Qian Tang (born 8 December 1950) has been the Assistant Director-General for Education at

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

since April 2010.

Early life and education

Qian Tang was born on 8 December 1950 in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He holds a PhD in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and a master's degree in

human kinetics Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health i ...

from the

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

as well as a bachelor's degree in

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

from

Shanxi University Shanxi University (SXU; ) is a provincial public university in Taiyuan, Shanxi, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Shanxi. The university is part of the Double First-Class Construction. History Early 1900 The Shansi Imperial Univer ...

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

, China. After China started implementing reforms in the 1970s, he was among the first students the government sent to study abroad.

Career

Teaching

Qian Tang started his career in the mid-1970s as a secondary school teacher in

Shanxi Province Shanxi; formerly romanised as Shansi is a province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi and Datong. Its one-character abbreviation is ( ...

, China. He is the author of many publications and articles in education.

Chinese Government

In 1985, he was posted to the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, where he served until 1989 as First Secretary, responsible for promoting academic cooperation between

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

and

Chinese universities , there were 3,012 colleges and universities, with over 40 million students enrolled in mainland China. More than 40 million Chinese students graduated from university from 2016 to 2020. Corresponding with the merging of many public universiti ...

. From 1992 to 1993, he was Deputy Director-General in the Bureau of Science and Technology of the Shanxi Provincial Government in

Xi’an Xi'an is the capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populous city in Northwestern Chin ...

. He also served at the Chinese Ministry of Education's Department of Vocational and Technical Education in Beijing, first as Director of the Division on Policy, Planning and Cooperation (1989-1991) and later as the Assistant Director-General of the Department (1991-1992). He was instrumental in formulating and implementing China's national policy on the development of technical

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with req ...

UNESCO

Qian Tang started his career at UNESCO in 1993 as Senior Programme Specialist and later Chief for Technical and Vocational Education, where he contributed to the creation of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and also led preparations on the Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, serving as its Secretary-General. He then occupied a number of senior positions in the Education Sector. He steered efforts on the global

Education for All The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, scien ...

initiative, which ran from 2000 to 2015, focusing on the provision of quality basic education for children, youth and adults. Since 2010, Qian Tang is Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO. He heads UNESCO's Education Sector, which includes around 400 staff at the headquarters, field offices and the seven education Institutes. Under his leadership, the Education Sector spearheaded the formulation of the Education 2030 agenda, encapsulated in

Sustainable Development Goal 4 Sustainable Development Goal 4, or SDG 4, is a commitment to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. This goal aims to provide children and young people with quality and easy access t ...

(SDG 4), which calls for ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. UNESCO is coordinating and monitoring its implementation at the global and regional levels, as entrusted by the

Incheon Declaration The ''Incheon declaration'' is a declaration on education adopted at the World Education Forum in Incheon, South Korea on 15 May 2015. It is the logical continuation of the Education For All (EFA) movement and the Millennium Development Goals on E ...

adopted at the

World Education Forum The World Education Forum is a premium body comprising representatives of major organisations involved in education and related activities across the world. Major organisations involved in the forum include: UNESCO, and the World Bank, and the A ...

in 2015. In the course of his term, Qian Tang had assumed parallel duties. From September 2015 to July 2016, he was Officer-in-Charge of the Bureau of Strategic Planning, having led the presentation of UNESCO's Programme and Budget document (38C/5) at the 38th session of General Conference. From November 2016 to March 2017, he was Director ad interim of the Human Resources Management bureau, driving forward the revisions of human resources policies to improve the Organization's management.

UNESCO Director-General candidacy

In March 2017, Qian Tang was officially nominated as China's candidate for the post of

Director-General of UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences ...

."UNESCO Director-General to be live interviewed"
. Retrieved 2017-04-09. Elections for the post will take place during UNESCO's General Conference, to be held from 30 October to 14 November 2017.

Personal life

Qian Tang is married and has a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tang, Qian UNESCO officials 1950 births Living people University of Windsor alumni Shanxi University alumni Educators from Beijing Chinese officials of the United Nations