UNESCO Chair in Education as a Humanitarian Response, University of Oxford (2005)
Purpose/Objectives of the Chair
The UNESCO Chair sees 'education as a humanitarian response' as a fundamental purpose of education whether formal or non-formal. These two forms of organised educational delivery are susceptible to policy formats whether political, social, economic, religious or otherwise formulated and implemented. To be humane they need to take account not only of the fundamental human rights of individuals but also of their individual circumstances, which inevitably involves informal education.
The work of this UNESCO Chair is mainly concerned with issues of education as a humanitarian response in developing countries, while not neglecting issues of marginalisation, exclusion and disadvantage in Europe and the UK. The key underlying concept is that of providing an appropriate educational response at any time and place, and this is inevitably dynamic, accepting and accommodating frequent contextual change.
The UNESCO Chair works to promote an integrated system of research, training, information and documentation in the field of education as a humanitarian response and to facilitate collaboration between high-level, internationally recognized researchers and teaching staff.
Chairholder Dr Colin Brock
Address: Department of Education Studies, University of Oxford, 15 Norham Gardens, Oxford, OX2 6PY, UK
Email: colin.brock [at] education.ox.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1865 274048
Fax: +44 (0)1865 274027
Quick Link to this page: http://www.unesco.org.uk/OxfordChair
Dr Colin Brock is Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Education as a Humanitarian Response at the University of Oxford where he has been on the staff of the department of education since 1992. A graduate in geography and anthropology from the University of Durham, he was a high school teacher for eight years and lecturer in geography (Reading) for five years before moving to a lectureship in international educational development (Leeds) in 1974. For the previous two years he had been seconded to the Caribbean Development Division of the FCO as Education Adviser.
In 1977 Dr Brock moved to the University of Hull becoming Chair of the International Education Unit with over 100 students from developing countries each year, and developed overseas programmes in small countries in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Asia -Pacific regions. He moved to Oxford in 1992 to help set up the MSc in Comparative and International Education, becoming part-time in 2003. Since the early 1990s, Dr Brock's overseas work has been mainly in West and Southern Africa, South Asia and Latin America, both academic, and also for a range of multinational and bilateral aid agencies and NGOs. He is a former Chair of the British Association of International and Comparative Education, Editor/Co-Editor of the journal Compare (1988-98), author or editor of 30 books and author/co-author of about 90 chapters, articles and research reports.
Select Activity
- EVENT: Dr Colin Brock gave a lecture on education as a humanitarian response with special reference to sub-Saharan Africa at the Centre for Global Development Through Education, University of Limerick on 1 December 2009.
University of Oxford