This decision was adopted on October 13, 2017, during a meeting of the UN Executive Council on Education, Science and Culture in Paris.
Thus, the National Academy of Sciences will be a structure that, under the auspices of UNESCO, will help develop scientific education in the Eastern European region and other countries of the world. This category is given to organizations that are of interest to UNESCO due to their cultural value, experience and system of work, quality and depth of scientific research.
According to the head of UNESCO's scientific and educational programs, Jean-Paul Abiaga, the decision was supported unanimously. In Ukraine, a Center with such a high status will be created for the first time on the basis of a youth scientific and educational institution.
"Today's decision is a very important step for Ukraine, it is recognition of the unique experience of the National Academy of Sciences as a tool for attracting students and young people to scientific education. As practice shows, this experience is interesting for many countries, and now we have more opportunities to share it with the world. And, of course, from now on we will be able to attract even more resources to the development of scientific education in Ukraine," noted Volodymyr Kovtunets, a member of the official delegation of Ukraine, First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.
According to the President of the National Academy of Sciences, Stanislav Dovhy, the new status will also allow the Academy to improve the quality of work with creative children, share more experience, and implement new standards in scientific education. Among the main advantages are UNESCO financing of individual projects of the Academy, strengthening of protection from the state, expansion of contacts between scientific centers under the auspices of UNESCO.
Significant support in the process of cooperation with UNESCO was provided to the Academy by its strategic partner – the international communication platform European Academy of Sciences EUROJAS.
"The creation of the UNESCO Center on the basis of the National Academy of Sciences is the result of 15 years of fruitful work of the organization, 5 years of continuous dialogue and cooperation with UNESCO, dozens of projects, thousands of trained teachers, hundreds of thousands of successful children. And now, starting in 2018, there are new challenges and responsibilities for Ukraine and the world, already under the auspices of UNESCO," said Yevhen Kudryavets, member of the official delegation of Ukraine, director of EuroJAS.
In particular, 5 years ago, MAN first organized a week of young inventors in France. This aroused the great interest of many French and international institutions, in particular representatives of UNESCO. In the future, MAN took an active part in a number of UNESCO projects.
Last year, the Academy received a proposal from the General Directorate of UNESCO to create a Category 2 UNESCO Center on the basis of the National Academy of Sciences. For about a year, the relevant units of UNESCO studied the activities of the Academy, including several inspection trips by representatives of the organization to Ukraine to study the institutional capacity of the Academy of Sciences. Based on the results of the inspection, UNESCO representatives prepared positive conclusions, which were presented in a report at the 201st session of the UNESCO Executive Board, held in April-May 2017.
On July 4, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the draft Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the United Nations Organization on Education, Science and Culture on the establishment of a UNESCO category 2 center on the basis of the Small Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and authorized the Minister of Education and Science to sign it.
The procedure for signing the Agreement will take place in December 2017 - January 2018 after the 39th session of the UNESCO General Conference, which will approve the decision of the 202nd session of the Executive Council.
