The Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has the honour to submit to the Sixth Session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe a selective report on those activities of the Organization which may be of interest to Representatives.
A number of international organizations co-operate with UNESCO in the educational field, namely :
The International Bureau of Education (I.B.E.), created in 1929, collaborates with UNESCO under the terms of an agreement concluded in 1947. One of the principal activities carried out jointly by the two Organizations is the preparation .and holding of the International Conference of Public Education, which reviews each year the progress of education in Member States and adopts recommendations on specific subjects. In recent years, UNESCO and I.B.E. have dealt particularly with problems related to the extension of free and compulsory education. Thus, a recommendation embodying the general principles which should govern compulsory education and its prolongation was adopted in 1951 by the Fourteenth International Conference of Public Education ; further recommendations on the training and status of primary school teachers were adopted in 1953 (Session XVI) and Sessions XVII (1954) and XVIII (1955), of the Conference are to deal respectively with the training and status of secondary school teachers and with the financing of public education.
In the field of higher education, the problem of equivalence of diplomas is beingstudied, with-the help of UNESCO, by the. International Association of Universities, in accordance with a plan established i n 1950 by the constituent conference of the Association. This plan concerns the equivalence of degrees and diplomas obtained in one country and presented i n another for the purely academic purpose of entering upon or continuing studies i n the higher educational establishments of this country. Of the four studies foreseen, three have been published and the four this in print. They are under the general title Contribution à l'étude des équivalences :
Essais d'établissement d'une base statistique (Statistics of foreign students ; study of the major currents Of international university exchanges) ;
L'aspect contractuel et législatif du problème (The contents of agreements on equivalences) ;
Les principes qui dominent l'attribution des équivalences et la solution universitaire ;
Les pratiques actuelles en matière d'équivalence. Intervention universitaire. (The standards employed by the main university institutions in granting or refusing equivalences). (In print.)
These studies were prepared by Professor M. G. de Miranda, of the International Universities Bureau. They are completed by a study on " University Degree Systems " prepared by the International Association of University Teachers and Lecturers.
On the basis of these studies, a collection of agreements in force between European countries and a list of equivalences generally accepted in European countries and universities, were compiled and will be published in the course of 1954. They will be extended to other regions in the coming year. After completion of all the studies foreseen in the plan, the International Universities Conference is expected to make recommendations as to the measures to be taken on the basis of their conclusions.
The term adult education is used in UNESCO to denote the non-vocational education of adults who can read and understand books on non-technical subjets.
An International Centre of "Workers' Education operated in 1952 and 1953 in the summer months at La Breviere near Compiègne (Prance). Prom the end of May to the end of August 1953, four international federations of workers' associations hold summer schools for their members, and UNESCO was responsible for organizing :
A seminar on the problems of international understanding (33 participants from 18 countries and territories including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Prance, German Federal Republic, Gold Coast, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom) ;
A seminar on the "Teaching of Citizenship in Adult Education" (40 participants from 20 countries and territories including Belgium, Denmark, Prance, German Federal Republic, Italy, Malaya, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom) ; and
A meeting of Experts on Adult Education (35 experts from 20 countries and territories, including Belgium, Denmark. France, German Federal Republic, Italy, Jamaica, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom).
In 1954, an international seminar on Rural Adult Education will be held in Denmark (in Frederiksborg, near Copenhagen).
In addition, UNESCO encourages Member States to hold regional seminars in adult education by offering assistance with the preliminary documentation and with the 'organization and direction of the meetings. One such seminar held in Gardone (Italy) in February, 1953, was attended by 68 participants from 12 European countries (Austria, Belgium, France, German Federal Republic, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia).
Publications in 1953 include an International Directory on Adult Education and a Report on the UNESCO. Seminar on Workers' Education held at La Breviere in 1952.
This Institute was created in 1952 under the sponsorship of UNESCO. Its activities included the holding in 1952 and 1953 of two conferences on adult education dealing respectively with " Adult education as a means of developing and strengthening social and political responsibility " (38 participants from 15 countries including Belgium, Denmark, France, German Federal Republic, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom) ; and " The Universities and Adult Education " (attended by 34 specialists from the German Federal Republic and the United Kingdom).
In 1953 the Institute also organized a conference on factors in early childhood which influence the development of personality and stimulate the ability to live creatively in a community (35 participants from 15 countries including Belgium, Denmark, France, German Federal Republic, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom).
