The first Global Adult Education Seminar by the UNESCO Chair in Global Adult Education of the was successfully held on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 November, 2023. There were presentations from Canada, Italy, Kenya, Palestine and Spain/ Catalonia. The presenters and participants were Angel Marzo Guarino from the University of Barcelona, David Abril from the University of Ballearic Islands, Agnes Andollo from the University of Nairobi, Rose Kando from Kalimi University, Betlehem, Elizabeth Lange from Athabasca University Canada and the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney, Marcella Milana from the University of Verona and Massimiliano Tarozzi from the University of Bologna. Prof. Tarozzi who accompanied his wife, Prof. Milana, participated on second day.
As you might imagine, Rose Kando could not travel to be here in the flesh because of the Israeli blockade on Palestinian cities but the situation concerning her presentation was remedied through a faultless and punctual connection which made technical support unnecessary. The Dean, opened the seminar.
Food and coffee / tea breaks were well catered for and the programme included a Valletta walking tour and final dinner at Urban Valley Hotel where the invited guests stayed throughout the event. The Faculty of Education Boardroom at the University of Malta was the venue for the two day seminar.
As long as the University holds the UNESCO Chair, this seminar will be held annually. The next one is scheduled for April 2024 to mark the 51st year of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE). All papers from this year's seminar will appear in a future special issue for Convergence. An International Adult Education Journal. The same applies to papers from the future seminars in the series.
The next UNESCO Chair event is the Lorenzo Milani Birth Centenary webfest scheduled for 7, 8 and 9 December in English and Italian. Then, February 2024 will see the launch, under the UNESCO Chair, of the Online MA course in Adult Education offered by the University of Malta.
Two books in the book series 'International Issues in Adult Education' produced by Brill in connection with the Chair are in the pipeline. 35 books have been produced to date. In concert with the ICAE, the Chair also produces Convergence. An International Adult Education Journal, which it revived at Vol.43 No 1. The Vol. 44. No 2 issue is being finalised for release in December 2023.
All these activities by the UNESCO Chair in Global Adult Education, held by , followed soon after the International Conference in Critical Adult Education and Learning. This conference was jointly organised by the and the UNESCO Chair in Global Adult Education.
The Milani webfest is the fourth birth centenary one organised by the Chair following those on Paulo Freire (2021), Raymond Williams ( 2021), Julius Nyerere (2022) and B.R. Ambedkar (2023, by UNITWIN partner, University of Kalyani). Next year we celebrate Alberto Manzi's birth Centenary and Bell Hooks' third death anniversary both to be marked by webfests.
