亞洲教育北京論壇                                   Education Forum for Asia

NEWSFLASH

March 2006

In the News:  Current News and Events in Education and Asian Society

Microsoft Announces $8.2mil to Bridge Digital Divide in Asia

Microsoft today announced that it has strengthened its commitment to community outreach in Asia through an estimated $8.2 million in grants to fund basic technology and job training to empower underserved people with new skills for enhanced employability.

The $8.2 million in cash and software allocated for Asia is part of Microsoft's $25.5 million in funding for the company's ongoing Unlimited Potential (UP) program which is now running in 95 countries worldwide. Microsoft UP is a global program which focuses on improving learning for young people and adults by providing technology skills through community-based organizations around the world.

The company made the announcement in Hong Kong this week at Ethical Corporation's regional Corporate Social Responsibility conference.

A total of 24 new UP grants have been distributed to 12 Asian countries in this latest round of funding. The highlights of the program include projects in Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Japan, plus a program for Filipino workers outside the Philippines.

Under a two-year project in Vietnam, Microsoft plans to introduce the UP curriculum to more than 400 vocational schools and provide support to 60 Community Technology Learning Centers (CTLCs). The project will go nationwide through partnerships with Qualcomm and Electricity Vietnam (EVN) for connectivity and a bilateral donor for additional funding and consultants.

About 60 sites in Sri Lanka will receive the UP curriculum and the advice of UP trainers. The program will go nationwide through cooperation with Sri Lanka's Vocational Training Authority and the US Agency for International Development.

Through UP, two Japanese NGOs - The National Council of Women Centers and the National Women's Shelter-Net - are working together in a project to provide IT skills training, train-the-trainers courses and employment to victims of domestic violence, single mothers on social welfare and other women with financial difficulties. More than 1,900 women are expected to be trained within the year.

Microsoft also plans expanded community outreach to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) by adding a CTLC facility in Saudi Arabia and two domestic centers in the Philippine regions of Ilocos and Mindanao.  About 6,000 OFWs and their families are expected to be IT-trained within 12 months of the expanded project, which is being run under the auspices of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.  (Source: DMasia.com/Story by Parthajit Bhattacharyya)

Central Michigan University and Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education Sign Memorandum of Understanding

An agreement between CMU and the Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education in Manila, Philippines, will open doors to the latest in technician education and training around the globe.

CMU President Michael Rao signed a memorandum of understanding Feb. 20 with Man-Gon Park, director general and CEO of CPSC. Also in attendance from CPSC was Myong-Hee Kim, a professor of computer science, and T. J. Tesoro Gayondato, a specialist in international relations. The program included a short presentation about CPSC.

Roger Lee, a faculty member in CMU's computer science department and founder of the International Association for Computer and Information Science, coordinated the visit.

"CMU and CPSC will explore joint activities and programs in key areas of technology development and training," said Lee. "There may be opportunities for professional exchanges, fellowships, joint workshops, symposia, conferences, consulting projects and other activities."

Lee is an adviser for the director-general/CEO of the Inter-Government International Organization CPSC for Human Resource Development in Asia and the Pacific Region, which is a division of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. He also participated as an information technology expert at the Eminent Expert Group Meeting of the Colombo Plan Staff College in the Philippines in November 2005. He reviewed and validated the Colombo Plan Staff College's plans from 2003 to 2008.

CPSC, established about 30 years ago in the Philippines, is a cooperative agreement between developed and developing nations in the initial stages of embracing innovative technologies and learning labor market requirements. Technicians are universally held to be key workers essential to effective industrial development but are generally scarce. CPSC works to enhance the quality of technical education and vocational training in member countries.

CPSC members include: Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Canada, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Vietnam and the Republic of Palau as an honorary member.  (Source: InsideCMU, http://www.cmich.edu/insidecmu)

India Sets Goals of Rural Aid and Education

India's coalition government on Tuesday promised greater spending on rural infrastructure, health care and education, while reducing customs duties and imposing tighter deficit management.

Presented as a budget for the "common man," the blueprint reflected the balance the government must strike to promote economic development and uplift the lives of its largely poor and rural citizenry.

Speaking to Parliament, the finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, forecast 8.1% economic growth for the year ending March 31, 2007, but pledged to increase that rate up to 10% in the coming years.

Subir V. Gokarn, chief economist for Crisil, a credit ratings agency, said the proposed budget appeared to "satisfy all constituencies."

The budget has obvious political repercussions for the Congress Party-led coalition government of Manmohan Singh. Backed by allies from the Communist Party of India, it dislodged its predecessor government with a promise to deliver some of the gains of India's remarkable economic growth to the nearly 300 million Indians who live below the official poverty line.