Following a conference on " Education and the Mental Health of Children in Europe", held in December 1952, work has been proceeding within the Secretariat in Paris, and also at the Institute for Education at Hamburg, with a view to the publication of a survey of educational systems in European countries on a comparative basis, from the point of view of the healthy mental development of children.
A seminar held at Nuwara Elyia (Ceylon) in August, 1953 (33 participants from 18 countries and territories including France, Germán Federal Republic, Italy and the Trust Territory of Somaliland, United Kingdom) gave general consideration to the question of teaching of living languages as an aid to the promotion of international understanding.
Reports on the seminar were made, inter alia, at the Conference of Modern Language Teachers from the Benelux countries (Brussels, November 1953).
Since 1950, UNESCO has encouraged bilateral consultations between its Member States for the improvement of textbooks. In 1953, consultations took place between Belgium and Norway, Denmark and the German Federal Republic, France and the German Federal Republic, Italy and the German Federal Republic, Japan and the German Federal Republic, Italy and France.
A vohune publishe d in 1952 and describing the work of bilateral committees will be followed towards the end of 1954-or the beginning of 1955 by a publication giving the results of the consultations.
Moreover it is deemed desirable to encourage the inclusion in textbooks of adequate and accurate information on the great Eastern and Western cultural regions. To this end, a draft plan for the study of school textbooks was sent to Member States in 1953.
Under this scheme, initiated in 1953, UNESCO is planning to help selected secondary schools in various countries to carry out special projects of education for living, in a world community. The participating institutions are linked through the Secretariat of the Organization, but at the same time they also carry out direct exchanges of information and materials among themselves.
Fifteen Member States have so far expressed their willingness to take part in the project, including Belgium, France, the German Federal Republic, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
UNESCO attaches great importance to tlie participation of youth in the implementation of its programme. To this end, continuous consultations take place with the 25 international' youth organizations having consultative status with UNESCO. Among matters considered in 1953 were the problems of youth in new industrial areas, the active methods of education applicable to young workers, and the contribution of cultural activities of young people to international understanding. Activities in 1953 included the inauguration in February of a UNESCO Institute for Youth in Gauting, near Munich. The Institute held in February a seminar on The place and value of art in education and The role and organization of youth centres; and, in June, a conference bringing together'government officials responsible for youth questions in 16 countries (including Belgium, Denmark, France, German Federal -Republic, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom) and representatives of youth organizations, in order to study the situation of youth and the contributions made by governments to youth activities, and to determine what particular studies and enquiries with reference to youth we urgently required. It also initiated in Darmstadt its first project of experimental activities, the purpose of which is to develop by practical experiments methods of integrating young people into their local communities,
UNESCO also provided a number of service to youth groups which included in 1953 the sending of a specialist to the Ionian Islands to draw up a. plan of international youth action for the reconstruction of the devastated areas.
UNESCO continued to give technical and financial assistance to several international scientific organizations, grouped in three large councils (International Council of Scientific Unions, Council of International Organizations of Medical Sciences, Union of International Engineering Associations).
Out of the subvention given to the International Council of Scientific Unions, $ 10,000 was devoted in 1953 to international laboratories located in Europe, namely : The International High Altitude Research Station (Jungfraujoch, Switzerland), the International Zoological Station, Naples, and the Océanographie Institute, Monaco.
Under the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance, scientific and technical documentation centres were created in a number of countries, including Turkey and Yugoslavia.
The activities of UNESCO related to research and the action that may be taken for the promotion of international collaboration in the field of scientific research will in the future be carried out with the advice of an International' Advisory Committee on Scientific Research in the Natural Sciences, which held its first session in April, 1954. This Committee is composed of representatives of national research organizations and of the three international scientific councils mentioned above. It includes members from Belgium, France, German Federal Republic, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia. Among the questions discussed by the Committee was the possibility for UNESCO to engage, in cooperation with the World Health Organization, in a programme dealing with cancer research.
Among the projects already under way, the following may be of interest to the Council of Europe :
As a result of a resolution adopted by the General Conference at its Fifth Session (Florence, 1950), a European Council for Nuclear Research was created in 1952 which, with the legal and administrative assistance of UNESCO, prepared the establishment of a European Organization for Nuclear Research. The Convention creating the Organization, adopted in July, 1953 by 12 States (Belgium, Denmark, France, German Federal Republic, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia), had been ratified, at the time of writing, by Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It will come into force after ratification by seven States, including Switzerland, whose contributions amount to 75 % of the total budget.
