11. The membership of the Organization now (August 1956) stands at 76. Bulgaria signed the Constitution and deposited its instruments of ratification on 17th May, and Rumania on 27th July. Applications from Morocco and Tunisia to become members have been approved by t h e Executive Board and will be considered by the General Conference at its Ninth Session.
12. The notice of withdrawal of the Union of South Africa will take effect on 31st December 1956.
13. No proposed additions to the list of Associated Members have been proposed up to the present time.
14. The Ninth Session of the General Conference, which now meets biennially, will open in New Delhi on 5th November 1956, and is scheduled to last until 5th December. Its main task will be the adoption of the draft programme and budget for the period 1957-58, which has been prepared by the Director- General in consultation with the Executive Board. The proposed budget total for the two-yearly period stands at $ 21,659,638, but the Executive Board has retained for consideration by the General Conference additional activities involving a further expenditure of S 325,000. The draft programme and budget make provision for three major projects: extension of primary education in Latin America (S 489,970 for the two years); scientific research on arid lands (S 346,750); and mutual appreciation of Eastern and Western cultural values (S 663,885).
15. An increase of $ 504,154 for the two years is proposed in the programme of participation in activities of Member States, under which the latter can request direct assistance from the Organization, in the form of advisory services, fellowships, administration, equipment, seminars, etc., to further national projects falling within UNESCO's competence. In addition, UNESCO's participation in the United Nations Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance will, of course, continue. The amount of Expanded Programme funds entrusted to UNESCO for this purpose was in 1956 of the order of $ 4,940,933; t h e amounts for 1957 and subsequent years are determined by inter-agency authorities in the light of the contributions received and of the requests put forward by the various countries for this form of assistance.
16. In the draft programme and budget the current activities of the Organization, i. e. the continuing services and the programme activities initiated by UNESCO itself, will be carried out in 1957-58 at a reduced level, i. e. $ 10,432,036 for 1957-58 as against $ 11,424,636 for 1955-56.
17. Two further sessions of the International Conference on Public Education, convened jointly by UNESCO and the International Bureau of Education in Geneva, have been held since the last report to the Consultative Assembly. In July 1955, the Conference discussed as its main items, in addition to the annual reports from 65 countries on the progress of education within their territories, the two topics of the financing of education and the teaching of the A'isual arts. Detailed recomgénérale menclations have been addressed to States on both these subjects; those on the financing of education lay stress on the difficulties which the under-developed and less favoured countries experience in introducing or developing systems of free compulsory primary education for all; they include further arguments in support of the various schemes now in operation or in contemplation for international assistance to countries requiring help in the educational field; the United Nations Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance, which is already giving some help in this direction; the proposed Special United Nations Fund for Economic Development, which is still under discussion by the United Nations (and which includes school building among long term non-self-liquidating capital investment expenditures that such a fund would help finance); and a proposed international fund for education, science and culture, which the UNESCO General Conference is to discuss at its forthcoming session.
18. In 1956, the International Conference on Public Education (XlXth session, Geneva, July) discussed school inspection and the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools. Its recommendations on both subjects are now being issued. Attendance at these annual conferences increases steadily, and the proceedings are now conducted in four languages. The I.B.E. is an old-established intergovernmental organization, and a clear sharing of responsibilities exists between it and UNESCO. Its contributing membership, however, is not as complete as it should be, and a number of leading European countries, members of the Council of Europe whose experience in the promotion of education is of incalculable value to the rest of the world, are not, in fact, paying members, though they regularly attend the annual conferences.
19. UNESCO is continuing an annual subvention to the International Association of Universities, launched in 1950. The Association's permanent international bureau, located in UNESCO House, remains in close touch with the Council of Europe Secretariat concerning the latter's work on the difficult problem of equivalences. UNESCO has noted with much interest t h a t a Council of Europe Convention on equivalences of diplomas leading to admission to universities has already come into effect, and t h a t a draft Convention on the equivalence of periods of university study is nearing completion. The third part of the problem, that of equivalences of professional degrees, is clearly the most difficult, and UNESCO will follow the Council's endeavours in this field with great sympathy and interest.
20. The International Universities Bureau, secretariat of the International Association of Universities, whose offices are in UNESCO House, is continuing its work on the question of the equivalence of University degrees. It has published this year a second supplement to its Recueil des Accords concernant l'Équivalence des Titres, Diplômes et Certificats de scolarité, which contains, among other documents, a selected list of legal texts (laws, degrees, administrative regulations, etc.) concerning European Universities and their present practice in the equivalence problem. Later in 1956, i t is bringing out a volume which will contain extensive and detailed information on almost every aspect of this question as it affects universities in Western Europe, drawn from authoritative material assembled over the last few years.
