Efforts to safeguard intangible cultural heritage (ICH) are gaining momentum throughout Asia-Pacific, resulting in a need for more highly-trained professionals in this area. Universities can play an important role in this regard, which is why UNESCO is organizing a regional symposium on 2-3 November in Bangkok to promote the integration of ICH at post-graduate levels in Asia-Pacific higher education. This event was made possible with financial support from the Fund for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The past decade has seen an increase in the number of post-graduate programmes in heritage education in general; however few focus specifically on intangible cultural heritage. Professionals in the cultural heritage sector tend to instead have backgrounds that emphasize the management of tangible heritage (architecture conservation and archaeology, for example).
The UNESCO symposium aims to encourage universities in Asia-Pacific to develop post-graduate level trainings in the field of intangible cultural heritage.
Twenty-two executives, professors and course conveners from 20 universities will take part in the two day event to discuss and share knowledge and resources on these issues. The institutions come from thirteen countries across the region: Australia, China, Kazakhstan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Discussions will include the identification of key principles of ICH safeguarding for post-graduate studies; exploring disciplines and structures for ICH programmes; and embedding ICH safeguarding in the development of ICH studies at the post-graduate level.
The symposium will also help deepen the knowledge base of participants on methodologies and resources pertinent to ICH as well as promote networking opportunities among them as well as with UNESCO for further collaboration on ICH educational programmes at the post-graduate level.

Documents

• Agenda: English
• Background note: English