The programme of this Organization, whose Headquarters will be near Geneva, will include :
It is expected that the initial operational cost of the laboratory wil! be approximately 120 million Swiss francs, covering a seven-year period.
A convention establishing an International Computation Centre was adopted in 1951. This Centre, whose functions are to provide consultative services for its Member States, conduct scientific research and train specialists, has not yet started operations, the convention having received only 4 ratifications (Belgium, Ceylon, Italy, Japan), while ten are required for its entry into force. It is hoped that ratification by the host country of the Centre, Italy, in April 1954, will accelerate this process.
Under the sponsorship of the International Social Science Council (a body assisted by UNESCO who promoted its creation in 1952), an International Research Office on the Social Implications of Technological Change began to function in October, 1953. Its tasks include the gathering and exchange of documentation, the organization of meetings and the preparation of pilot projects for research. Its services are open to Member States and international organizations. Following a request by O.E.E.C, the Executive Board of UNESCO authorized the Director-General, at its 37th Session (March-April, 1954), to undertake on behalf of the European Productivity Agency the compilation of a register of research projects on productivity being carried out in Member States of O.E.E.C. with the aid of United States " conditional aid " funds.
Since 1953 UNESCO has participated in a co-ordinated programme concerning land reform, undertaken by the United Nations and the competent specialized agencies, by carrying out studies on the sociological, legal and administrative aspects of the problem. One such study is being conducted in Italy.
A round-up of the information collected during an enquiry into the cultural assimilation of immigrants, begun in 1951, was made during 1953 and the 'beginning of 1954, and the result is expected to be published towards the end of this year. This publication will be based, inter alia, on a series of monographs covering the following subjets :
Study of the cultural assimilation of Italian and German immigrants in Australia, by W. D. Berrie (Australia).
Study of the cultural assimilation of immigrants in Belgium, by R. Clemens (Belgium) . Published in 1953.
Study of the cultural assimilation of Italian immigrants in Brazil, by Manuel Diegues (Brazil).
Study of the cultural assimilation of certain groups of foreigners in Prance (Italian and Polish), by A. Sauvy (Prance). Published in 1953 under the title Français et émigrés.
Study of the cultural assimilation of German immigrants in Brazil, by Emilio Willems (Brazil).
Algerian immigration in Prance, by the Institut national d'études démographiques under the leadership of Professor A. Sauvy.
The UNESCO Social Science Institute in Germany, which was opened in Cologne in 1951, carried out in 1952 and 1953 the following studies :
In September, 1953, at a meeting ia Dortmund of social scientists from Finland, France, the German Federal Republic, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, an International Committee for Social Research in Industry was established, and a joint project for the study of labour-management relations and related problems was agreed upon.
A new series of publications, entitled " Unity and Diversity of Cultures ", was initiated in 1953 with a volume entitled " Interrelation of Cultures " which selects a number of essays written in connexion with an enquiry into contemporary ideas concerning the characteristic cultures of the different peoples of the world and the relations between these cultures. A second volume entitled " Humanism and Education in East and West " contains essays and addresses contributed to a round-table conference organized by the Government of India and UNESCO at Delhi in December, 1951. The philosophical and cultural relations betweeu East and West are also to be further discussed at the Indian Philosophical Congress which is to take place in Colombo late in 1954, with UNESCO's participation, under the general theme " Human relations and International Obligations ".
The next stage in this general survey of inter-cultural relations includes the study of the cultural and moral ties between the Old World and the New. This theme will be the subject of a conference in Sao Paulo in July, 1954 on " the European contribution to cultural life and humanism among the Peoples of the Americas ". UNESCO, which followed with great interest the round-table discussion organized by the Council of Europe in Rome in October, 1953, will welcome the participation of the representative of the Council, M. Robert Schuman, in the debates. The problem will be further discussed in September on the occasion of the Rencontres internationales de Genève.
The main activity of UNESCO in this field was the preparation of a draft international convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict. An intergovernmental conference to study and adopt this draft convention opened in The Hague on 21 April, 1954 and was attended by delegates from 48 countries and observers from 8 countries. The Convention was signed by 37 representatives of these countries on 14th May.
UNESCO is also preparing recommendations on the international regulation of archaeological excavations, thus following up the work undertaken before the war by the League of Nations.
With the collaboration of the International Council of Museums, UNESCO acts as an information centre on the preservation of monuments, works of art and historical or scientific collections, and sends expert missions to help its member countries to preserve and restore these monuments.
