In today's World, globalization is creating new opportunities and new challenges for intercultural dialogue. Societies are more connected than ever before. Ideas and people travel at rising speed within and across national borders. These circumstances have multiplied openings for mutual understanding between people everywhere in the world. They have also given rise to new difficulties, to misunderstandings and mistrust that have fueled tensions between nations and societies, especially between the Occident and Orient.
With the launch of the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Diplomacy, Governance and Education, Istanbul Aydin University is joining today a vibrant network of higher education institutions. All these institutions are working together to realize UNESCO's mission to "contribute to the building of a culture of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue, education, science, culture, communication and information".
The dialogue of cultures raises vital questions for peace and sustainable development today and in the century ahead. The universities have a major role to play in fostering the culture of dialogue and understanding.