21. UNESCO contributes to the development of Adult Education in European countries by stipporting financially and technically seminars with the purpose of training leaders in adult education; in such seminars, European problems are often presented and discussed. Among regional seminars for Europe, within the field of adult education, arranged during the first half of 1956, the following may be mentioned : " Role of a Non-governmental Organization within the Framework of the United Nations ", organized by the European Federation of Soroptimist Clubs at The Hague (July 1st to 7th) " Education for International Understanding in the Women's Guilds ", organized by the International Co-operative Alliance at Innsbruck (June 4th to 15th), and three seminars on " Art Education for Adults ", one arranged by the Swedish National Commission in South Sweden and the two others by the French National Commission at Limoges. During the next few months, UNESCO will co-operate with the United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO at a seminar in Bangor, North Wales, on the " Universities and Adult Education ", and a seminar arranged by the Yugoslav National Commission for UNESCO on the " Teaching of Economics among Workers ".
22. The Hamburg Institute has continued to concentrate its work on adult education and early childhood education, but has also given some attention to problems connected with parent education. In April 1956, t h e Institute organized an expert meeting on causes of failure in school, to which a number of European countries sent contributions and participants. The meeting found that a proportion of failures is unavoidable, being due to the rigidity of the school system itself and to external factors which are in fact remediable through the school system. The report, which suggests a variety of preventive and remedial measures, is to be published in 1957.
23. A regional seminar for Western Europe was held in Geneva in April 1956 to discuss various aspects of the improvement of primary school curricula. It was attended by representatives of 15 countries 1 . The voluminous documentation prepared for this seminar, and a bulky report of conclusions, are now being prepared for publication together with reports on similar seminars held in South Asia and Latin America. The Geneva experts found that current curricula are not uniformly adapted to modern times; generalized education and access to knowledge, both now available to all, and the new audio-visual methods of teaching, have revolutionized the school and demand a complete recasting of the curriculum. Again, the vast increase in leisure-time, even for modest households, requires a more deliberate training of the school child to use his leisure profitably. This and similar findings led this group of experts to a number of conclusions and recommendations which should contribute to the reforms of the educational system now in progress in many countries.
24. The findings of the three seminars are to be examined in the first place by a new International Advisory Committee on Curriculum, recently set up by UNESCO, which is to meet in Paris this autumn.
25. The project launched in 1955, concerned with the promotion of understanding between peoples of widely differing cultural traditions, is making progress. A meeting was held in Paris in May 1956 to consider the treatment of Asian cultures in Western textbooks and teaching materials. Experts from 16 countries attended to study reports prepared in advance of the meetings; from these and from additional studies prepared by UNESCO, the experts were able to note t h a t Asian civilizations and histories are inadequately covered in Western textbooks and teaching, and that a general lack of objectivity in the treatment of these subjects exists. They drew up a number of suggestions which are designed to assist governments and educational authorities in remedying this situation, and they urged UNESCO to stimulate the exchange of textbooks and bilateral consultations among educators to examine the problem further.
26. It will be recalled that a similar meeting is to take place in Asia in 1958 to consider the treatment of Western civilization in Asian textbooks. Preparations for this meeting will be conducted throughout 1957, and it is earnestly hoped that the Council of Europe Secretariat will follow this second stage of the experiment and make available its considerable experience in the formulation of a true concept of European civilization.
27. In this connexion one of the three major projects on which the General Conference will be invited to pronounce next November, the project entitled " Mutual appreciation of Eastern and Western Cultural Values ", will, if adopted, greatly enlarge the scope of this experiment, as it provides for a series of more ambitious activities including meetings and symposia, study and travel grants, specific programmes and experimental activities to be undertaken in schools, exchanges of pictures, works of art and reproductions and publications specifically designed to aid the project.
28. The Committee of Cultural Experts has expressed interest in the presentation of world civilizations to young people in the different continents, and, if this major project of UNESCO is proceeded with, opportunities will doubtless arise for associating t h e Committee with a number of its component activities.
29. UNESCO is to continue to stimulate bilateral and multilateral consultations on the improvement of textbooks, paying particular attention to languages and geography, since the field of history textbooks will soon have been adequately covered for the present, owing in great measure to the programme launched by the Council of Europe experts and now nearing completion.