A universal copyright convention was adopted at an intergovernmental conference held in Geneva in 1952; its object is to harmonize the Berne conventions, and the copyright system in force in the American continents. Andorra, Cambodia, Costa Rica and Pakistan have so far ratified it, and legislative action is in process in a number of countries, including the United States, with a view to ratification. Twelve ratifications are required to bring the Convention into force.
The activities of UNESCO in this field also include the study of special copyright problems, such as the application of copyright laws to the exchange of broadcast and television programmes. This study is carried out in consultation with the Council of Europe and with the co-operation of the European Broadcasting Union. Other studies relate to the problems of the rights of scientists, and the double taxation of writers and artists.
A conference on the " Role and Place of Music in the Education of Youth and Adults " was held in Brussels from 29 June to 9 July, 1953. It attracted more than 300 participants from 39 countries (including Belgium, Denmark, France, German Federal Republic, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom) and provided the occasion for the first performance of the " Canticle to Hope ", a symphonic work composed by Paul Hindemith to the words of a poem by Paul Claudel specially written for the Conference.
In the UNESCO series of Archives of Recorded Music, the following volumes appeared in 1953 : " Katalog der Europäischen Volks- musik im Schallarchiv des Institutes für Musik forschung, Regensburg ", and " International Catalogue of Recorded Folk Music ".
A second revised edition of a Catalogue of Colour Reproductions of Paintings prior to 1860 was issued in June, 1953, and á revised edition of the catalogue covering the period 1860-1954 will appear this year. Following two albums of frescoes by Masaccio and Raphael published in past years under the auspices of UNESCO, three albums of colour reproductions of the frescoes at Ajanta (Hyderabad), of tomb-and temple paintings in the Valley of the Kings (Egypt) and of Australian Aboriginal, art were compiled in 1953 for publication this year.
At the close of 1953, 89 exhibitions of colour reproductions of masterpieces of painting, and of reproductions of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, had been shown in 51 countries. New exhibitions are in the course of preparation.
As a result of a programme initiated in 1948, the UNESCO collection of representative literary works now includes an Arabic, a Latin American, a Persian and an Italian series. An Asian collection is to be launched in the near future.
The following works have so far been published :
In the Arabic series :
in Arabic : Descartes - Discours ole la méthode
Montesquieu - L'Esprit des lois
in French : Avicenna - Livre des directives et remarques (Kitab-al-Icharab)
in English, French, and Spanish : Al Ghazali - Oh, Young Man
(Ayouhal Walab)
In the Latin-American series :
in French : Anthologie de la poésie mexicaine José Marti - Pages choisies Manuel Jesus Calvan - Enriquille
In the Persian series :
in French : Avicenna - Récit visionnaire (Науу ibn Ingzan)
In the Italian'series :
in French : Leonardo da Vinci - Choix de textes
Dante Alighieri - Vita nova Giambattista Vico - La science nouvelle (Scienza) Dante Alighieri - Vita nova Giambattista Vico - La science nouvelle (Scienza)
Within the framework of UNESCO's programme for the improvement of means and techniques of communication, the activities recently undertaken to assist in the development of television services may be of interest to the countries which are members of the Council of Europe. These activities involved, in 1953 and the beginning ,of 1954, the organization of an experiment in collective viewing aard the use of television for adult rural education in a number of French villages, conducted in collaboration with the French Government and National Commission for UNESCO. In addition, two publications issued in 1953, " Television and Education in the United States ", by Charles A. Siepmann and " Television, A World Survey ", aroused considerable interest in European countries.
This is one of the spheres where a good deal of fuitful co-operation is taking place between the Council of Europe and UNESCO.
It will be remembered that, in accordance with Recommendation 33 of the Fourth Session of the Consultative Assembly (September, 1952), the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe urged the Governments of its Member States which had already signed the UNESCO Agreement on the Importation o Ľ Educational, Scientific and Cultural MaterialsNote, " to take the necessary steps to obtain its ratification with the minimum of delay ". The Agreement has now been ratified by 16 Member States, including Sweden and the United Kingdom. The French Government, in October, 1953, issued a decree putting the Agreement into provisional effect pending formal ratification.
