Unesco Chair Home

Welcome to the website of the UNESCO Chair on Intercultural Competence hosted by Stellenbosch University. Thank you for visiting this UNESCO Chair web​site. 

I have the great honour of being the holder of this important UNESCO Chair (And first ever chair for intercultural competence) with its research program, dissemination activities and public engagements that are focused on the intersections of intercultural competence with peacebuilding, climate action, and gender equality across the continent and beyond.  It is hoped that these activities, both in research and practice, will transcend the Centre, the university and South Africa to impact those throughout the continent and globally, through the work of our partners within Africa and the world.  

UNESCO Chairs serve in the role of think tanks to connect higher education with the work of UNESCO through exchange, collaboration, knowledge transfer and sharing in the spirit of international solidarity. This Chair, comprised of colleagues at Stellenbosch, across South Africa, the continent and globally, aims to build vital networks of researchers and practitioners around intercultural competence development and to act as a bridge builder between researchers, civil society organisations and policy makers, both nationally and internationally. 

To learn more about us and the work we do, please explore our website.  We would be honored to be part of your research, education, policy or other needs related to intercultural competence as together, we work to build a more peaceful world with all can thrive.

Dr. Darla K. Deardorff

UNESCO Chair on Intercultural Competence

Stellenbosch University, South Africa ​