CISTRAT Accepted Comprehensive Review by UNESCO 35
May 4,2017
From April 24 to 28, 2017, the International Research and
Training Center for Science and Technology Strategy (CISTRAT), a UNESCO
category-2 center supported by the Chinese Academy of Science and
Technology for Development (CASTED), went through a week-long
comprehensive review. Commissioned by UNESCO, Jummai Umar-Aijila, CEO of
The Business People, a consulting firm in Nigeria, and his assistants
formed an expert evaluation team, with the accompany of UNESCO program
officer Yoslan Nur. The evaluation was conducted through field visits,
employee interviews, questionnaires, internal reports, external
evaluations, multi-stakeholder discussions, and concluding discussions.
The expert team highly recognized the research and training work
conducted by CISTRAT in the past six years.
On April
25, the experts visited the CISTRAT secretariat and reviewed the CISTRAT
profile, annual reports, previous council minutes, financial reports,
self-assessment reports, mid-term development plans, and annual
publications. They appreciated the solid research work of CISTRAT. They
also talked with CISTRAT employees and distributed questionnaires to
CISTRAT employees and managers. Subsequently, CISTRAT held the UNESCO
evaluation report meeting, which was chaired by CASTED Vice President Wu
Yishan. Hu Zhijian, Director of CISTRAT and President of CASTED,
presented a “Self-evaluation Report for 2012-2017”. CISTRAT researchers
Zhao Yandong, Li Zhe and Xuan Zhaohui reported the center’s performance
of international research and training cooperation in the areas of
“responsible research,” “inclusive innovation,” and “science and
technology indicator statistics”.
On
April 26, CISTRAT held an exchange meeting between the UNESCO expert
evaluation team and the partner institutions. The meeting invited
representatives of the CAS Institutes of Science and Development, the
Development Center of the Science and Technology Park of Tsinghua
University, the International Center on Space Technologies for Natural
and Cultural Heritage and the China Knowledge Center for Engineering
Sciences and Technology. The delegates highly appreciated the work
carried out by the CISTRAT in the past six years since its
establishment, and commended CISTRAT for actively conducting research
and boosting the influence of research results. With the expanded scope
of trainees in terms of countries and fields, the results of training
have been most significant. CISTRAT has provided a great deal of
assistance for other category-2 centers, and gradually developed a model
of conducting joint research with developed countries and sharing
research results with developing countries.
On
April 28, the CISTRAT held a UNESCO evaluation summary meeting. At the
meeting, the UNESCO program officials and evaluation experts, based on a
week-long review consisting of field survey and expanded investigation,
highly recognized the role of CISTRAT as a bridge between the Chinese
government and UNESCO headquarters, and concluded that the work of
CISTRAT is consistent with the requirements of the signed agreement, the
activities carried out with partner institutions are extensive and
effective, the management quality of the team is well guaranteed and the
financial conditions are sound. With the overall consideration of
indicators such as research, training, cooperation and influence, the
expert team strongly recommended that the UNESCO headquarters renew its
cooperation agreement with the Chinese government.
UNESCO
program officials and evaluation experts applauded the positive role of
the five training sessions in shaping the science, technology and
innovation policies and strategies of developing countries. At the same
time, they also offered constructive suggestions on the work of CISTRAT
in the next stage, including selection of trainees, seeking more
government input, expanding the scope of CISTRAT’s own research areas
and experience sharing, improving the quality of training, building
closer links with UNESCO and related partner institutions, establishing a
network of graduates and boosting CISTRAT’s influence and visibility.
In the future, CISTRAT will focus on the UN development goals and
actively carry out the relevant work in accordance with the above
requirements.
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