30. Technical and financial assistance has again been provided to a selected number of international scientific organizations to facilit a t e the holding of meetings and symposia, the publication of proceedings, travel expenses, etc. A non-recurrent item in this programme of subventions is a grant in 1956 of $ 15,000 to the Special International Committee which is organizing the World Geophysical Year (1957- 58)—a major event in current scientific annals.
31. The policy of UNESCO in this vast new field has been to play its appointed role as a member of the United Nations family of agencies. The Secretary-General, towards the close of 1955, established appropriate machinery through which to concert policy and action with the Specialized Agencies; even here, however, uncertainty subsists as to the manner in which the existing international organizations will be brought into relationship and cooperation with the new atomic energy agency, the constitution of which is to be discussed at an international conference which is to take place in New York in September and October next.
32. UNESCO's own activities in this field have, however, been provisionally defined and accepted by the other organizations concerned. In the first place, as was done at the first World Atomic Energy Conference held in Geneva in August 1955, UNESCO will make appropriate scientific contributions to a second world conference which may take place in 1958. Secondly, UNESCO will mobilize the skills and techniques of the network of scientific nongovernmental organizations with which it already has working relationships, among these the International Council of Scientific Unions (which incorporates 13 learned international bodies) which has already offered to give all possible assistance to the United Nations through UNESCO.
33. The Organisation will also pursue its work following upon expert meetings held in 1955 and 1956, on measures of an international scope designed to facilitate the use of radioisotopes in research and industry, and of the establishment of regulations concerning the transport and distribution of radio-isotopes. Both these topics will involve close co-operation with the other agencies concerned with particular aspects of these problems.
34. Finally, and as perhaps the most considerable contribution to the general effort to harness atomic energy to peaceful purposes, UNESCO will attack the problems which relate to the scientific and technological training of engineers and research workers specializing in the field of nuclear energy. If circumstances appear favourable, the Organization plans to call a major conference in 1957 on the subject of " The Engineer in the Atomic Age ".
35. A number of consultations with individual experts and learned bodies have led to a proposal for the establishment of an International Commission on Cell Biology to act as a link between research activities carried on in a variety of disciplines and to promote fundamental research aiming at increasing biological knowledge of cells. An associated proposal is t h a t of helping to establish a regional institute for the study of plants and animals under controlled conditions. As a first step, an enquiry has been undertaken into the present situation of laboratory animal breeding in Europe.
36. All the signatoriesNote of the Agreement of 1952 establishing this Organization have now ratified it.
37. The first annual report of the organization has been issued. It shows t h a t excellent progress is being made with the construction of the CERN laboratory at Meyrin, near Geneva; it is expected t h a t the synchrocycloteon will be in full operation by the end of 1957. CERN has accepted a gift of $ 400,000 from the Ford Foundation which will be used in particular to defray the costs of research carried out at CERN by scientists from non-member countries. In June 1956 an international symposium on high-energy physics and accelerators was held by CERN at Geneva, including participants from Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Spain, Czechoslovakia, U. S. and U. S. S. R. (the last two with some 50 scientists each) as well as experts from CERN's own European membership.
38 Ratifications of the Agreement establishing this Centre, which is to be located in Rome, now total five (Belgium, Ceylon, Italy, Japan and Mexico), but ten will be required before the definitive structure can function. It is greatly to be hoped that other countries will ratify within a reasonable period, in view of the great need for a research unit of this type within the continent of Europe.
39. A preparatory committee, which has the continuing assistance of the Italian authorities, conducts interim activities and is currently organizing a meeting of experts, to be held in Rome in October 1956, to discuss the tasks and essential equipment of the future centre. This meeting will be followed by a symposium on modern computing devices to which leading manufacturers of such devices will be invited.
40. UNESCO has organized or sponsored a series of meetings of experts to study aspects of the problems of international understanding and tensions. These included the establishment, by a group of experts meeting in Paris in April 1956, of a plan of research by means of public information polls into the nature and determinance of popular ideas about foreign peoples. This study is to be undertaken in the first place in three or four selected countries and the work is to be entrusted to the UNESCO Institute for Social Sciences (Cologne, Germany), to which further reference is made below.
