5 February

• (in Portuguese) CultIdeias - Curso de Especialização Profissional em Gestão de Organizações e Projectos Culturais
  Este curso emerge da necessidade manifestada por diversas organizações e profissionais em investirem numa formação específica nesta área, promotora de conhecimentos e competências essenciais, numa sociedade contemporânea plena de desafios e em mudança permanente.
  O dinamismo e a interdisciplinaridade da formação procura instigar a reflexão, a capacidade crítica e a discussão em torno do sector cultural mas também noutras áreas transversais, tais como as artes, educação, património, turismo, economia, comunicação, direito, gestão e programação, entre outras.
  Esta transversalidade dos conteúdos programáticos associada à partilha de experiências entre os diversos profissionais e os formadores proporcionará a consolidação de saberes e práticas e constituirá um desafio para todos.
  More information: http://www.cultideias.com/formacao.php?page=cursos&id=5

4 February

• A Bridge Too Far? Teaching Common European History Themes, Perspectives and Levels" - Documentary featuring EUROCLIO now available through BBC world service
  This program made by Mark Whitaker has as its main focus the disputed role of history textbooks in the process of European Integration. The documentary offers a multiperspective insight on the role of history teaching and the significance of history textbooks in the establishment of a balance between integration and nationalism on the path towards a common European Past.
  More information: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p005zynf

• UNESCO alarmed by rising number of attacks on education worldwide
  Teachers, students and school buildings are increasingly coming under attack by armed groups, even soldiers and security forces, says a report entitled “Education under Attack 2010” to be launched by UNESCO on 10 February at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
  More information: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/unesco_alarmed_by_rising_number_of_
  attacks_on_education_worldwide/back/18256/

3 February

• Inauguration of the second House of the knowledge of French Speaking Countries of Chisinau in Moldavia
  The House of the knowledge of French Speaking Countries, the second of its class in the field of French Speaking Countries and the first one in Central and Eastern Europe and located in the centre of the city of Chisinau in Moldavia, was inaugurated in January 29th 2010 by Clément Duhaime, Administrator of the International Organization for French Speaking Countries, and Dorin Chirtoaca, the General Mayor of Chisinau.
  More information in French: http://www.auf.org/communication-information/actualites/inauguration-de-la-deuxieme-maison-des-savoirs-de-la-francophonie-a-chisinau-en-moldavie.html?var=lettre56%22

• The AUF announces international meetings for the reconstruction of the university system in Haiti
  The University Agency of French Speaking Countries is acting for its students and those collaborators who were casualties in the Haiti catastrophe. The Agency announces that international meetings aimed at the creation of an action plan for the reconstruction of higher Haitian education will be organized in Montreal, in April 2010. Since the day that the devastating seism tragically hit Haiti the last 12th of January, the University Agency of French Speaking Countries (AUF) has been working to guarantee the support and help to its collaborators and to the students struck by disaster. It bring forward the reconstruction of the university system in Haiti.
  More information in French: http://www.auf.org/communication-information/actualites/assises.html?var=lettre56%22

• International call for “the reconstruction of the educational and research system in Haiti”
  The University Agency of French Speaking Countries joins the international call for the reconstruction of the educational and research system in Haiti, launched, in particular, as an initiative of the CIRESC (Centre for the Study of International Slavery) and the project EURESCL of the European Commision. The international community is still mobilizing people to help Haiti. The commitment from the community of teachers, university students and researchers is of great importance. That is why we invite you to sign the online text “to support the reconstruction of the educational and research system in Haiti”, in the following address:
  http://www.petitiononline.com/EduHaiti/petition.html

• Interculturalism is imposed on the new UNESCO-IESALC Newsletter
  Unik and Public Management Education in the new multinational state Generating new models of professional training and, particularly, public professionals, is a vital task in Bolivia. For this reason, following the experience of the Kawsay Intercultural Indigenous University (UNIK), we have created the first Multinational and Community School for Public Management . This experience was launched from the Prefecture of Oruro in Bolivia. From there, we have begun to generate the development of a new class of public servants to the community.
  More information: http://www.iesalc.unesco.org.ve/index.php?option=com_content&
  view=frontpage&Itemid=597&lang=en

1 February

• The France-Russia 2010 year
  The France-Russia 2010 year will be the time to celebrate the cultural links between the two countries on the occasion of numerous artistic manifestations.
  The crossed influences between France and Russia date back from the XVIII century, when the “enlightened” Russia of Catherine the Great would welcome Diderot or Falconet in Saint Petersburg. The “great Russian century”, that is the 19th century, saw the French discover a world and a seemingly fascinanting imaginarium, with Leroy Beaulieu or Alejandro Dumas, before Dostoyevski or Tolstoi would achieve the popularity they have today with the French readership. The success of our great novelists was the reflection of theirs, a time when the foreign language of Russian elite was French, in a period when Tourgueniev would come to live in Bougival…
  More information in French: http://www.france-russie2010.fr/

