By the chance of attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Ms. Ben Barka, the Assistant Director-General for Africa Department in UNESCO, visited International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED) and Beijing Normal University (BNU) on July 19th, 2012.

Prof. Dong Qi, the president of BNU and director of INRULED, introduced her INRULED and the progress of its main programmes, especially programmes and activities for Africa in collaboration with UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA). He expressed confidence that INRULED will make rapid development with strong support from UNESCO Headquarters, Chinese government and BNU. Ms. Ben Barka made high praise of INRULED’s work targeting Africa. She said that education for rural people is crucial in Africa since about 60-70% of the total population in sub-Saharan Africa is living in rural areas. She suggested INRULED to strengthen its collaboration with IICBA as well as the Africa Union (AU) to play a greater role in the development of African countries.

After the brief meeting, Ms. Ben Barka visited INRULED’s new office building under construction which is supported by BNU. Also, she paid a visit to the National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning in BNU, especially the Brain Image Centre.

Mr. Qin Changwei(Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO), Ms. He Pei(Programme Officer of the UNESCO Beijing Office), Ms. Chen Juan(Deputy Director of the Office of International Exchange and Cooperation, BNU), and Mr. Wang li(Deputy Director of INRULED) participated in the meeting as well and the following activities.