The UNESCO’s University Twinning Program (UNITWIN/UNESCO) was established in 1992 to promote academic cooperation at the national and international level with regard to UNESCO’s goals, namely education, social and natural sciences, culture, and communication. In fact, through this program, research and higher education institutions create a bridge between academics, local and civil societies, decision-makers, and researchers to come up with innovative and creative methods for education, information and knowledge sharing, research, etc. According to UNESCO, the purpose of this program is to both develop inter-university cooperation and to share knowledge among different countries.
This program has created about 793 UNESCO chairs which are operating in 114 countries as of March 2020, among which 24 chairs in 19 countries are directly related to environmental education. In Iran so far, 17 UNESCO chairs have been established in universities and educational institutions. The UNESCO Chair on Environmental Education was registered at Payame Noor University in May 2016 as the 14th UNESCO chair in Iran, headed by Dr. Seyed Mohammad Shobeiri.
This program has created about 793 UNESCO chairs which are operating in 114 countries as of March 2020, among which 24 chairs in 19 countries are directly related to environmental education. In Iran so far, 17 UNESCO chairs have been established in universities and educational institutions. The UNESCO Chair on Environmental Education was registered at Payame Noor University in May 2016 as the 14th UNESCO chair in Iran, headed by Dr. Seyed Mohammad Shobeiri.
At the beginning of 2020, UNESCO (as a scientific, educational, and cultural organization) provided a positive evaluation of the activities performed by UNESCO Chair on Environmental Education at Payame Noor University during its first 4 years of establishment. In a letter dated June 24, 2021, UNESCO praised the activities already carried out during that time as well as extending the memorandum of understanding of this chair for the next 4 years until April 2025 under the chairmanship of Prof. Seyed Mohammad Shobeiri.