Quality Assurance at the United
Nations University
Professor Govindan Parayil
Vice Rector, United Nations University &Director, Institute of Advanced Studies, UNU

2011 NIAD-UE University Evaluation ForumTokyo, 26 October 20111

Mandate of UNU“The United Nations University shall be
an international community of scholars
engaged in research, postgraduate
training and the dissemination ofknowledge….” (The Charter of UNU,Article 1, paragraph 1)

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Mission of UN University•••••

An international community of scholars
A bridge between United Nations and theinternational academic community
A think-tank for the UN system
Research, teaching and capacity building,particularly in developing countries
A platform for dialogue, innovative ideas
and creative solutions

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UNU Vision• Aspiring to be a world‐classinternational research, teaching andcapacity development institution that
addresses the needs of present andfuture generations to live a decent life,
in peace, in freedom, in safety and ingood health.

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UNU Vision• UNU serves the United Nations and its
Member States with state-of-the-art research
and with accumulated knowledge in theareas of :• Peace, Security and Human Rights;• Development and Good Governance;• Population and Health;• Global Change and SustainableDevelopment;• Science, Technology and Society.
• Sustainability as the all embracing goal
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UNU HQ

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UN University Is Special••••Like many other ambitious academic institutions aroundthe world, the UN University strives to be widely
recognized as an international postgraduate teaching
and research institution best known for:its emphasis on ensuring the highest possible quality in
its research, teaching and academic support services;
its strict adherence to the methods and tools of socialand natural sciences and engineering;its trans-disciplinary and systems approach to research,teaching and applied policy work.

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UN University Is Special• its high ethical standards, including integrity, trust,tolerance and acceptance of rights as well asobligations;• its equity and openness in access to knowledge,research, teaching and capacity development anddissemination;• its intellectual vitality and openness;• its academic freedom and autonomy withcommensurate accountability;• its social responsibility and the environmental
sustainability of its own operations.

8Unlike most other universities…
• Due to its special mission it is different in many
respects:• its global structure with institutes in several different
countries and growing;• being an institution of the United Nations, it works
closely with many UN organizations and nationalgovernment entities;• it brings in experts from the diplomatic world and UN
agencies to work closely on problems;• it collaborates with best universities in both thedeveloped and developing world;• its focuses on problems and needs and not on
disciplines.
9General Principles of UNU’s QA• Excellence: aim for highest global academic standards;• Relevance: respond to the aspirations and vital needsof its stakeholders, especially in the developing world;• Vision: anticipatory thinking for timely and equitable
identification of problems;• Priority: aims to help solve the most urgent problems(poverty, climate, biodiversity, peace);• Integration: integration of knowledge with a holistic
approach (social, economic, natural, technological);• Leadership: Rector and the Office of Academic Affairs
guide the QA processes;• Subsidiarity: Implementation at the institute/unit level.
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UNU Quality Assurance• Student evaluation of teaching and learning;• UNU graduates survey (five years aftergraduation);• Self-evaluation of UNU Institutes andPrograms & Units;• External peer evaluation of UNU Institutes(every five years);• UNU personnel recruitment and appraisal• Gender mainstreaming;• Financial and administrative support services.
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UNU’s Student Evaluation of Teaching

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Flow Chart of Peer-Review System at UNU

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Recruitment and Evaluation of Academics• Quality of any university is based on the quality of its
academic personnel;• Students go to study and conduct research where they
can find the best academics;• Therefore recruiting and retaining the best people fromaround the world is a key aspect of our quality process;• Nurturing and retaining qualified young academics;• Academic review, retention and promotion of staff;• Measuring quality, productivity and impact of researchby deploying benchmarks and indicators;• Reporting of academic output and activities.

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University Evaluation for Sustainability• Education for sustainable development;• Development of the science of sustainability;• A growing number of universities from around the world
teach and conduct research on sustainability related
problems and issues;• United Nations University is a leader in this field; working
on an university appraisal system for sustainability;• Increase and improve ESD practices and thus transform
higher education for a sustainable society;• Value universities that are striving for sustainable
development in their mission, programs and activities.
• Working on tools for global evaluation of universities
based on commitment to sustainability.
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UNU’s Challenges• How to evaluate interdisciplinary and applied problemoriented work;• UNU’s academic work is focused on the science ofsustainability and need novel evaluation tools;• Ranking and evaluation of universities that conduct
applied policy work for sustainable development;• Measuring the impact of applied policy work is difficult
challenge (UNU 7th in global think-tank ranking);• No global standard or model to evaluate internal quality;• Some comparability to traditional universities;• We have to develop our own innovation to improve andmeasure the quality of our higher education activities.

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UNU Vision: Ideas Change the World

World of Limited Ideas

World of Unlimited Ideas

Thank you!