Women and Higher Education Management

On 24 February 2016, the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO and the Islamic Azad University organized a conference on ‘Women and Higher Education Management’, AVA Diplomatic reports.

The conference took place in Islamic Azad University and the opening ceremony was attended by Dr. Mirzade, Head of Islamic Azad University; Dr. Taha Hashemi, Cultural Deputy of Islamic Azad University; Dr. Nasiri, Acting Secretary General of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO; Ms. Kuisch Laroche, Director and Representative of the UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office, and many prominent Iranian academic scholars.

In his remarks, Dr. Nasiri stressed the importance of empowering women and girls in achieving the sustainable development goals.

Dr. Mizade, talked about the efforts made at Islamic Azad University to empower women and appoint them in key management positions.

Dr. Fatameh Tabatabai, Head of the Policy Council and Steering Committee of Educated Women at Islamic Azad University spoke of her own experience and underlined that Imam Khomeini had always supported the education of women and girls from the beginning of the Islamic Revolution.

Ms. Kuisch Laroche mentioned that women’s and girls’ education was at the core of UNESCO’s mandate. She said that while globally progress had been made to achieve universal primary education and gender parity in education, still much remained to be done.

“We have not focused sufficiently on disadvantage; its complex causes and the multidimensional response that is required. We have not developed enough gender-sensitive interventions to counter stereotypes, and offer girls opportunities in non-traditional fields of study”, she said. “Women and girls remain the majority of out-of-school children, youth and illiterate adults around the world.

”The UNESCO Representative talked about the Organization’s global partnerships to expand and improve the quality of education for girls and women, and promote access of girls to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

“Gender equality in science is a game changer to bolster the scientific capacities of developing countries, to accelerate research and development, and to bridge the policy and knowledge gaps”, said Ms. Kuisch Laroche.

The Conference further reviewed topics related to the status and role of Iranian women in higher education, and ways of empowering women in order to qualify for management positions in higher education. Several women speakers also addressed current attitudes towards women managers in higher educations and talked about their experiences in university management.