CIRET

The congress is organized by Centre International de Recherches et Etudes Transdisciplinaires (CIRET) from Paris, under the contract 28C/5 with UNESCO, in collaboration with Association Internationale pour la Vidéo dans les Arts et la Culture (AIVAC) from Locarno. It is sponsored by UNESCO and by the Government of Cantone Ticino of Switzerland. The place where the congress will occur - Monte Verità - is an international center of academic activity, located in Ascona, so rich in its cultural and spiritual past, and benefiting of beautiful natural surroundings.

The participation at this high-level congress can occur only by invitation : it is restricted to few keynote speakers and to a limited number of observers, designed by UNESCO, the Government of Ticino, CIRET and AIVAC.

The themes of the congress are the following :

1. Intercultural and transcultural aspects of education.

2. The art-science dialogue and the reunification of the scientific and humanistic cultures.

3. Methodology and methods of transdisciplinary education.

4. Facing the challenge of the present social, economical and political changes.

5. Presentation of the project Observatoire pour l'Etude de l'Université du Futur (OEUF) on Internet (http : www-uf.epfl.ch/UF).

6. Inter-religious and trans-religious aspects of higher education.

7. Concrete institutional and program proposals in view of the transdisciplinary evolution of the University.

The working document along these lines was elaborated by a CIRET-UNESCO Committee constituted in January 1996 and was sent to all participants.

The proceedings of the meeting will be published as soon as possible after the congress and they will be presented to UNESCO as a contribution to the World Congress on Higher Education, to be held in 1998.