Ha Long City prepares for the Roadmap to join UNESCO's Global Learning Cities Network

The Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh province and the People's Committee of Ha Long city have worked with the construction consultancy team to prepare a registration dossier to join the UNESCO global learning cities network.

Attending the consultation conference on global learning cities on August 13 were representatives of the Department of Continuing Education, Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh province, Ha Long city and independent experts.

Đoàn công tác làm việc với Lãnh đạo TP. Hạ Long

The delegation worked with the leaders of Ha Long City. (Photo: Tran Duc Quyet)

As the political, administrative, economic, cultural and social center of Quang Ninh province, Ha Long city is one of two cities directly under the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee selected to participate in the assessment, survey and preparation for the Roadmap to join the UNESCO Learning Cities Network.

Ha Long City has Ha Long Bay, which is recognized by UNESCO as a world natural heritage, confirming its outstanding global values in terms of aesthetics, geology, and geomorphology. The city always leads the province in achievements in formal education as well as achievements in building a learning society, so it has many conditions to become a global learning city.

Phó Chủ tịch UBND thành phố Hạ Long Nguyễn Ngọc Sơn phát biểu tại Hội nghị tham vấn Thành phố học tập.

Vice Chairman of Ha Long City People's Committee Nguyen Ngoc Son speaks at the Learning City Consultation Conference. (Photo: Tran Duc Quyet)

Speaking at the Conference, Vice Chairman of Ha Long City People's Committee Nguyen Ngoc Son shared: Participating in the UNESCO Global Learning Cities Network helps Ha Long people have more favorable conditions to exchange ideas, knowledge and experiences with other member cities around the world; at the same time, enhance the prestige and recognition of the international community as well as increase the ability to attract investment, human resources, prosperity and sustainable development. Recognizing the above benefits, Ha Long is determined to strive to become a global learning city in the near future.

In preparation for completing the application to join UNESCO's Learning City in 2025, the People's Committee of Ha Long City also closely follows the Official Dispatch of the Ministry of Education and Training and UNESCO's instructions on registering to join the Global Learning City Network. Through review and synthesis, the city has so far achieved 50/57 indicators. In the coming period, Ha Long City will promote the implementation of synchronous solutions, maintain and improve the quality of achieved criteria, complete the set of indicators and unachieved criteria.

At the meeting, the survey delegation assessed the achieved and unachieved indicators and identified difficulties, problems, and obstacles, and proposed solutions to improve the unachieved indicators in implementing the construction of Ha Long city to become a global "Learning City" of UNESCO; consulted on the process and application documents to join the global learning city.

Ông Nguyễn Xuân Thuỷ, Phó Vụ trưởng Vụ Giáo dục thường xuyên, Bộ giáo dục và Đào tạo phát biểu tại Hội nghị tham vấn Thành phố học tập.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Deputy Director of the Department of Continuing Education, Ministry of Education and Training, spoke at the Learning City Consultation Conference. (Photo: Tran Duc Quyet)

Recommending that Ha Long City needs to carefully prepare the registration dossier to closely follow the criteria set by UNESCO, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Deputy Director of the Department of Continuing Education, Ministry of Education and Training, said that the city needs to focus on promoting existing advantages and highlighting unique features that are different from other localities.

Ông Đào Quyền Trưởng, Phó Vụ trưởng Vụ Ngoại giao văn hóa và UNESCO, Bộ Ngoại giao phát biểu tại Hội nghị tham vấn Thành phố học tập. (Ảnh: Trần Đức Quyết)

Mr. Dao Quyen Truong, Deputy Director of the Department of Cultural Diplomacy and UNESCO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaking at the Study City Consultation Conference. (Photo: Tran Duc Quyet)

Mr. Dao Quyen Truong, Deputy Director of the Department of Cultural Diplomacy and UNESCO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, said: "Through the survey trip and review of the documents, we realized that Ha Long City has made a lot of efforts from policy to planning, assigning specific tasks to each unit to participate in the Global Learning City network."

However, the title of global learning city is becoming more and more prestigious and the review process is also more rigorous. Therefore, according to him, in addition to completing the mandatory criteria and indicators, Ha Long City needs to find highlights to honor, find key criteria set by UNESCO, showing that the city is giving top priority to education.

Bà Tống Liên Anh, Phó Viện trưởng Viện học tập suốt đời phát biểu tại Hội nghị tham vấn Thành phố học tập(Ảnh: Trần Đức Quyết)

Ms. Tong Lien Anh, Deputy Director of the Institute of Lifelong Learning, speaks at the Learning City Consultation Conference. (Photo: Tran Duc Quyet)

Expert Tong Lien Anh, Deputy Director of the Institute of Lifelong Learning, affirmed: "Through a survey at the Provincial Museum and Library, I realized that the city has only invested well in the "shell", but the content still needs a lot of consideration. For example, the Provincial Library, you have only focused on paper books and digitized them while the 4.0 technology era has opened an era where paper books and documents are no longer in a monopoly position. To create digital citizens in the knowledge economy, it is necessary to develop digital libraries and have connections to the national and international library system".

Diversifying reader groups and disadvantaged people (hearing impaired, visually impaired, etc.) has not been given attention, and there is no separate space for those who need to study. Or one of the factors that UNESCO is very interested in is intangible cultural values. According to experts, Ha Long needs to pay attention to marine culture, a unique strength of the locality. Most importantly, the city must clarify its commitments to mobilizing all resources to build a learning city. "To enhance the prestige and position of Vietnam, we are committed to accompanying and supporting the city so that it can soon complete the set goals," said Ms. Tong Lien Anh.