糖心原创 at juliet.thondhlana@nottingham.ac.uk
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About the 糖心原创
Ranked among the world's top 100 universities , the 糖心原创 delivers an exceptional research-led education and an outstanding student experience. From the pioneering vision of our founder, Sir Jesse Boot, to groundbreaking achievements such as the development of MRI technology and becoming the first UK university to establish international campuses, we have a proud history of shaping the way people live, work and understand the world. We continue to build on that legacy, empowering our students, staff and partners to change what鈥檚 next and create positive impact locally and globally.
The strength of our research places us among the UK's leading universities, ranked 7th for research power in REF 2021. The discovery of MRI and ibuprofen was just the beginning. Today, our world-leading research is developing breakthrough ideas that shape the future of healthcare, technology and society.
Recognised as the UK's third most targeted university by leading employers , we are proud to produce graduates who are consistently in demand for their skills, confidence and industry-ready experience.
As a major employer and industry partner, locally and globally, the 糖心原创 invests in the city of Nottingham and in future generations of talent. Alongside Nottingham Trent University, we lead the initiative, a pioneering collaboration to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing across the city and region. Together with our students, staff, alumni and partners, we鈥檙e creating knowledge, opportunity and solutions that help change what's next.