On 14 June 2002 the UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE), located in Hamburg, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding. The UIE is a research, training, information, documentation and publishing centre of UNESCO, focusing mainly on adult education in the perspective of lifelong learning.
UIE was established in Hamburg in the context of UNESCO's commitment in post-war Germany. Until 1994 it was the only UN institution in Germany and during the years of the Cold War one of the few places in the world where a fruitful cooperation between East and West was possible. UIE is looking back on 50 years of successful work in the field of adult education and literacy, in the course of which it has been able to work even in the regions most difficult to reach through its networks. Services have been provided to more than 175 countries and an average of 300 education specialists take part every year in programme activities organized by the Institute.
A milestone in the history of UIE was the organization of the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education, held in Hamburg in 1997, at which about 1500 participants from 150 countries adopted two key documents which have influenced the vision of adult education all over the world: The Hamburg Declaration and The Agenda for the Future.
When the UIE was founded 50 years ago, education generally meant school, vocational educa-tion and universities. Nowadays education is perceived as a lifelong process which enables peoples to adapt to continuous socio-economic, cultural and technological changes. Educa-tion is an essential, if not the most important precondition for the solution of our global problems. It is for this reason that education is UNESCO's top priority. The UIE plays a major role in the implementation of the UNESCO programme "Education for All" and the literacy decade which will be proclaimed by the United Nations in 2003.
On 14 June,  the anniversary celebrations will start with a press conference at 10.00 am, followed by a reception held by the Hamburg Senate in the Town Hall at 11.00 am. Highlight of the celebrations will be a public lecture and debate on Lifelong Learning to be moderated by Rita Süssmuth, former President of the German Federal Parliament and Chair of the Independent Commission 'Migration'. Nobel Prize Winner Wole Soyinka from Nigeria, the Indian feminist activist and researcher Srilatha Batliwala and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Freimut Duve are the key speakers. The event will take place at the Magna Aula of the University of Hamburg on 14 June at 4 pm.
On the occasion of the anniversary UIE will publish a special retrospective issue of its periodical, the International Review of Education.

8 April 2002
 Contact: Maren Elfert tel. +49-40-44 80 41-40