University of Lapland Faculty of Education professor and dean Tuija Turunen leads the network of nineteen UArctic member institutions. Turunen explains, “The UNESCO UNITWIN network will continue and globally expand the valuable cooperation already started in the UArctic Thematic Network and as an Arctic Council Sustainable Development Working Group project. The network aims to highlight ways in which pre-service and in-service teacher education can help teachers contribute to a sustainable future and to enhance understanding of the teaching profession.”
The establishment of this UNITWIN network builds tangible university-to-university partnerships as part of UArctic’s broader cooperation with UNESCO since being granted observer status in September 2017. UNITWIN (University Twinning and Networking Programme), together with the UNESCO Chairs Programme, was conceived as a way to advance research, training and programme development in all of UNESCO’s fields of competence by building university networks and encouraging inter-university cooperation through the transfer of knowledge across borders.
There are currently 44 UNITWIN networks, which share similar purposes to UArctic’s own Thematic Networks to bring universities together to “pool their resources, both human and material, to address pressing challenges and contribute to the development of their societies.” For more information on the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme, see https://en.unesco.org/unitwin-unesco-chairs-programme.
UArctic is a cooperative network of universities, colleges, research institutes and other organizations concerned with education and research in and about the North. UArctic builds and strengthens collective resources and collaborative infrastructure that enables member institutions to better serve their constituents and their regions. Through cooperation in education, research and outreach we enhance human capacity in the North, promote viable communities and sustainable economies, and forge global partnerships.
Located in the city of Rovaniemi, on the Arctic Circle, the University of Lapland is an international, multidisciplinary university whose areas of expertise include Arctic affairs and tourism research. As a research-based higher education institution, our teaching and research facilities offer students and scholars the opportunity to pursue academic excellence, at all levels – all the way up to PhD studies – in the fields of arctic issues, tourism, art and design, law, education, and the social sciences. Our state of the art research facility, the Arctic Centre, conducts internationally recognized, cutting-edge research on the interactions between people and the environment in the Arctic.
For more information:
Dr Tuija Turunen, Docent
Dean, Professor, Teacher Education
University of Lapland, Faculty of Education
PO Box 122
96101 Rovaniemi, Finland
Phone: +358 40 4844 124
Email: tuija.turunen@ulapland.fi