In the morning of May 16, Ms. Irina Bokova Director-General of UNESCO accepted the certificate of honorary doctorate degree of Tongji University from President Pei Gang, the university president, as the 7th person granted with the an honoris causa of the university.

President PEI Gang said that the degree is to honor her tremendous contributions to the cooperation and exchange between UNESCO and China as well as Tongji University in terms of education, science and culture.

Ms. Bokova said she was deeply honored to receive the degree from Tongji University and she came to accept the honor on behalf of UNESCO. This is her third visit to Tongji and she looked forward to expanding UNESCO`s cooperation with Tongji in more and more areas.

Tongji University has been working on a comprehensive and multi-level cooperation with UNESCO for a long time, with several university professors including Professor Ruan Yisan, receiving UNESCO Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation over the years. Tongji has participated in a number of academic events organized by UNESCO as well as the exchange activities with its institutes and organizations. Since the establishment of World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region in 2008, the two sides have conducted productive cooperation in the fields of cultural heritage conservation as well as creative cities. In May 2012, UNESCO Chair of sustainable development was established in Tongji University to promote the education and research in this regard.

Ms. Bokova gave a lecture on the new paradigm of Education for Sustainable Development and answered questions from students. Ms. Bokova in her speech stressed the importance of quality education for sustainable development. She also elaborated the challenges and importance of education by quoting the Chinese saying that “it takes ten years to grow trees but a hundred years to rear people”.

Ms. Irina Georgieva BOKOVA has been the Director-General of UNESCO since 15 November 2009. She is the first woman to have been elected head of the Organization. Prior to that, she served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria and Ambassador of Bulgaria to France and UNESCO. She has been very attentive to a comprehensive cooperation between UNESCO and China in all relevant fields, and has been actively promoting the endeavors in the regard. During her visits to the university in Mays of 2010 and 2012, Ms. BOKOVA gave her recognition to the achievements made by Tongji in training and research on cultural heritage conservation and education for sustainable development.

Annex: BOKOVA Address