This year, the Congress Party faces crucial elections, in states where the Communists and other leftist parties are competing for dominance.

The budget presented by Mr. Chidambaram laid out increases in education and more modest increases in health care. India's expenditure on public health is among the lowest, and critics said the budget did not go far enough to expand access to health care and other social services, considering the pace of economic growth.

"There is no significant progress in terms of social services," said Subrat Das, research fellow at the Center for Budget and Governance Accountability, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group.

Mr. Chidambaram also proposed projects to rehabilitate roads and airports and expand access to the power supply, all deemed essential to sustaining India's economic growth. The budget also proposed to raise defense spending, reduce the price of certain AIDS and cancer drugs and expand food processing as a means to fuel growth in the country's lagging agricultural sector.

"I believe that growth is the best antidote to poverty," Mr. Chidambaram told Parliament.

Meanwhile, he offered to reduce the budget deficit to 3.8 percent of gross domestic product from 4.1 percent, a step he said was intended to free up resources for infrastructure development. A lower budget deficit would drop India's borrowing costs.

"Investors, including foreign investors, should like the fiscal deficit numbers and the growth projections," said Sunil Mittal, chairman and managing director of Bharti Tele-Ventures, the country's largest cellular services firm.

Mr. Chidambaram, a Harvard-trained lawyer who turned to politics, left corporate and personal taxes untouched, while raising tax rates on certain financial transactions.  (Source:  The New York Times/Story by Somini Sengupta and Saritha Rai)

 Events

 International Education Forum 2006

April 3-5, 2006, Brisbane, Australia

The International Education Forum 2006 is an initiative of the Australian Government hosted by the Department of Education, Science and Training.  The Forum will provide a valuable opportunity for specialists in international education to network with industry colleagues and be challenged by presentations from a broad range of national and international experts.

The name, International Education Forum, distinguishes the event as truly international rather than one which focuses on issues pertinent solely to the Australian market place.  The program has been designed to stimulate debate on the future of international education and discuss those issues having immediate and future impact on education globally.

The International Education Forum 2006 is designed to challenge conventional thinking about the future of international education and stimulate new ideas. Prominent speakers will propose challenging scenarios of what the world might look like in 20 years and discuss the implications for international education policy makers, education providers and students. Some critical drivers of change include changing population demographics in many countries; restructuring of country economies resulting in constantly evolving skills needs; an increasingly mobile international workforce; greater influence of consumer choice and customisation of education delivery; increasing private delivery of education; and, the impact of technological change providing greater access to education.

The Forum theme, Challenge Your Thinking, was inspired by Australia’s ministerial appointed International Education Advisory Body as a result of their scenario planning activities.  This provides for a challenging and thought-provoking program that should not be missed.

More information can be found on the web at http://aei.dest.gov.au/AEI/Events/IEF06/About.htm.

World Conference on Arts Education

March 6-9, 2006, Lisbon, Portugal,

The Conference will concentrate on arts education, which implies the teaching of arts practices (visual arts, performing arts, dance, music, theatre, creative writing and poetry).Among the various results expected, the aims of the Conference would be: to define a common understanding of the meaning of quality arts education; to strengthen creativity in the teaching of arts practices thus improving learning abilities of students from social and economic underprivileged areas. A final declaration will reiterate that arts education disciplines are important learning topics in themselves and moreover have an impact on children and adolescents intellectual and personal development, as well as on their ethical and social behavior.

MAIN TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION: The Conference will set out to achieve feasible results by addressing the following four main themes, namely: Advocacy, The Impact of Arts Education, Strategies for Promoting Arts Education Policies, and Teachers’ Training.

Organization Profile:  This section highlights an organization or program that is making a difference in the fields of education or social development.

Rural China Education Foundation (RCEF)

The Rural China Education Foundation (RCEF) is an international, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established to improve the lives of children in rural China through quality education. Quality education refers to curriculum and teaching methods that support well-rounded development, inspire joy in learning, and prepare students to make positive change in their communities.

While most organizations focus on material aspects of rural education, such as tuition fees, school buildings and computer facilities, RCEF focuses on the contents and methods of teaching and the utilization of human resources such as teachers, parents and members of the community.

The annual Volunteer Program brings these ideas to life. The program brings together carefully selected international volunteers and mainland-Chinese college students to teach in rural schools, participate in community-building, and directly experience the realities of rural China today.

RCEF also works on a variety of other projects aimed to promote quality education in rural China.

For more information on RCEF and its programs, please visit their website at www.ruralchina.org.

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