Written by: Lana Dukanović, 3rd year undergraduate student in Journalism
United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) is an initiative that, through support to higher education institutions, seeks to contribute to the achievement of the goals of the United Nations, including the promotion and protection of human rights, access to education, sustainability and conflict resolution. VERN' became a member of this global initiative in January of this year, as the only Croatian higher education institution in that distinguished society .
The network of students, academics, scientists, researchers, research centers, higher education institutions, continuing education and educational associations, which UNAI has brought together since 2010, now has more than 1,300 member institutions from more than 130 countries. The work of this network is of crucial importance for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, given the ideas, inventions and solutions they have at their disposal.
Although membership in UNAI is open to all accredited higher education institutions, it is important to point out that VERN' is the only member from the Croatian academic sector, and that we applied for membership with successful projects that promote sustainability and are complementary to UNAI's main principles of sustainable development.
"All UNAI principles are values that we strive to respect in our regular business operations, and we additionally ensure their implementation through VERN's long-term strategic plans, but also operationally through the creation and participation in numerous projects," emphasized Iva Biondić , VERN's Vice Dean for Strategic Development, who is also a member of the Board of Directors of the United Nations Global Compact initiative in Croatia.
"Some of these activities include the numerous projects of our students who participated in the Hult Prize Challenge at the local and global levels, the #EducationmeetsBusiness initiative that we launched to ensure continued cooperation between the business and education sectors, the partnership with Deloitte in marking International Fraud Awareness Week, and the SILICE project that dealt with encouraging the development of social innovations. This project provided educational opportunities for Israeli and Indian students from poorer backgrounds to gain knowledge at the university level and to provide them with education in the field of economic and social innovations, in order to encourage entrepreneurship and sustainable development in their communities."
However, there are other projects that VERN' has successfully implemented in cooperation with international partners, and they were reference points when deciding on membership in UNAI.
"In recent years, VERN' has opted to participate in projects that are in line with our strategic principles and plans, but also those that work for the benefit of the entire community and lay the foundations for an economically and socially sustainable successful future for all of us," explains Tea Gagro Held , VERN's EU Project Manager.
"The first such project is 'VISIT – Versatile Islands cooperating for new services and innovation in tourism', which aims to develop existing and new innovative services of medium and small enterprises on European islands in order to improve the capabilities of the local community through cooperation with higher education institutions. The second project of this type is 'EDU LAB', which dealt with the development of employment and education opportunities for young people in the Danube region, addressing social challenges such as demographic changes, gender inequality and migration..."
- What other projects of this type are being implemented at VERN?
- In what way does VERN' through these projects contribute to the realization of the main principles of this UN initiative?
