SUSE hosts historic international education conference

March 18, 2005
School of Education News

CONTACT: Martin Carnoy, Professor of Education, Stanford University School of Education, (650) 725-1254 (office), (650) 906-7469 (cell), carnoy@stanford.edu

The press is invited to the 49th Annual Meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) entitled “Beyond Dichotomies” hosted by the Stanford University School of Education’s International and Comparative Education Program from March 22-26 at Stanford University.

Over 1000 educators and educational policy makers from Africa, East and Central Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the U.S. will be attending, including representatives from every major world agency, including UNESCO, the World Bank, the Academy of Educational Development, Save the Children, CARE, the Soros Foundation, and UNICEF.

“This is the largest gathering of international educational policy makers in history. They will be discussing the key issues in global development during the conference: the role of education in reducing poverty, can educational technology improve education, can universities meet the challenges of the information age, and a host of other fundamental policy dilemmas,” said School of Education Professor Martin Carnoy, the President-elect of CIES and the conference organizer.

Prominent international attendees include Pius Ngwandu, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Development, Tanzania; Kilemi Mwiria, Vice-Minister of Education, Kenya; Weifang Min, Vice-President of Beijing University, China; Joseph Rugumyamheto, the Permanent Secretary, Government of Tanzania; Mariaugusta Rosa Rocha, former Secretary of Education, Bahia, Brazil; Cristian Cox, Director of Education in the Ministry of Education, Chile; Peter Smith, Assistant Director General, UNESCO; and Cream Wright, chief, education sector for UNICEF.

During the 256 panel sessions in five days, participants will address the continuing bias against girls education in many developing countries, how the globalization of the world economy has affected national and local education systems, whether teacher subject knowledge or teaching skills are more important for improving student performance, how strong government intervention affects educational quality, the role of non-government organizations in developing countries, the future of educational technology, and privatization of universities worldwide.

The conference also connects with Stanford’s university-wide commitment to tackling international problems. ”The study and implementation of new forms of teaching to better educate a globalized world is an important element of Stanford’s International Initiative, a multidisciplinary initiative to fundamentally change how research and teaching are brought to bear on international problems,” said Coit Blacker, Director for the Stanford Institute for International Studies and co-chair of the faculty advisory committee for the International Initiative.

Highlights include:

Wednesday, March 23, 10:30-3:00 p.m.

A Gender Symposium on "Promoting and Deconstructing Gender Equality in Education in 2005: Issues and Challenges" in the Center for Educational Research at Stanford (CERAS) building.

The symposium’s keynote address (Eggersten Lecture) will be given by Dr. Nelly Stromquist, Professor of Education at University of Southern California, who will address issues of girls' education from 12:00-1:30 p.m. in the School of Education’s Cubberley Auditorium.

Thursday, March 24, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

The 2005 Kneller Lecture will be given by Dr. Weifang Min, Provost, Executive Vice President and Professor of Economics of Education at Peking University. Dr. Min is one of the most powerful educational policy makers in China. He initiated and implemented a series of reforms at Peking University in overall operations, financing higher education, curriculum and teaching and learning, personnel policy, and faculty development. Dr. Min will speak from 5:30-7:00 p.m. in the School of Education’s Cubberley Auditorium.

For a complete schedule of sessions, see http://www.cies.ws

Conference Location:

The meeting is being held in three different buildings on the Stanford University campus—the Cubberley School of Education Building, the Center for Educational Research at Stanford (CERAS), and the Wallenberg Building on the Main Quad. There will be a videoconference with South Africa using the conferencing facilities in the Wallenberg Building.

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