Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi)

Presentation

The Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi) is an international network created in 1999 by UNESCO, the United Nations University (UNU) and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), after UNESCO's World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE) in 1998, to give continuity to and facilitate the implementation of its main decisions. Ten years later in 2009, GUNi played a significant role in the second WCHE, following its mandate to further reflection and action frameworks to facilitate the exchange of value between higher education and society globally. 

Mission

Strengthen the role of higher education in society contributing to the renewal of the visions, missions and policies of higher education across the world under a vision of public service, relevance and social responsibility.

Objectives

• encourage higher education institutions to reorient their role for broadening their social value, embrace this process of transformation and strengthen their crucial stance within society
• promote the exchange of resources, innovative ideas and experiences to facilitate higher education’s role for social transformation
• foster networking among higher education institutions and cooperation between them and society
• help bridge the gap between developed and developing countries in the field of higher education and foster the cooperation North-South and South-South
• allow collective and cooperative reflection, exchange and production of knowledge regarding what social responsibility and relevance should mean in the emerging planetary era