Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS), Kobe University
During the 2015 spring break, I attended the 59th Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) and participated in a field study organized by Prof. Keiichi Ogawa, both held in Washington DC, USA. The two events were conducted in sequence, one after the other, with each lasting one week. Together with my-self, the two events were attended by 12 fellow students, of which 11 were from Kobe University and one was from Kyoto University.
During the first week I participated in the CIES conference, which was held at the Washington DC Hilton Hotel, from March 8 to 13. At the conference, I attended several sessions including one on out-of-school children and the one by FHI360. Through listening to different presentations and discussions, I was able to got new information regarding education development and how to build a career in the area of international organizations.
In the second week, we visited World Bank and FHI360 where we attended pre-arranged meetings with distinguished officers in the field of international education development. At the World Bank Headquarters, I joined a meeting with Dr. Harry Anthony Patrinos, a Manager at the education sector, and Dr. Luis Benveniste, a Lead Education Specialist. In addition, I attended meeting with the Japanese experts, namely Dr. Tomomi Miyajima, Mr. Hiroshi Saeki and learned a lot from them.
While at FHI360, I interviewed Dr. Mark Ginsburg and Ms. Rebecca Potts, as well as Mr. Charles Gale and Ms. Carol DeShano Da Silva. I learnt about FHI360’s education development projects and how to prepare myself in order to get an internship opportunity with FHI360.
Moreover, we visited George Washington University (GWU), where we attended a discussion session with the graduate students and alumnae from the GWU. We talked about the difference between Japanese and American higher education systems. We are all learned a lot from each other.
In conclusion, participating in CIES conference and the filed study broadened and enriched my knowledge about my research area and how to prepare myself for the job market in the future.
Finally, I wish to express my appreciation towards Prof. Keiichi Ogawa for giving me this excellent opportunity to participate in these two educative and informative events. I am also very thankful to Dr. Shinsaku Nomura, Dr. Mari Shojo, Dr. Nobuyuki Tanaka and Ms. Miho Nomura, all Ogawa-seminar alumni, for giving us excellent support and motivation.
Yaqiong Wang
Master Student
