SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Two other major projects were prepared

for collaboration with UNESCO. In one,

representatives from the Union, principally

B. S. Halliday (GB), developedacoursemodule

on Vacuum Technology to be used within a

University Undergraduate Physics Course

being developed by UNESCO for developing

countries. In the other, the Union prepared

the content, and identified presenters, for a

technical course on Vacuum Technology to

be presented to teachers from a number of

African universities, based on our Visual Aids

material. The idea was to train these people in

English and then allow them to return to their

own countries to re-teach the course in their

own language, using our Visual Aids modules.

Unfortunately, although our Union completed

its contribution for each of these activities,

both had to be abandoned when UNESCO

became unable to finance the projects.

By 1992, some of our interactions with

UNESCO had become less satisfactory

and less successful. This was related to a

change of UNESCO policy which required

grant-seeking bodies to deal directly with

regional UNESCO National Commissions

rather than with the Paris headquarters

where the initial strong ties had been

established and maintained. The onus now

lies with individual societies to approach the

regional commissions independently.

The administrative structure within UNESCO

has also changed in relation to how it deals

with non-government agencies. Initially we

had been classified as Category C but by

1996 such categories had been abolished

and our Union was given the status of

“relations opérationelles”. In addition, by

1998 UNESCO had created a council of

Non-Government Organisations (NGOs)

with 47 members, including IUVSTA. Three

working groups were set up. IUVSTA

belonged to the third group which covers

Education and Peace, Social Structures, and

Information and Communication. IUVSTA

is more closely involved in the third subject

which includes modern communication

techniques for education, science and

culture; implementation of electronic media

for dissemination of information; and teaching

pedagogy. However, most initiatives were

directed towards health care in Lesser

Developed Countries and so were of little

relevance to the Union. In 2012 UNESCO

reduced the categories for NGOs from 3 to 2

and the status of IUVSTA changed to become

a “partenaire avec statut de consultation”.

A number of other new activities were

initiated by the STD during the 1986-89

triennium, whilst A. Van Oostrom (NL) was

the Scientific Director. These included the

Highlight Seminars and Short Courses,

which are described below, and the

IUVSTA Workshops and Schools, which are

discussed in Section 13.

The Highlight Seminars were introduced

to showcase developments in fields

covered by the scientific Divisions of

IUVSTA. The format is that once every

three years, the Chair or another expert

from within each Division presents a

report on new discoveries or significant

developments which have occurred

within their field during the preceding

three years. Where possible, these

seminars are scheduled to be presented

as a half-day meeting near the middle

of the triennium and in conjunction with

an Executive Council Meeting (ECM)

and a significant conference. When

available, edited texts of these reports

were published in the IUVSTA News

Bulletin or on the IUVSTA website.

The first Highlight Seminars were presented in

Salford, UK, on 15 April 1988 at the end of the

European VacuumConference (EVC-1) and

immediately preceding ECM-57. Subsequent

presentations have been in: Vienna, Austria,

27 September 1991 in conjunction with

ECM-65 and EVC-3; Stockholm, Sweden,

17 June 1994 in conjunction with ECM-71

and EVC-4; Debrecen, Hungary, 26 May

1997, in conjunction with ECM-78 and JVC-7

SUMMARY