PENN’s International Literacy Institute Receives U.S. Support for Innovative Literacy and Technology Program in Conjunction with U.N. Literacy Efforts

October 10, 2002

PHILADELPHIA- The US Department of Education has just committed three years of support to the International Literacy Institute at the University of Pennsylvania (PENN) to share educational advances with developing counties. This support will be used to develop innovative technology-based tools and services that can be shared among many countries for the purpose of improving literacy worldwide.

Dr. Dan Wagner, Director and Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, said the timing of the support was especially important in light of President Bush’s recent decision that the U.S. will rejoin UNESCO, which has a mandate for global literacy work. "This bodes well for our ability to share the benefits of the best of IT-based educational practices for the poor in a wide number of developing countries, and especially in Africa," said Dr. Wagner. The present support will provide a further strengthening of relations between UNESCO and the U.S. in light of the upcoming UN Decade for Literacy, which is expected to be launched officially in February 2003.

The International Literacy Institute (ILI) was established by UNESCO and the University of Pennsylvania/Graduate School of Education in 1994. The ILI conducts numerous programs with governments, universities, and literacy organizations from around the globe. Current programs at the International Literacy Institute focus on leveraging advances in educational technologies to reach the poorest of the poor around the world. The ILI is operated at PENN alongside the U.S. National Technology Laboratory for Literacy and Adult Education/NCAL, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Adult and Vocational Education. Further details may be found at the ILI/NCAL website: www.literacy.org

For more information please contact:

Janet Smith, ILI/PENN, 215-898-2100