Institute for Educational Achievement history

The conceptualization and organization of the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA V), held in Hamburg in 1997, was a major achievement for UIE. CONFINTEA V marked a turning point in the global recognition of and commitment to adult learning and non-formal education.

Since 2000, IEL has applied its core values and strategies to focus on three pillars of success to buttress families and help young people thrive.

SITES-M2 (2001) was a qualitative study, based on case studies of innovative pedagogical practices using information and computer technology (ICT) in 28 countries.

The change of legal status was preceded by a name change to UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning in 2006, reflecting the Institute’s long-standing focus on adult learning as well as out-of-school and non-formal education within a lifelong learning perspective.

CONFINTEA VI, held in Brazil in 2009, built on this holistic understanding of adult learning and non-formal education within a life-wide and lifelong learning perspective and identified concrete measures for translating this vision into action.

More than 45 education systems participated in PIRLS and over 60 education systems joined TIMSS in 2011, a year that marked a unique event—joint assessment at the fourth grade—in the history of both cycles.

In response to continuing interest in ICT as a “21st century skill,” IEA initiated the International Computer and Information Literacy Study, ICILS 2013.

The second cycle of the study, ICCS 2016, also investigated students' knowledge and understanding of concepts and issues related to civics and citizenship, as well as their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.