Higher education messages from UNESCO not mixed

16 December 2012

Dear Editor

This letter is in response to the article by Erin Millar, published in University World News on 18 November 2012.

I would like to draw your attention to the following:

I have no recollection of having been formally approached by Millar for an interview for University World News at the WISE 2012 conference in Doha. Millar says that she captured my words immediately after my official presentation at the summit on Thursday 15 November when many other participants were trying to speak with me.

If this is the case, which is as a matter of fact possible but sincerely forgotten by me due to my fatigue after my presentation and the debate which followed, my words should be considered as merely spontaneous and certainly with no connection with what the Director General of UNESC0 might have said to Millar and about which I was not informed at all.

As a UNESC0 official I have always tried to pay attention not to comment or to publicly criticise any statements made by UNESCO’s Director General at the conference or in any other circumstances.

Therefore, I would appreciate that University World News publish my response as a sign of respect for its readers and for the sake of deontology.

Yours sincerely

Georges Haddad
Director
Education Research and Prospective
Education Sector
UNESCO

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