It is now foreseeable that 2005 was the last full year in which the UNESCO Institute for Education operated under its legal form as a German foundation. The 33rd General Conference of UNESCO has removed the last hurdle for the transformation of the Institute into a full-fledged international body. The decision to change the statutes of the Institute had been taken already in 2003 by the UNESCO Executive Board following a recommendation by the Director-General. The change will now be carried out in early 2006. In 2005 UIE made a big step forward towards being a more integral part of UNESCO.

In 2003, the Executive Board of UNESCO decided that the status and statutes of the UNESCO Institute for Education should be changed in order to make it a full-fledged international institute. Although the Host-country Agreement between UNESCO and the German Government – which is the decisive step towards the new international status of UIE – has not yet been concluded, the Institute has made in the past year great efforts to adapt to the new situation.