UNESCO Chairs

The UNESCO Chair of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki on Education for Human Rights, Democracy and Peace was established in 1997, based on a Joint Agreement signed between UNESCO and A.U.Th. It was the first UNESCO Chair to be created in a Greek University. This “Chair” is the product of the development and institutionalization of two earlier initiatives:  a) the Peace and Human Rights Education Programme which was introduced by Professor Dimitra Papadopoulou in the School of Psychology/A.U.Th. in 1986, and expanded in 1993-94 to an interfaculty interdisciplinary programme, and b) the educational activities of the Institute of Education for Peace, founded by Prof. D. Papadopoulou in 1986.

The aim of the UNESCO Chair is to promote the values of a Culture of Human Rights, Peace and Non Violence within the University, as well as to the other two educational levels (primary and secondary) in order to increase the awareness and sensitivity of academics, students and public opinion to them.

At the undergraduate level, the UNESCO Chair organizes and runs an interfaculty interdisciplinary programme on Education for Human Rights and Peace (entitled: "Contemporary world problems and the scientist’s responsibility:  an interdisciplinary approach"), in which students as well as professors come from all Schools of the Aristotle University. In this Programme more than 100 academics have taught until now (1994-2010), coming from about 35 Schools of A.U.Th (Schools of Psychology, Philosophy, Pedagogy, Law, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Biology etc.) as well as from other Universities of Greece (University of Thessaly, University of Ioannina, University of Aegean, etc.)

Over 4000 students have already taken this course, attending lectures on more than 100 different subjects, such as:• various aspects of global environmental problems, •issues related to natural resources and their distribution, •international organizations and their contribution to the solution of international problems, •international efforts for the protection of human rights, •positive and negative uses of nuclear power, •chemical and biological warfare, •AIDS, •drugs, •child neglect and abuse, •illiteracy, •social exclusion, •a culture of peace and non-violence, •homeless children, •racism and xenophobia, •refugees, •the UNESCO programmes towards a culture of human rights and peace, •intercultural dialogue, etc .)

At the postgraduate level, the UNESCO Chair participates in the European Master. Programme on Human Rights and Democratization, which is co-organized by 41 Universities from all Member-States of the European Union. The UNESCO Chair of the Aristotle University is one of the founding Universities of this M.A. Programme and serves as the coordinating University for Greece. Within the framework of this M.A. Programme a wide exchange of graduate students takes place at a pan-European level. Twenty-six (26) Μaster Τheses have been elaborated so far by our foreign M.A students, many of which have won distinctions on a pan-European level.

Thirty-six (36) professors from 10 Schools of A.U.Th., as well as representatives of International Organisations (UNESCO, UNICEF), have taught and supervised students’ theses in this postgraduate course offered every year by the UNESCO Chair/A.U.Th.

The Chair cooperates also with primary and secondary school teachers of all scientific fields throughout the country, with the aim of promoting and cultivating the values of a Culture of Peace in schools. For this purpose, the “Chair” has created the National Network of Schoolteachers for a Culture of Peace and Non Violence, which enjoys the active participation of a large number of teachers.

The UNESCO Chair links the University of Thessaloniki with International Intergovernmental Organisations (UNESCO, UNICEF etc.), with the Global Network of 655 UNESCO Chairs and 62 UNESCO/UNITWIN Networks (in 770 Universities located in 126 countries), with the Network of 41 European Universities which co-organize the Master’s Programme on Human Rights and Democratization, as well as with many International and Greek NGOs.

All the activities of the UNESCO Chair, as well as its administration, are carried out by volunteers (University professors, teachers of primary and secondary education, students, members of NGOs, etc.) who offer their time and knowledge for free.

In 2002, UNESCO awarded the UNESCO Chair / A.U.Th. the UNESCO UNITWIN International Award for its educational / academic work because, in the wording of the Awarding Decision, “…the UNESCO Chair at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, illustrates the great potential of Higher Education to contribute to attaining the constitutional mission of UNESCO: “to construct peace in the minds of men and women”.