The University of Zimbabwe (UZ), the largest in the country, today joined the Virtual Institue, extending the reach of UNCTAD's academic network to 86 institutions from 45 countries across the globe.

The University of National and World Economy (UNWE), Bulgaria, today joined the Virtual Institute, increasing the number of Eastern European countries represented in the network to five.

The membership was the initiative of Paskal Zhelev, a graduate of the 2012 edition of the Vi-University of Barcelona-CEDDET online course on legal instruments of international economic relations and regional integration, and a participant of the 2012 edition of UNCTAD's regional course on key international economic issues. 

Bangladesh's Jagannath University (JNU) today became the 73rd university member of the Virtual Institute, joining Vi think tanks, the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute and the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), as the third institution to represent the country in UNCTAD's programme for academic cooperation.

We owe JNU's membership to Sharif Mosharraf Hossain, graduate of the Master programme in International and Development Economics (MIDE) of Vi German core member, the University of Applied Sciences Berlin, and former Vi intern and participant of several Vi workshops and online courses. After graduating from MIDE and spending some time at a research institute in his country, Hossain opted for an academic career at JNU and spared no effort to establish cooperation with the Vi.

Ghana's University of Cape Coast (UCC) today joined the Virtual Insitute, becoming its 40th core university member and the 13th country to represent Sub-Saharan Africa in the network. The initiative was taken by UCC Senior lecturer, Camara Kwasi Obeng, a graduate of the Vi trade and poverty online course held last year.

UCC acquired full-fledged university status in 1971. Its objective is to provide quality education through programmes that challenge learners to be creative, innovative and morally responsible citizens. It aims to develop its activities - teaching and training, research and outreach - in a manner that will allow it to respond effectively to the development needs of a changing world.

The second Vi videoconference organized for core member, the Belarus State Economic University (BSEU), conducted on February 18, gave 25 students and lecturers the opportunity to discuss global and regional foreign direct investment (FDI) trends with Kalman Kalotay, of UNCTAD’s Division on Investment and Enterprise. The videoconference was once again hosted by the United Nations Development Programme office in Minsk.

“Global FDI fell by 18 percent – to about USD 1.3 trillion – in 2012,” Kalotay reported. “Developed countries were mainly responsible for this decline, as the global economic recovery takes longer than expected."