Women and the WIPO Worldwide Academy
The WIPO Worldwide Academy (Academy) was established in March 1998 as a central coordinating mechanism for human resource development activity undertaken by the WIPO. The overall objective of the Academy is to provide teaching and training services in intellectual property to its Member States. This objective is sought to be met through the organization of various training programs and activities, both in Geneva and in other parts of the world, for which the Academy also cooperates with a large number of intellectual property offices and academic institutions.
With the increasing importance of intellectual property, which now permeates virtually every aspect of human life, it has become imperative to step up human resource development activity in this field. While dealing with this task, the target audience for the Academy is not restricted to professionals working in this field (academia, teachers and trainers, examiners, government officials dealing with policy issues) but extends to the civil society and other stakeholders in the intellectual property system.
Women are an important constituent of the Academy’s programs and form a significant part of the total participants in its various training programs, as demonstrated below.
Distance Learning Program
Through distance learning, the Academy strives to increase the educational opportunities of a broad spectrum of beneficiaries worldwide, using its website as a delivery platform.
The program offers a General Course on Intellectual Property (DL-101) and 13 advanced courses covering both the traditional areas of an IP curriculum- patent, copyright, trademark, industrial designs- and new or practical IP related subject areas as traditional knowledge, biotechnology, E-commerce, IP-management, patent search and patent drafting.
These courses have attracted an increasing number of participants from the public and private sectors and the academic community.
The number of women participants in the General Course in Intellectual Property has increased considerably in recent years – from a mere 28% (676 out of a total of 1,729 registrants) in 2000 to some 44% (18,000 out of 42,000) in 2009.
The advanced and specialized distance learning courses offered by the WIPO Academy attracted even more women participants. In 2009, women represented nearly half of the registrations totaling 799 out of 1661.
Professional Development Program
The Professional Development Program targets managers and technical staff of national and regional intellectual property offices, government agencies, and other IP related sectors. With the support and cooperation of 26 partner institutions worldwide, it focuses on providing general and specialized training in the field of intellectual property for developing countries and countries in transition to a market economy.
The representation of women in the Professional Development Program courses and seminars has been consistent, averaging 40% from 2001 to 2009.
The WIPO Academy also organizes a Summer School program since 1998. The Summer School program targets students (at graduate, post-graduate and doctoral levels) and young professionals working in any IP-related field. Female participants constitute well over 60% of the participants who have graduated from the Summer Schools over the years. In 2010, the Summer Schools will be offered in 10 countries worldwide: Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, United States of America, and Ukraine.
Partnership Program
The Partnership Program of the WIPO Academy is dedicated to developing and offering intellectual property programs in cooperation with universities and other higher learning institutions. The target audience for this program includes teachers and young professionals, universities and research and development institutions, and government officials dealing with the promotion of the protection and management of intellectual property.
Every program has its own challenges and specific requirements. Since the launch of the Master of Laws in Intellectual Property offered jointly by University of Turin and the WIPO Worldwide Academy, 40 % of the applications have been from women. As for the Masters degree in Intellectual Property jointly offered by Africa University, African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and WIPO, only 25% of the applications were by women.
The WIPO Academy is committed to encouraging applications by women to its various programs and to ensuring gender equity in participation.