41. Two meetings of considerable interest were organized by UNESCO in Geneva in July 1956. At the first, leading economists from Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States on the one hand, and Poland and U.S.S.R. on the other, discussed topics which might form the subject of closer study with a view to discussion at a larger conference of economists in 1957. The topics ultimately selected relate to factors affecting the volume and growth of production, equilibrium of offer and demand of means of production, the role of capital investment, the influence of demand on the character of production and the influence of costs of production on price levels.
42. The second meeting was organized on a broader basis to bring together experts of several disciplines as well as countries of different social and economic structures. It included economists, sociologists, political scientists and legal experts, and the countries represented were Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and the U. S. S. R. The main purpose of the meeting was to select problems of a general nature which could be studied concurrently by various disciplines in the social sciences, and agreement was reached on two themes : t h e historical evolution of the concept of peaceful co-operation; and economic relations between countries having differing economic and social structures. The meeting went on to discuss and agree on action to be taken in 1957 and 1958 to pursue these studies, which might culminate, if possible, in 1958 in interdisciplinary conferences on each of the two themes.
43. Much of UNESCO's work in this field —and, indeed, the greater part of its work in the social sciences in general—relates to conditions outside Europe and particularly in under developed areas now undergoing processes of rapid industrialization, urbanization and social change. Thus, UNESCO is participating in a series of United Nations enquiries into these problems in the African continent and has also established a permanent research centre on the social implications of industrialization in Southern Asia, located at Calcutta. Details concerning these extra-European activities will be found in the Director-General's report to the General Conference.
44. Within the European region, collaboration continues with the European Productivity Agency on a proposed register of research projects on productivity and a series of seminars on the theme of human relations in industry.
45. A critical international analysis of studies on the present state of research regarding the relationship between social change and technical progress carried out by a Research Office established in Paris in 1953 in close association with UNESCO, is nearing completion. It has involved work by five teams of sociologists, working in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. UNESCO proposes to publish this substantial body of documentation in 1957.
46. The Executive Board of UNESCO decided at its April 1956 session to maintain at the current level UNESCO's subvention to the Institute for Social Sciences at Cologne. This decision, if approved by the General Conference, will be valid for the years 1957 and 1958 and, in the meantime, a special working party of the Executive Board will outline the future functions and conduct of the Institute. It is stipulated that every effort should be made to promote the work of the Institute by close collaboration with other appropriate bodies in Europe. Consultations will be undertaken with the Council of Europe and other organizations with a view to ascertaining the possibilities of associating them with the Institute's work in the future.
47. During 1955 and 1956, the Cologne Institute has continued to carry out comparative studies designed to help in solving the psychological and sociological problems connected with the integration of the individual in the community. Among such enquiries was one into participation in civic life in a small industrial town, another into the entry of the young into working life and into larger communities, another into new methods in educational sociology in Europe, another on family relations and child development (seminar), and one on the social problems resulting from the existence of cultural and linguistic barriers either within a given state or between different states.
48. Within the Social Sciences programme, but closely associated with the Natural Sciences programme outlined above, UNESCO proposes to undertake or encourage studies and the dissemination of objective information to ensure that the cultural and social conditions and moral outlook of peoples are adapted as smoothly as possible to the technical progress brought about by the peaceful utilization of atomic energy. For this purpose, it is proposed to organize studies and discussions between specialists, institutions and international organizations, to promote the inclusion in adult education programmes and in the activities of youth organizations, of the study of these problems, and to circulate objective information on the subject.
49. The Sao Paolo (Brazil) round-table discussions of August 1954 on the European contribution to cultural life and humanism among the peoples of the Americas were followed in September of the same year by a session of the Rencontres Internationales de Geneve devoted to the theme he Nouveau Monde et VEurope. The similarity of subject has enabled UNESCO to publish the proceedings of both gatherings in one volume (Le Nouveau monde et VEurope, " The Old and the New World " and El Viejo y el Nuevo Mundo), all now issued.
These discussions, which appear to be interregional, were largely devoted to problems and interests which Europe and the Americas have in common : the cultural impact of technologies and new social forces, the consciousness of basic values, the sharing of an artistic, intellectual and religious heritage, the growth of exchanges and trans-Atlantic communication, the old aspects of the Americas and the new aspects of European culture, etc.
