From 03-04 June 2019, the inception phase meeting of UNESCO Qualifications Passport for Refugees and Vulnerable Migrants project was organized by the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT), in Oslo, Norway. This inception phase meeting has gathered potential members of future Steering Committee of the project, i.e. representatives and experts from UNHCR, Council of Europe, Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, NOKUT, and also officers from UNESCO in both the Desk for Education in Emergency and the Section of Higher Education, Education Sector.

This meeting held a successful launching dialogue for the project’s progress and the communication established among international institutions have raised important awareness of UNESCO mandate in higher education. It demonstrates accordingly, the institution’s engagement, commitment and actions to “protect education from attacks”, to reinforce the “right to education” and to build an inclusive environment for education at the global level. From a broader aspect, the UNESCO Qualifications Passport project aims to build up a global mitigation and adaptation scheme in the field of Qualification Recognition in reaction to the increasing global population mobility, per se, to protect the rights of the most vulnerable ones.

Participated in this meeting, from left to right, Mr. Sjur Bergan, Head of Education Department, Council of Europe; Mr. Peter Wells, Chief, Section of Higher Education, Education Sector (ED), UNESCO; Ms. Kerstin Holst, Chief, Desk for Education in Emergency, ED, UNESCO; Ms. Marina Malgina, Head of Section, Department of Foreign Education, NOKUT; Ms. Min Zhang, Associate Project Officer, Desk for Education in Emergency, ED, UNESCO; Ms. Maren Kroeger, Tertiary Education Officer, Division of Resilience and Solutions, UNHCR; Mr. Helge Schwitters, Advisor, Department of Foreign Education, NOKUT; Mr. Andreas Snildal, Programme Specialist, Section of Higher Education, ED, UNECO;

Not present for the photo: Mr. Stig Arne Skjerven, Director, Department of Foreign Education, NOKUT; Mr. Jakob Bergvik Aure, Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research.

From the original version #Passport4Education: UNESCO’s commitment to ensure right to higher education for the most vulnerable ones