At the Network’s last conference in 2015, hosted by our colleagues at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, we discussed how substantial learning is connected with the everyday life of adults, with the environment and social milieus they live in, with their efforts to tackle social inequalities, injustices, and to enhance their quality of life and well-being.

Dr Margaret Sutherland was keynote speaker at the OEZBF Congress in Salzburg, Austria. The Austrian Research and Support Centre for the Gifted and Talented is the national institution for the further development of gifted education and the promotion of excellence in Austria.

Young people are increasingly leaving the small or medium-size communities (SMC’s) in which they were born and attended basic school. They go to the big cities for education, jobs or lifestyles. This is in the long run devastating for the SMC’s as well as for the fast growing big cities – but also for the quality of the young people’s 21st century learning and capacity building.

We are pleased to share the second issue of our newsletter for 2016. This has been an exciting quarter of the year for the expansion of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC). We have not only had the pleasure to welcome almost 50 members from 22 countries to the Network, we have also opened the UNESCO Learning City Award 2017 for applications and are now cordially inviting UNESCO GNLC members to apply.