Press News

26-27 November 2020

Seoul, Republic of Korea

(held virtually)

Host: Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea

Organizer: Institute of APEC Collaborative Education (IACE)

Event held under APEC project: The 16th APEC Future Education Forum (AFEF)

Prepared by the Institute of APEC Collaborative Education (IACE)

The 16th APEC Future Education Forum (AFEF)

Opening Ceremony

Keynote Speech

▪ Session 1.

“Education Paradigm Shift and Innovation in the Post COVID-19 Era”

▪ Session 2.

“Enhancing Efficiency and Effectiveness of Online Education”

▪ Session 3.

“Advancing Educational Equity using Online Education and Digital Technology”

Thematic Presentation & Panel Discussion

The 16th AFEF and the 18th International ALCoB Conference will be held on 25 to 27 November. The main theme of the AFEF 2020 is “APEC’s Innovative Educational Responses to Global Pandemic and Challenges”.

The AFEF and related events are composed of keynote speech, thematic sessions, APEC Future Education Consortium (AFEC) Steering Committee Meeting and teachers’ conference. Under the main theme, distinguished speakers and participants will share exemplary policies, theories and practices APEC economies are taking to ensure continuity of education in the midst of unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

The AFEF and related events will be held on-line, inviting education stakeholders in the APEC member economies. This project will contribute to strengthening regional education cooperation and exchange in the Asia-Pacific region and identify ways to ensure education continuity in the COVID-19 time.

The 16th APEC Future Education Forum (AFEF) and the 18th International APEC Learning Community Builders’ (ALCoB) Conference have one main theme, keynote speech and three sub-themes: 

 

As published by the APEC Secretariat Policy Support Unit (PSU), the COVID-19 pandemic brought an unprecedented global health and economic crisis. Healthcare systems and services are inadequate to accommodate COVID-19 coronavirus patients and show troubling gaps. In 2020, APEC experienced an economic fallout, which is estimated as USD 2.1 million output loss and 23 million workers unemployment.

Education sector is no exception from the challenges from the COVID-19 crisis. The UNESCO estimates over 72% of the world’s student population is affected by school closures. Over 95% of APEC member economies have delayed school opening and/or ordered school closures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In this regard, 21 APEC economies implement policies and practices to mitigate impact of COVID-19 in education sector and support continuity of learning via alternative means of education such as blended and/or online education.

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Under this circumstance, the 16th AFEF and related events will focus on the effects of COVID-19 to APEC member economies’ education sector. The AFEF would be a useful opportunity for APEC member economies to discuss about the educational responses to the COVID-19 and their contribution to the educational paradigm shift and innovation in APEC.

By addressing COVID-19 impact in education sector, which is a current and common education agenda, the AFEF and related events will:

find ways to facilitate APEC member economies education paradigm shift and innovation in post COVID-19 era

enhance efficiency and effectiveness of online education; and

advance educational equity for learners from grandparents-grandkids families, dual-income families, multi-cultural families, persons with disabilities by assisting their studies with online education and digital technologies.

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In May 2020, the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) announced a statement on COVID-19. They emphasized the COVID-19 closure is the top priority of every economy, which requires both domestic emergency measures and international cooperation among APEC as well as our partners and counterparts.

The MRT directed the “Senior Officials to develop a coordinated approach to collecting and sharing information on policies and measures” that “This sharing of information seeks to ensure that the strength and learning of one economy may translate into best practices for the region as a whole”.

In this regard, the 16th AFEF and related events will share exemplary education policies, pedagogy, software and public-private partnership cooperation to overcome challenges brought by COVID-19 in school settings and learning environments.

The speakers’ and participants’ discussion would contribute to recover and revitalize “a healthy, resilient and inclusive Asia-Pacific community” and build a secure and innovative future education system.