The Regional Centre For Educational Planning ( RCEP ) was established in accordance with the agreement signed between the Government of the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES and THE UNITED NATION EDUCATIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC CULTURAL ORGANIZATION ( UNESCO ) on 17th October 2003.
UAE has exerted tremendous efforts to host RCEP. The initiation of UAE began as early as 2000, shortly before launching the UNESCO 32nd Conference held on15th October 2001.
The UNESCO Director General, in his opening address to the 162nd session of the executive board of UNESCO, declared the UNESCO support of establishing a Centre of Educational Planning ( Category II ) at Sharjah, UAE, to be placed under the auspices of UNESCO. The UAE Government welcomed hosting RCEP in its territory and issued its decree No. 12/12 for the year 2002. The UAE government stood ready to contribute further to ensure the operation of the center by ratifying the agreement stated above by its decree No. 19/4 for the year 2004.
RCEP was honored by a high generosity endowed by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Member of UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, who constructed RCEP building on the premises of Sharjah University City to be a part of the prevailing attractive academic atmosphere.
RCEP was officially inaugurated on 14/11/2007.
The objective of the Centre shall be to support capacity development for education sector-wide policy and planning in Ministries of Education, with particular emphasis to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States and Yemen, through the following functions build national and regional capacity for modern educational planning, by targeting senior officials and technical staff of ministries of education, local level (province, district) education offices, and other ministries directly related to the education sector, such as finance ministries, facilitate information-sharing and exchange on educational planning and management, disseminate relevant information to education authorities in the region and make readily available such material to the trainees of the Centre in English and Arabic, foster collaborative initiatives and maintain links with key stakeholders in educational planning, nationally, regionally and internationally, with a view to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 pertaining to education and undertake any other activities necessary to strengthen educational planning regionally and internationally.
SOURCE: Our beginnings and objectives. (n.d.). Retrieved September 5, 2022, from https://rcepunesco.ae/en/AboutUs/Pages/Wegrewup.aspx