During 1955 UNESCO concentrated its efforts on assisting scholars in the study of manuscript source material bearing on the history of civilizations by arranging for the microfilming of material on Japanese history in European libraries, by facilitating visits to Europe of Latin American archivists to study manuscripts bearing on the Liberation movement, and by assisting Middle Eastern scholars in the cataloguing, preservation and copying manuscripts scattered throughout that areas
50. During t h e past ten ye ars of UNESCO' work, considerable attention has been given to promotion of the exchange of publications, a question which has also been of concern to the Committee of Cultural Experts of the Council of Europe. During the earlier years, this activity was largely conceived in terms of post-war reconstruction, but in 1948, following recommendations of a committee of experts, special efforts were made to develop a continuing network of international exchanges through the establishment of national exchange centres. This policy met with considerable success and, in co-operation with UNESCO, many such centres have been created, and their work and t h a t of existing centres promoted notably by the publication of the UNESCO Handbook on the International Exchange of Publications, the second edition of which was issued in 1956. This Handbook contains detailed information on all the methods and techniques of publications exchange and list several thousand institutions in 120 countries or territories willing to offer their publications for international exchange.
In 1954 the General Conference at its 8th session authorized the Director-General " to maintain services necessary for the preparation of international agreements on the exchange of publications". In accordance with this authorization, the Director-General, after having made a world-wide survey of needs and opinions, convened a meeting of experts in February 1956 which made a detailed study of all existing exchange arrangements and agreed unanimously that the Director- General should recommend to the General Conference to take action for the preparation of such an international agreement. A detailed report has been prepared for the Minth session of the General Conference which outlines possible lines of action, taking into consideration the existence of the Brussels Convention of 1886 for the international exchange of official documents, scientific and literary publications, and the UNESCO Agreements on the importation and international circulation of educational, scientific and cultural materials.
51. Arrangements for more extensive exchanges of programmes largely depend on settlement of the problem of so-called " neighbouring " rights to coypright (proposed international protection of rights of performers, recorders and broadcasters), and UNESCO's efforts have therefore been concentrated on this problem. A Study Group convened jointly by the Director-General of UNESCO and the Director of the Union for the protection of Artistic and Literary Works (Berne Union) met at UNESCO House in Paris in May 1956 and unanimously adopted a report which was circulated to the Member States. The Intergovernmental Copyright Committee at its first session held in June 1956 took note of this report and of the studies carried out by the Secretariat in the field of the proposed international protection of performers, recorders and broadcasters, and recommended that the Director-General continue actively the work already begun with a view to achieving an international agreement on a universal basis.
52. The programme of translating and publishing representative works of literatures which are insufficiently known outside the borders of their own countries has been continued by the publication of works from Latin America : French translations of selected poetry, edited by Professor de Onis and of Machado de Assis' Brazilian novel, Quincas Borba ; from Persian (Pakistani series) : IqbaTs Message de l'Orient; from Italian : Four plays by Goldoni; from Marathi (Indian series) : Selected poems of Toukaram, published by Gallimard under the title Psaumes du pèlerin and from Japanese : Ugetsu Monogatari (" Contes de pluie et de lune " ) , also published by Gallimard. The other translations mentioned are published by Nagel.
Furthermore, an Arabic translation of Leibniz' Monadologie has just been published and Aristotle's Politics is due for immediate publication; the following English translations are scheduled for publication in the near future : The Indian Heritage, an anthology of Sanskrit texts; the anthology of Modern Japanese Literature ; the History of the World Conqueror, a Persian chronicle by Juvaini.
In addition to t h e programme of translations of representative works, from literatures of the past, UNESCO has undertaken several translations of contemporary works selected with the assistance of the International PEN Club.
The 7th volume of Index translationum, the international bibliography of the world's translations, was published by UNESCO in February 1956. The 8th volume of this publication will be published toward the end of 1956.
53. Three paintings by Latin American contemporary painters were selected by the International Jury of the Third Biennale of Sao Paulo for reproduction in the UNESCO Art Popularization Series. They were : " Against a blue background" by Milton Dacosta (Brazil), " Who's who " by Roberto Matta (Chile) and " Construction No. 75 " by Ivan Ferreira Serpa (Brazil).
The reproductions of two paintings by contemporary artists which were chosen by the International Jury of the Second Biennale of Sao Paulo for reproduction in the UNESCO Art Popularization Series were distributed to Member States. They were " Houses" by Alfredo Volpi (Brazil) and " Blue Horizon " by Luis Martinez Pedro (Cuba).
At the " III Biennal Hispano-Americana de Arte " held in Barcelona in December, a painting by Rafael Zabaleta " Sapin " was chosen for reproduction in the UNESCO Art Popularization Scries.