UNESCO CHAIR For Inter-Religious Dialogue Studies in The Islamic World
Dr. Alaa Shatnan, Director of the UNESCO Chair at the University of Kufa, took part in a virtual seminar organized by UNESCO under the title “Different Kinds of Learning: Ensuring Fair Recognition,” held on Tuesday, 17 March 2026.
The event was part of a capacity-building seminar series dedicated to supporting the implementation of the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education.
The seminar, moderated by Noah W. Sobe and featuring experts from Australia, Uganda, and Jamaica, sought to illuminate the distinctions between formal, non-formal, and informal modes of learning, and to examine how each may be assessed in a manner that is both equitable and transparent.
This initiative comes in response to the growing challenges posed by increasing student mobility and the proliferation of diverse educational pathways. Through the guidelines of the Global Convention, UNESCO endeavours to provide a shared framework that supports qualification assessors and admissions officers in their day-to-day work — one that upholds every individual’s right to have their academic qualifications duly recognised, unless there exist substantive and well-founded differences that warrant otherwise.
