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ZIMBABWE-BORN academic Professor Juliet Thondhlana has been appointed to a top role at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The University of Nottingham (UoN) academic was named UNESCO Chair in International Education and Development, a role that will see her focus on “the key role of higher education in the field of international education and development”.

UNESCO contributes to peace and security by promoting international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication, and information.

“I welcome this great opportunity to build on the University of Nottingham’s internationalization strategy and our successful partnership with UNESCO to date and together with colleagues continue to make a significant contribution towards the achievement of UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals,” said Prof Thondhlana.

Commenting on the appointment of UoN pro-vice-chancellor in the social sciences faculty Prof Todd Landman said, “The announcement of the new UNESCO Chair for Professor Thondhlana represents an incredible triumph that recognizes her leadership and expertise in the area of international education and development.

“This designation is in many ways a culmination of her many years of hard work and achievement across her research and teaching activities in the School of Education.

“I am delighted that Professor Thondhlana has been recognized in this way and I know that she will make an invaluable contribution to the work of UNESCO.”

Prof Thondhlana has wide-ranging experience teaching, researching, and publishing in the interlinked fields of the internationalization of higher education, migration, doctoral training, policy development, and decolonization.

She is the lead editor of the ground-breaking Bloomsbury Handbook of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in the Global South.

Her educational policy development expertise and experience include supporting the development of Zimbabwe’s national policy on the internationalization of higher education and its national doctoral training framework.

She has been invited to provide expert support for the internationalization of higher education initiatives of partner institutions, including Erbil Polytechnic University, Kurdistan, and the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education.