APEC Education Ministers meet this week: Fostering innovative, cooperative education to meet global needs
APEC education ministers will meet in Gyeongju from 22-23 May to encourage greater innovation and cooperation in the region’s diverse education systems.
Ministers responsible for education, together with academics, from APEC’s 21 member economies will gather under the theme “Future Challenges and Educational Responses: Fostering Global, Innovative and Cooperative Education.”
Hosted by Korea’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the APEC ministers will review progress on collaborative education projects and focus on deepening educational cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.
Cultivating APEC’s vast human capital through education is also a critical component to ensuring a long-term economic recovery, since APEC economies account for 40 percent of the world’s population – or 2.7 billion people.
Supporting the region’s teachers at every stage of their development from preparation to recruiting to in-service training, as well as enhancing the use of information and communications technology in education are also key focus areas for member economies.
“The direction of future educational cooperation efforts should be shifted from simple information exchanges to projects that emphasize real action,” says Ju-Ho Lee, Korea’s Minister of Education, Science and Technology.
“Only then can we meet APEC’s educational goals and achieve inclusive growth,” as he explains how education plays a key role in realizing the APEC Leaders’ Growth Strategy for prosperity in the region.
Minister Lee, the Russian Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Mr. Sergei Ivanets, and the APEC Secretariat Executive Director, Ambassador Muhamad Noor, will be delivering opening remarks at the meeting.
The outcomes of the 5th APEC Education Ministerial Meeting (AEMM) will be reported to APEC Leaders at their meeting in Vladivostok, Russia in September. For details of the AEMM and press arrangements, please visit: www.2012apecemm.org
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For more information, please contact Augustine Kwan +65 9831 0717 at [email protected] or Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at [email protected].
More details about APEC’s 2012 priorities and initiatives for the year can be found on www.apec.org or www.apec2012.ru.
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