915 



30 



Funds-in-Trust, provide more than $11.6 million per year or about four 

 times the magnitude of the regular UNESCO program. 



This program area includes a large number of support activities 

 involving international engineering societies and organizations, as 

 well as national centers in the advanced countries providing special 

 training to meet the needs of the developing world. There are impor- 

 tant interactions with UN-financed programs in support of strengthening 

 technical and engineering training linked to specific development pro- 

 jects in the nations concerned. As far as UNESCO-directed activities 

 are involved, there has been apparently limited participation from the 

 U.S. technical/engineering community (no U.S. universities are involved 

 in the provision of training needs) . Considerably more analysis is 

 required to understand the reasons for this situation. Presumably the 

 U.S. engineering professions could contribute on a multilateral basis, 

 particularly in the area of strengthening engineering curricula develop- 

 ment and training of faculty. Significant levels of support for engi- 

 neering sciences are provided from other sources, particularly UNDP. 

 UNESCO plays a major role in the management of these funds, and with a 

 U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO, there would be even less opportunity to 

 influence their utilization of these funds. 



Certain aspects of the program dealing with industrial policy and 

 the provision of supporting technical services might be more appropri- 

 ately managed by other UN bodies, such as the United Nations Industrial 

 Development Organization (UNIDO) . The UNESCO role should be directed 

 more toward providing guidance in the development of engineering curri- 

 cula and training of faculty. 



Alternatives 



U.S. support of UNESCO program costs in this important area of the 

 promotion of engineering sciences is $700,000 per year. Instead of 

 contributing funds directly to UNESCO, it is proposed that this level 

 of resources, under monitoring by an appropriate body sensitive to U.S. 

 interests (NSF and/or NRC) , be provided through grants to U.S. engi- 

 neering societies and universities working closely with international 

 and regional professional organizations such as the World Federation of 

 Engineering Organizations (WFEO) . The objective would be to strengthen 

 the involvement of the U.S. engineering community in UNESCO and in 

 other UN engineering training and curriculum development activities. 



A second option would involve direct support at a level of $350,000 

 per year for targeted activities within UN agencies such as UNDr-, UNIDO, 

 and the the UN Financing System for Science and Technology for Develop- 

 ment. Support of engineering education activities to reinforce UNESCO 

 projects could be provided at a level of $350,000 per year to U.S. pro- 

 fessional societies and universities. 



It is important to note that proposed levels of resources to be 

 devoted to these activities would have to include appropriate mana- 

 gerial, oversight, and overhead costs. 



