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The book on tertiary education in small states co-edited by the UNESCO Chair in Comparative Education wins "best book" award

HKU and UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) are delighted that the book Tertiary education in small states: Planning in the context of globalization has won the first place in the 2013 Best Book Award from the Higher Education Special Interest Group (SIG) of the US-based Comparative & International Education Society (CIES). The CIES, founded in 1956, is the oldest and largest body of its kind, and the award is a significant honor.

The book, edited by Michaela Martin and Mark Bray, originated in an IIEP Policy Forum within the framework of UNESCO’s World Conference on Higher Education. Following the Policy Forum, further papers were commissioned and the original papers revised. The authors of the 13 chapters include researchers, administrators and policy makers.

Raymond E. Wanner, Chairperson of the IIEP Governing Board, remarked that the close cooperation with a prestigious university is a “win/win partnership [that] helps IIEP maintain its academic rigor and intellectual credibility and helps the University of Hong Kong to enhance its international outreach; both go to the very heart of UNESCO's mission.”

Click here to download the book.

14-18 January 2013: IIEP Distance Training Programme on Education Sector Planning in Asia: Indonesia – Thailand – Viet Nam

Opening Ceremony of the Regional Workshop

Professor Stephen Andrews, Dean of Education of HKU (first row left 3); Professor Mark Bray, UNESCO Chair in Comparative Education (first row left 6); Ms Jean K. Sung, Executive Director & Manager, Global Philanthropy Asia-Pacific of J.P.Morgan (first row right 6); Ms Gabriele Gottelmann of IIEP (first row right 5); our honorable guests and 73 education professionals from Indonesia, Thailand and Viet Nam.

From June 2012 to May 2013, UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP- UNESCO), with the sponsorship of JPMorgan Chase Foundation, will offer the third edition of its Distance Training Programme on Education Sector Planning (ESP) in three Asian countries (Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam). The previous sessions of the programme were successfully implemented in African countries between 2008 and 2010.

Implemented in collaboration with The University of Hong Kong (HKU), this training programme aims at reinforcing institutional capacity in educational planning at national and regional levels, by training a pool of 60–70 education professionals. The programme provides participants with practice-oriented training and follows a blended approach which combines distance training and face-to-face sessions, the latter organized in partnership with renowned training institutions in each of the participating countries.

Being the programme organizers with IIEP and J.P. Morgan, the Faculty of Education of HKU proudly presented an Opening Ceremony of the Regional Workshop of IIEP Distance Training Programme on Education Sector Planning Asia on 14 January 2013.

An Opening Session with speeches was delivered by Ms Gabriele Gottelmann of IIEP, Professor Stephen Andrews, Dean of Education of HKU, Professor Mark Bray, UNESCO Chair in Comparative Education as well as Ms Jean K. Sung, Executive Director & Manager, Global Philanthropy Asia-Pacific of J.P. Morgan.

8 December 2012:Peacemakers' Celebration

HKU is always delighted to partner with the UNESCO Hong Kong Association. On Saturday 8 December 2012 this took the form of participation in launching the Peacemakers’ Celebration. The ceremony was held at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, with involvement of students and teachers from 17 local schools.

Following the launch, schools and partners will work on projects to learn about other cultures and nationalities. The work will lead to an exhibition and set of performances on 24 February 2013 (which is also Chinese Valentine’s Day) in the Hong Kong Science Park.

26 to 28 November 2012: Rethinking learning in a changing world

From 26 to 28 November 2012, the UNESCO regional office in Bangkok hosted a High-Level Expert Meeting entitled “What Education for the Future? Beyond 2015 – Rethinking Learning in a Changing World”.

Mr G.J. Kim, Director of the office in Bangkok, welcomed participants including Mr Tang Qian (pictured), Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO Headquarters. He stressed the importance of focusing on what children actually learn in classrooms once they have been enrolled.

Delegates from the University of Hong Kong included Mark Bray and Nancy Law. Their contributions focused on both the system level and the technologies for learning. Among additional themes highlighted, particularly by Kerry Kennedy of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, was work on The Chinese Learner undertaken by HKU colleagues and published by the Comparative Education Research Centre.

The event was a follow-up to a meeting in May 2012 which had considered the nature of the agenda following the target date for the Education for All (EFA) goals in 2015. That meeting had been attended by Mark Bray, Cheng Kai-Ming and Anatoly Oleksiyenko

Click here for the press announcement of the event.

And click here for the agenda papers.

20 October 2012: Launch of the 2012 ESD Learning Programme in Hong Kong

The UNESCO Chair at HKU is glad to work closely with the UNESCO HK Association in its many activities. This includes their outreach programme to local schools. Tamara Savelyeva represented HKU at the launch.

On 20 October 2012, the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Learning Programme gave a start to its third year participants. Offered since 2009 by the UNESCO HK Association, it gathered around 260 students from the award-winning schools.

I attended this event as a guest and had a chance to observe the dynamics of the gathering as well as some of backstage organizational moments.

What really impressed me was the synergy of everyone’s involvement. Students, teachers, program alumni and volunteers combined their knowledge, insights, and ideas to turn an official kick-off function to an energetic and energizing interaction of sustainability-minded persons.

Every voice and every word was heard during this two hour activity. All students talked in small groups and then shared their aspirations about sustainability via open microphone.

For me, it was an amazing and rare opportunity to hear passionate ideas about sustainability in one diverse scope of a two hour event. All of the participants, from senior UNESCO HK vice-presidents to younger students added their voices to a discussion about how each of them will make sustainability happen in HK really happen.

For the first time, I saw primary school students engaged into a big-scale ESD activity together with everybody else. “This is not a wild experiment”, said Ada Cheung, Principals of St. Bonaventure School who is piloting a Life Learning sustainability project. “This is the way we will engage students into sustainability learning—through Life Learning. We aim for upbringing a sense of empathy and kindliness to the world and others in our students.” The simple goal, which was reflected in a short, 5-stage curriculum, showed an advancement of the ESD programs in HK comparing with those in other parts of the world. The means of ESD education rarely go over a set of nature-bound environmental education activity or a recycling program.