On UNESCO’s International Day of Education on January 24^th, Swansea UNESCO Learning City launched the 2025 Swansea Learning Festival and a new UK Network for UNESCO Learning Cities. 

Swansea UNESCO Learning City Steering Group and the Adult Learning Partnership Swansea were celebrating the 10th anniversary of Swansea being awarded the UNESCO Learning City Award in 2015, the first awarded city in the UK and one of only 12 awarded cities worldwide. This 10-year milestone is a testament to the city's commitment to lifelong learning, community engagement, and educational innovation. The celebration was opened by Rob Stewart, Leader of the City and County of Swansea and launched a year-long Swansea Festival of Learning with free learning opportunities across all communities throughout the year, as well as a free three day intensive Learning Festival in the summer. 

The Lord Mayor launched the new UK UNESCO Learning City Network, with Glasgow, Belfast, Manchester, Wakefield, Wolverhampton, Derby, Derry and Strabane, Kirklees and Belfast Learning Cities. Raúl Valdés Cotera, Director of the UNESCO Global Network for Learning Cities at UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, welcomed the new Network for UK UNESCO Learning Cities and praised Swansea for commitment to Lifelong Learning and initiating the new network. An advantage of the UK Network would be the exchange of initiatives where we are working within a similar political and economic context. 

Following the welcome by the Leader of the City and County of Swansea, Judith James described the history and motivation for Swansea to become an UNESCO Learning City. We learned about all the different UNESCO Learning Cities in the UK through videos and speeches and were thrilled that representatives of the UK Learning Cities had travelled to Swansea. PASCAL International Observatory offered their support to the new Network, and UK UNESCO Learning Cities were invited to join if they were not already members. 

In addition to the stunning exhibition of work by adult learning students, we enjoyed some great performances- from the Craig Felen Primary School children who sang and signed beautifully, the African Community Centre's exciting Youth Choir, the wonderful singing in Welsh from the choir of Bryn Tawe Comprehensive, the lively Gower College Swansea Jazz Band and finally the colourful Iberian and Latin Association Dance Group. It was great to have such a large audience, and we were pleased that the event was attended by Swansea’s Leader of the Council, Lord Mayor and Councillors, Welsh Government representatives, Welsh Funding Council representatives, S.W. Wales Regional Learning and Skills Partnership, the Learning and Work Institute, as well as our many providing partners and the press.