Bonjour!
I have now been in Paris for roughly a month, and I am very grateful for the experience this far. I am interning in the higher education sector at the headquarters in Paris. The role of headquarters is to provide technical expertise and intellectual leadership, so a lot of the work is normative in nature. This is a new experience for me, as most of my past experiences in higher education have involved program implementation or working directly with students. However, I am very glad I am getting this opportunity to learn more about an organization such as UNESCO.
In my first few weeks of work, I have been primarily assisting with preparations for the Second session of the Intergovernmental Conference of States Parties to the Global Convention on Higher Education. In this conference, countries who have ratified the Convention (or States Parties) will adopt their work plan for the next two years, as well as adopt some guidelines that help to better understand how to implement the Convention. The Convention itself is a legal framework that will benefit students and professionals, including refugees or displaced persons, who are seeking to study or work in another country. The role of UNESCO Paris office in the Global Convention includes encouraging countries to ratify, assisting States Parties in developing national frameworks, monitoring progress in implementation, facilitating the sharing of best practices among States Parties, and promoting awareness of the benefits of the Global Convention.
Some of my tasks have been helping to plan and promote a webinar series that will focus on implementation of the Convention, drafting social media communications or articles about the Conference, and helping prepare country profiles of States Parties which describe their higher education and qualifications recognition systems.
I will also be supporting the Campus Africa program. Some pillars of the program are strengthening research capacities in sectors such as renewable energy or technology, facilitating mobility between African higher education institutions and other global institutions, and creating flexible and inclusive skills pathways to support the school-to-work transition. I will be supporting this more once the Intergovernmental Conference has passed in three main areas 1) scholarships 2) career services, particularly for women in STEM and 3) communications, partnership building and fundraising. One assignment I will be working on in particular is collecting data on existing doctoral-level study opportunities in Africa aligned with agriculture, renewable energies, or digital economies to help inform Campus Africa’s programming.
I have also met some wonderful people so far! UNESCO headquarters is the largest office I have ever worked at, with employees from all over the world. Some days I sit in an office with other members of the higher education team, and other days I sit in a room for interns from multiple sectors within the higher education section. I’ve enjoyed this arrangement because it’s allowed me to meet more people across different teams and make some new friends.
And of course, I’ve been enjoying the lovely streets and sweets of Paris. Some of my favorite activities so far have been reading in Place des Vosges, walking through the Museum de Parfum, and strolling through some flea markets with some fellow interns. I am excited to see what July brings!
Meagan is a recent graduate of the International Education Program at the George Washington University. Her academic and professional interests are related to internationalization of higher education and diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education.