UNESCO-UNEVOC Member
The Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles has been the only UNESCO-UNEVOC center in Québec since 2004. As such, we are working to innovate our practices to become a more sustainable college. Learn more about the UNESCO-UNEVOC network!
History
UNESCO is the United Nations specialized agency for education, science, and culture. UNESCO’s Education Sector works to improve education worldwide through technical support, standard setting, innovative projects, capacity building and networking. The mission of UNESCO’s Education Sector is to:
- promote education as a fundamental right;
- improve the quality of education;
- stimulate experimentation, innovation, and dialogue.
In 1992, UNESCO initiated an International Technical and Vocational Education Project (UNEVOC) whose efforts were aimed at developing and improving technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in UNESCO member countries.
Functions of UNEVOC
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is one of the four priority areas of UNESCO’s education program in the coming years.
To this end, UNESCO-UNEVOC organizes training, consultations, and conferences in the various fields of TVET and advocates for the development of TVET worldwide. Its capacity building programs are conducted at various levels and in regional and international collaboration, in close cooperation with the members of the UNEVOC Network.
Canadian UNEVOC Centers
There are three UNEVOC centers in Canada: Colleges and Institutes Canada, Bow Valley College, and the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles. In Canada, all of this work is done in close collaboration with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.
The UNEVOC Center of the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles
- The Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles became a UNEVOC Centre in September 2004.
- In January 2008, the Cégep’s UNEVOC Centre received a UNEVOC Centre Award for its overall training efforts.
- In 2020, UNESCO’s global network named the Formation à distance interordres (FADIO) coalition, of which the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles is a member, as a model of promising practices in education. FADIO allows primary, secondary, college and university educational institutions in the Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine regions to access distance learning resources that they would not otherwise have.
- Since 2021, the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles’ UNEVOC Center has focused on implementing education for sustainable development through an institutional approach to greening:
- Greening of its campuses;
- Greening of its curriculums and training;
- Greening of research;
- Greening the community and the workplace;
- Greening of institutional culture.
- In September 2021, the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles signed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agreement, which demonstrates its commitment to achieving the seventeen goals.