A Working Party of the Committee of Cultural Experts, which met at Strasbourg in March, 1953, noting that UNESCO had been instrumental in reducing obstacles to the free circulation of books, recommended that the Organization should bring to the notice of Governments.such difficulties as may arise, and also pursue its action with the Universal Postal Union to reduce postal rates for the despatch of books. Partly in response to this recommendation, UNESCO has commissioned a comprehensive study of obstacles to the movement of books and is pursuing its efforts to secure reductions of postal and freight rates for the international transport of books.
As a result of negotiations with the International Air Transport Association (I.A.T.A.), this Organization has decided to reduce the air freight rates for books in the European region to 50 % of normal cargo rates. This decision took effect on 1 April, 1954.
By the end of the year, 26 States (including France, the German Federal Republic, Greece, Italy, Netherlands and the United Kingdom) had: expressed interest in the application of special administrative arrangements for the safe ánd expeditious transit of books of delicate physical standards, and 16 of them (including those mentioned above) had designated laboratories eligible to participate in the scheme.
Work was continued with a view to the drafting of an international instrument for the removal of obstacles to the movement of persons travelling for educational, scientific and cultural purposes, in consultation with I.L.O., which is concerned with the movement of workers for such purposes.
Continuing work has been carried out to publicize tbe aims and work of UNESCO and other international organizations of the United Nations family, through the various modes of communication. Among the material produced to this effect in 1953, it is worth noting the completion of a film entitled World without End, a onehour documentary on the work of the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies in Mexico and Thailand, which was first released at the Edinburgh fest ival in August.
UNESCO has continued to develop various emergency aid programmes under which the Organization makes available hard currencies in exchange for donations made in nontransferable currencies.
The Gift Coupon Programme gives private organizations a fresh opportunity of furnishing direct help to educational, scientific or cultural institutions in devastated or underdeveloped countries. The programme works as follows : UNESCO determines what supplies or equipment are needed ; the donor sends the gift coupons it has bought from UNESCO direct to the institution concerned ; the coupons may be used for the purchase of publications or of educational or scientific equipment ; UNESCO redeems the coupons from the supplier out of the voluntary contributions the Organization has received. The donor is thus relieved of any difficulties connected with procurement, transport and currency. At the end of 1953, 160 institutions in 37 countries had received from 9 countries gift coupons with which they were able to purchase educational, scientific and cultural eqixipment. The year's collections totalled the equivalent of $ 104,260.
The Coupon Scheme is meant to overcome the difficulties encountered, owing to currency restrictions, by those wishing to purchase publications, educational films and scientific equipment from foreign cotuitries. The " soft currency " countries can buy coupons from UNESCO for re-sale in their national currency to institutes or individuals wishing to obtain such material from " hard currency " countries. The purchasers of the coupons order direct from the foreign manufacturer or distributor, who is reimbursed by UNESCO in his own currency. Under this scheme, coupons had been put into circulation from 1948 to 1953 for a value of $ 4,500,000. Coupons redeemed to suppliers in 1953 amounted to $ 1,180,000.
UNESCO acts as an information centre for the international exchange of persons for educational, scientific and cultural purposes. To this end, it provides clearing-house and advisory services, carries out studies and issues periodical publications giving data on travel facilities, fellowships and scholarships. The most important of these publications is an annual directory entitled " Study Abroad ", which gives information on fellowships, scholarships and other subventions for educational travel offered by Governments, private institutions and international organizations. The number of fellowships and subventions described has increased from 15,070 in Vol. I, published in 1948, to 45,000 in Vol. VI issued in January 1954. In Vol. II, published in June 1953, of another publication entitled " Workers Abroad ", illustrated accounts are given of the workers' study tours in Europe organized by UNESCO in 1952.
Other regular publications provide information on vacation courses (Vacation Study : Supplement to Study Abroad; viša and currency regulations and facilities for educational travel Travel Abroad, and give particulars of university professors and lecturers wishing to find teaching posts abroad Teaching Abroad.
Under the Workers' Study Tour Scheme, initiated in 1952, grants were made in 1953 to 48 different groups, covering 900 manual and non-manual workers from 12 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, the German Federal Republic, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom), to enable these groups to study social conditions in a European country, other than their own, and to bring them into direct touch with workers in their own trades and occupations. Collaboration is now being established with 0.E.E.C, in this field.
In 1953, UNESCO awarded 71 fellowships to 46 Member States and Non-Self-Governing Territories under its regular programme, and 70 fellowships to 20 Member States under the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance. In addition, it sponsored 25 fellowships granted by the Governments of France and Netherlands and by several national and international private institutions. The total number of fellowships administered under varius headings during the same year amounts to 400.