The agreement, entitled “Network of Universities on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue” (UAC-MILID), during the First Forum on “Media and Information Literacy” held in Fez (Morocco) in June 2011, was signed by UNESCO, the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC), the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and six other universities: University of the West Indies (Jamaica); Cairo University (Egypt); University of Sao Paulo (Brazil); Temple University (United States); Beijing University (China); The University of Queensland (Australia) and Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University (Morocco).

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, supported by Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, is responsible for setting the annual calendar of activities, organising a yearly meeting and coordinating a publication including articles on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue.

UNESCO and UNAOC have created the UNESCO-UNAOC  UNITWIN Global Chair on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue (“UNESCO-UNAOC MILID UNITWIN”).

UNESCO-UNAOC MILID UNITWIN specific objectives include:

• Act as a Observatory for critically analyzing: the role of Media and Information Literacy (“MIL”) as a catalyst for civic participation, democracy and development; for the promotion of free, independent and pluralistic media; as well as MIL’s contribution to the prevention and resolution of conflicts and intercultural tensions and polarizations.
• Enhance intercultural and cooperative research on MIL and the exchanges between universities and mass media, encouraging MIL’s initiatives towards respecting human rights and dignity and cultural diversity.
• Develop within the participant universities educational and media production practices that contribute to dissolving prejudice and intercultural barriers and favour global dialogue and cooperation among citizens as well as social and political institutions around the world. In addition to the international dimension, these practices will be reflected at the local level in the 8 cities or neighbourhoods in which the partner universities are located.
• Promote global actions relating to MIL (including adaptation of the UNESCO MIL Curriculum for Teacher Education and other relevant tools, publications, congresses, seminars, teaching resources, and faculty and students’ exchanges) that could contribute towards stimulating dialogue and understanding among people of and within different cultures and societies.
• Create a virtual centre to research on, and study and develop MIL initiatives aimed at the creation of projects and publications linking universities and research centres.
• Promote and support other global media initiatives that could reinforce civic participation through open, free and independent media and information systems that favour intercultural dialogue and cooperation.
• Encourage and support citizen participation as well as educational and cultural institutions whose initiatives promote media and information literacy, cooperation and intercultural dialogue.

UNESCO-UNAOC MILID UNITWIN current universities also include: University of Guadalajara (Mexico); Western University (Ontairo, Canada); University of Gothenburg (Sweden); Punjabi University (Patiala, India); Ahmadu Bello University (Nigeria); University of the South Pacific (Suva, Fiji); Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Nigeria); University of Calabar (Nigeria); University of Jos (Nigeria); Hosei University (Tokyo, Japan); University of South Africa (Pretoria, South Africa); Bergen University College (Norway); Lagos State University (Nigeria); Universidade do Minho (Braga, Portugal); University of Latvia (Riga, Latvia); Sholokhov Moscow State University for Humanities (Russia); Moulay Ismail University (Meknes, Morocco); School of Journalism and Public Relation (Skopje, Macedonia).

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