2014 Conference: Education in Asia in 2014: What Global Issues?

A comparatist and pluridisciplinary approach

The conference aimed to raise awareness and promote a better understanding of the educational realities of this diverse and important region. The conference also provided an opportunity to consider how Asian countries were responding to their own educational challenges, and the relevance of these responses outside Asia. The questions asked of Asian education systems were those that comparative specialists asked the world over, but it was also important to consider the links between education, traditions and civilisations, both within Asian countries and in comparison with others. The focus of the conference was on school education.

Bringing together 40 speakers from around twenty countries, the conference was organized around the following three core strands:

• Asia’s education systems: How is school represented?
• Asia’s education systems: Organizations, strategies and results?
• Education in Asia and across the world: Towards Asian models? Towards competition or cooperation?

Which “Asias” are we referring to? 

While education in Asia is based specifically around two key educational experiences, that of Chinese-influenced Asia and that of the Indian traditions, other educational traditions and contexts that were less specific to Asia, such as the Muslim tradition, were also taken into account, as well as the historical, ideological and political developments particular to each country. The following contexts were considered: China, South Korea, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Vietnam.