Development Management Policy Seminar “International Education Cooperation in the Post-2015: Case of Asia”

The above captioned Development Management Policy Seminar was held July 9th 2014 in the main conference room of Kobe University’s Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS). The theme of the seminar was “International Education Cooperation in the Post-2015: Case of Asia.”. Two lecturers were invited namely; Dr. James H. Williams, Associate Professor at George Washington University, and Dr. Rukhsana Aziz, Deputy Director in the Ministry of Education in Pakistan. To serve as commentator for the two presentations, two officers were invited and they are: Mr. Vira Khlok, who is a Chief of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in Cambodia, and Mr. Joao Martins, a Chief of the Ministry of Education in Timor-Lest. Furthermore, Dr. Robert Arnove, Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus of Indiana University, participated in the seminar.

The first presenter of the day was Dr. James Williams who gave a lecture about “Metrics in the Management of Education”. He asked participants to consider what quality of education is, and how quality of education is evaluated. He then emphasized the fact that the importance of education evaluation is increasing. Dr. Williams also showed some examples of metrics by various actors, and stressed that examination of such metrics can cause too much competition since nowadays more moderate evaluation is needed.

Dr. Rukhsana Aziz was the second and last presenter, and her lecture was about “International Development Assistance on Basic Education Sub-Sector: The Case of Pakistan”. Dr. Aziz provided an overview of development assistance to Pakistan in general and discussed development assistance to the education sector in particular. She also pointed out that development assistance for Pakistan is still necessary because of the resource gap between what is targeted and what is actually achieved.

While providing commentary to the two presentations, Mr. Khlok and Mr. Martins gave valuable insight into their individual experiences in the context of Cambodia and Timor-Leste, respectively. Commentary session was followed by a very stimulating questions and answer session, where participants we welcomed to ask questions related to the two presentations. Special gratitude goes to Dr. Williams, Dr. Rukhsana, Mr. Khlok, and Mr. Martins for their excellent contribution to the seminar. Finally, particular word of thanks and appreciation goes to Dr. Keiichi Ogawa for setting up this professional and rare knowledge sharing opportunity.

Authored by Yuki Haramoto
Master Student

Related Link
http://www.kobe-u.ac.jp/en/NEWS/event/e2014_07_09_01.html