UNESCO Chairs

Guidelines for the submission of a UNESCO Chair.

A project for a UNESCO Chair must be submitted by an academic institution to UNESCO and, prior to that, it must be validated by the  Swiss commission for UNESCO. The deadline for submission is 30 April every year. At least one of the Chair directors must be a full member of teaching staff, work on a full time basis and be employed on a permanent contract.

The Swiss commission for UNESCO can support two submissions per year, for the whole of Switzerland. The request for support, with a letter of support of the Rector, needs to be sent to them by September for a submission in April of the following year. It is however possible to contact the Swiss commission for UNESCO and discuss the theme before starting the process. 

Step by step internal process at the University of Geneva to be followed before formally submitting the project to UNESCO.

1. The project must be submitted by a full professor or an assistant professor, working on a full time basis at the University of Geneva.

2. The project needs to be endorsed by the Dean or Director of a UER (teaching and/or research unit) through a ltter of support.

3. The proposal is submitted to the Rectorate, via the Vice Rector in charge of International Relations Rectorat at least 30 days prior to the deadline of September 30th imposed by the Swiss Commission for UNESCO. The file must include the project description, the letter of support from the Dean/Director, a budget and a proposal for a letter to be signed by the Rector.

4. The project, endorsed by the Rectorate is submitted to the Swiss Commission for UNESCO (there is no direct link between the proposer and UNESCO HQ in Paris) at the latest on September 30th for the next cycle.

5. After approval from the Swiss Commission for UNESCO, the professor proposing the project needs to upload the project on the UNESCO platform by April 30th ((it is advised to complete the online submission at least 1 week in advance)
6. Once the project has been approved by UNESCO: signature of an MoU for the Chair.

Existing Chairs:

Four UNESCO chairs have been granted to the University of Geneva. On the one hand these chairs aim at reinforcing the University as a centre of excellence. On the other hand they promote international