BHU gets the prestigious UNESCO Chair for Peace and Intercultural Understanding.

Updated on: Wednesday, December 12, 2012

In twin achievements, the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) became the first Indian university to join the Tony Blair Faith Foundation's Faith and Globalisation Initiative (FGI) network, which was launched in 2008 and includes 11 other influential global institutions such as Yale University and Peking University and it has also got the prestigious UNESCO Chair for Peace and Intercultural Understanding.

An agreement with BHU was made by former British prime minister Tony Blair, in the presence of BHU professor Priyankar Upadhyaya, UNESCO, Malviya Centre for Peace Research, at New Delhi on Monday.

BHU chancellor, Dr Karan Singh was also present at the programme.

Upadhyaya said the partnership is the start of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation's Faith and Globalisation Initiative network in India. Tony Blair was in New Delhi to launch the partnership with BHU and to foster co-operation with Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), paving way for stronger interfaith and religious understanding in India.

FGI equips students with the skills needed to understand religion's presence and importance in the modern world, so they become successful leaders and policy makers of future. The programme will explore issues such as religion and conflict, religion and public life and human rights. Students will have the opportunity to connect with counterparts across the globe. They will learn to understand how religion motivates society and the world and learn to respect difference and not fear it.

Moreover, before joining the Tony Blair Faith Foundation's Faith and Globalisation Initiative (FGI) network the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) had also got prestigious UNESCO Chair for Peace and Intercultural Understanding.

The UNESCO Chair was established at the BHU in 2010. The fields/disciplines of the Chair include peace studies, human rights, cultural diversity, and intercultural studies.According to UNESCO chair-holder Prof Priyankar Upadhyaya, the purpose of the Chair is to explore and highlight the potentials of cultural in particular religious diversity as a resource for peace rather than a barrier, and to create a global hub for research, training, information and documentation in the fields of peace, conflicts resolution and human development sensitive to the issues of structural and cultural diversity.
 

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