Dean of School of Creative Arts Represents UEW at First International Conference of UNESCO Chairs
The Dean, School of Creative Arts of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Dr. Patrique deGraft-Yankson has attended the first International Conference, Workshop and Meeting of UNESCO Chairs from 2nd to 4th December, 2019 in Wuppertal, Germany.
The purpose of the conference which was to exchange information, experiences and strengthen possibilities of collaboration among UNESCO Chairs was held under the theme, ‘Linking Education, Transdisciplinarity and International Partnership’.
Dr. deGraft-Yankson during one of the sessions
The programme organised by the UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship and Intercultural Management, University of Wuppertal, Germany was in cooperation with the German Commission for UNESCO and supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.
Dr deGraft-Yankson participated in the conference as an international partner to Professor Ernst Wagner, executive coordinator of UNESCO Chair in Arts and Culture in Education, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, who also doubles as the Coordinator for the transnational project, “Exploring Visual Cultures”. Dr. deGraft-Yankson led the UEW chapter of the project to establish the relevance of their activities within the framework of sections of the sustainable development goals (more specifically SDGs 4, 16 and 17) as well as the realisation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
He undertook a collaborative project with other international team leaders from South Africa and Cameroon to present at the Best Practice and Research sessions on how visual objects (art works, design, media, architecture, crafts and symbols amongst others), could serve as relevant educational tools that can stimulate dialogue on SDGs in the classroom.
Additionally, the Dean of the School of Creative Arts, UEW, Dr. deGraft-Yankson had the opportunity to present a poster on the topic “Promoting Peace, Justice and strong Institutions through the Akan Adinkra Symbols”. The poster highlighted the potentialities of traditional symbols and icons as ‘images’ which multi-perspective interpretations could serve as links to established cultural practices that can effectively drum home the significance of sustainability to a wider range of people, if consciously integrated into classroom activities.
Sessions and conversations during the conference focused on the role UNESCO Chairs have in supporting the United Nations 2030 Agenda, as well as the new Global Framework on Education for Sustainable Development for 2030 that UNESCO is launching.
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