• Are women in academia reaking the glass ceiling?
  Over the past decades, females have progressed rapidly in gaining access to higher education. According to the Global Education Digest 2009 (UNESCO Institute for Statistics), between 1970 and 2007, female enrolments multiplied by 6 while those of males by only 4. In 2007, the global gender parity index (ratio: female to male enrolment) or GPI, stood at 1.08, the enrolment of females in higher education exceeding that of males. However, this world average hides considerable regional differences: the lowest GPI for women was 0.66 in sub-Saharan Africa and 0.77 in South and West Asia, while it stood at 1.05 (UIS estimation) in the Arab region, where females have been traditionally disadvantaged.
  More information: http://www.iiep.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/
  Info_Services_Newsletter/pdf/eng/2010/2010_1En.pdf#page=12

• It is time for us to give back to Haiti - Waterloo Center of the Arts. Iowa (USA)
  Undoubtedly, you have seen news reports of the devastating earthquake which recently struck Haiti's most densely populated area. The devastion is immense. Our beloved and talented Haitian artists, their friends, families, and neighbors are in great peril. They are in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical care. The Waterloo Center for the Arts, Friends of the Art Center, and the national chapter of the Haitian Art Society have partnered to establish a Haiti Quake Relief Fund. We urge you to show your appreciation for the cultural gifts that Haiti has bestowed upon us by helping the Haitian people in their time of need. Please consider a generous contribution to this fund, or any other charitable organization providing emergency relief in Haiti.
  More information: http://www.waterloocenterforthearts.org/haitiquakerelieffund.html

25 January

• International Year of Astronomy, IYA09 : a global success, that leads to permanent actions
  Among the objectives of the International Year of Astronomy the following stand out: to make people share the passion for astronomic discovery, the value of scientific methods and the pleasure of getting to understand the Universe in a much better way. As for the French actions, they concluded in January 19th 2010 in a closing ceremony, which gathered 120 people in Paris, including the key protagonists of IYA09 in France.
  More information in French: http://www.insu.cnrs.fr/co/ama09/annee-mondiale-de-l-astronomie-ama09-un-succes-global-menant-a-des-actions-perennes

15 January

• Laval University (Canada): Course on the History of the Winter Olympic Games
  At the end of the course, students will be able to: delineate the story of the Winter Olympic Games, from their beginnings (1924) to the present times; to recognize the interrelations between history and philosophy and their relationship to the Winter Olympic Games; to enumerate the contributions of athletes, managers and other world leaders in the field of sports; to develop their own philosophy with regard to the role of sport in the Winter Olympic Games.
  More information in French: http://www.distance.ulaval.ca/fad/cours/EDP-22871.htm

Raconte-moi... Les Nations Unies' avec une préface du Secrétaire général de l''ONU, Ban Ki-moon (NANE Editions - Paris, janvier 2010)
Ce petit livre raconte, de façon simple et concrète ce qu’est aujourd’hui le ‘réseau’ des Nations Unies. Il montre aussi pourquoi, en ce début de XXIe siècle, il est de la plus haute importance d’appuyer et de renforcer l’action d’une organisation unique créée pour servir les peuples et les nations du monde entier. "J'espère que ce livre vous permettra de mieux comprendre les Nations Unies. J’espère surtout, qu’il inspirera tous ses lecteurs à contribuer à la promotion de ses objectifs et à la réalisation d’un monde meilleur pour tous les peuples’’, Ban Ki-moon, Secrétaire général des Nations Unies (préface).
http://www.nane-editions.fr/prod.php?prod_uid=24

Balancing act : twenty-one strategic dilemmas in cultural policy
By François Matarasso and Charles Landry
ISBN 92-871-3862-1
In passing, we should explain that we have deliberately avoided defining terms such as “ art ” or “ culture ”, words of which we make continual use. Their definition is itself open to interpretation or dispute, and is inseparable from the other dilemmas we present. We have judged it preferable to allow the reader to consider these questions along with the others we present. Nor do we make any pretence to objectivity in formulating or presenting these dilemmas. We have presented them in this booklet for debate based on our own experience and involvement in cultural policy making.
http://193.11.32.12/C1256CD80046ED9F/0/
3DBD5FA5A5DDA216C12576C000382BB8/$file/Balancing.pdf

A new UNESCO publication, Combating Intolerance, Exclusion and Violence through Holocaust Education
A new UNESCO publication, Combating Intolerance, Exclusion and Violence through Holocaust Education, is launched in time to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2010 (January 27). The publication, which reflects UNESCO’s continuing commitment to promoting Holocaust awareness and combating all forms of Holocaust denial, is based on the proceedings of a workshop of the same name held in May 2009. The three-day workshop, held at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris brought together experts in the field of education and, in particular Holocaust education, from several continents to focus on two areas; work being carried out by educators in Europe and North American around issues relating to the Holocaust and how best to implement Holocaust education in sub-Saharan Africa.
http://www.unesco.org/en/education/dynamic-content-single-view/news/new_publication_explores_holocaust_education_in_
sub_saharan_africa/back/9195/cHash/0fb6980593/