The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has renewed its partnership with the University of Lagos under its University Twinning and Networking Cooperation Programme on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue, extending the agreement until December 31, 2029.

This was announced in a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof Folasade Ogunsola, sighted by Press.

The letter, dated Friday, December 5, was signed by UNESCO’s Director of the Future of Learning and Innovation Division, Sobhi Tawil.

UNITWIN is UNESCO’s flagship programme for promoting inter-university cooperation and knowledge sharing, connecting universities globally, especially in developing countries, to tackle global challenges in education, science, culture, and communication through research, training, and joint projects.

According to the letter, the programme, which was created in 2011, will remain under the coordination of Prof José Manuel Pérez Tornero of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, with Prof. Olunifesi Suraj Adenkule of the University of Lagos serving as co-coordinator.

In a letter addressed to rectors and vice-chancellors of participating universities, UNESCO said the renewed mandate was aimed at strengthening the organisation’s Communication and Information agenda through research, teaching, training, community engagement and strategic communication.

UNESCO underscored the need for sustained institutional support to maximise the impact of the network, calling on partner institutions to encourage the active involvement of their teams in UNESCO activities and those of collaborating universities.

The organisation also urged members to expand inter-university cooperation and step up knowledge sharing and dissemination.

As part of the renewal, UNESCO requested that research outputs from the UNITWIN Chair be published as Open Access in line with the 2021 Recommendation on Open Science, while teaching and learning materials should be released as Open Educational Resources in line with the 2019 OER Recommendation.

The organisation further advised the network to align its programmes with updated UNITWIN and UNESCO Chairs guidelines, noting that revised evaluation criteria would guide future renewal decisions.

While acknowledging the clarity of the network’s stated objectives, UNESCO said its website should better reflect recent activities, stronger links to ongoing UNESCO priorities, and the use of the updated official logo.

UNESCO also encouraged the network to deepen its contribution to the Media and Information Literacy programme by promoting wider global participation and developing tools to assess the societal and policy impact of its work.

Members of the UNITWIN Network were invited to join the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs LinkedIn Group and to take part in UNESCO-led initiatives, including public policy discussions, ethical debates and standard-setting processes.

The letter noted that any intention to renew the network beyond the current mandate would require a formal application to UNESCO by June 30, 2029, submitted through the designated online platform.