The United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) is a global initiative that aligns institutions of higher education with the United Nations in furthering the realization of the purposes and mandate of the Organization through activities and research in a shared culture of intellectual social responsibility.
Membership in the United Nations Academic Impact is open to all institutions of higher education granting degrees or their equivalent, as well as bodies whose substantive responsibilities relate to the conduct of research.
The formal enrolment of academic institutions in the United Nations Academic Impact must be approved by their Chief Executive Officers and processed through the online enrolment form.
United Nations Academic Impact Partners are organizations of colleges and universities who endorse the principles of the Academic Impact and actively encourage their affiliated institutions of higher education to join the Academic Impact as individual members.
Academic Consortium 21 (AC21)
American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)
Association of Arab Universities (AARU)
The student branch of the UN Academic Impact is known as ASPIRE: Action by Students to Promote Innovation and Reform through Education.
ASPIRE is a student-driven initiative and actively embodies UNAI’s principles within student communities around the world. Operating locally within their communities, the activities of each ASPIRE group contributes to UNAI’s overall message of unity and action to address global challenges.
United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) have announced a strategic collaboration to mobilize universities and other knowledge institutions to promote teaching, applied research, and problem solving around the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)! Find out more about the collaboration and how to get involved with their initiatives here.
29 September 2016 – Senior United Nations officials today announced that the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change signed by world leaders this past April is closer to entering into force, as India – a country that produces more than four per cent of global emissions – plans to submit its ratification at the end of the week.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon looks back on his ten years in office and says that what he has seen, more than government buildings and global landmarks, is the remarkable power of people. A perfect world may be on the far horizon. But a route to a better world, a safer world, a more just world, is in each and every one of us.
8 September 2016 – On 15 June 2015, the United Nations General Assembly elected Mogens Lykketoft – a Danish national – to serve as the President of its seventieth session. At the time of his election, Mr. Lykketoft was the Speaker (President) of the Danish Parliament, a position he had held since 2011. Born on 9 January 1946, it was a fitting coincidence that he would turn 70 during his term as President of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly– a personal fact he highlighted during his acceptance speech to the world body upon his election.