Technology and cooperation will be the main focus of the Asia Pacific educational ministers when they meet this week in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, according to Education Minister Lee Ju-ho.



Some 600 officials from 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation will participate in the fifth APEC Education Ministerial Meeting from Monday to Wednesday.

Lee hopes to make it a chance to discuss the future of technology-based education and come up with practical ways of working together.

“The meeting will explore educational responses to future challenges such as a shift in the global economy, accelerating technological innovation and the Earth’s environmental changes, and discuss measures to foster global cooperative framework for education,” the minister said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

“The nation will also have a chance to showcase diverse advanced technologies including electronic learning and digital textbooks, and present its institutional reforms to improve the quality of education and vocational training.”

Some 600 officials from 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation will participate in the fifth APEC Education Ministerial meeting that runs until Wednesday.

The conference was launched in Washington D.C. in 1992 and has convened every four years since 2000. Previous host cities were Singapore (2000) Santiago (2004) and Lima (2008).

The headline theme for the fifth meeting is “Future Challenges and Educational Responses,” a subject on which the minister believes Korea is the best suited to lead and moderate discussions.

He notes Korea has been on the frontlines of global technological innovation in business, government, infrastructure and social systems including education.

Its past rapid economic growth has been driven by well-trained human resources and its future development will hinge on the current educational reforms aiming to forge creative and global-minded talent.


Cooperation is key

The disparity in economy and education among APEC members has hampered the meeting, now turning 20 years, from coming up with shared visions and concrete action plans.

All the decision has to be made by unanimous approval, so it’s been very difficult make a new plan, the minister said.

“But this year might be different. Unlike the previous meetings, this meeting will place primary emphasis on cooperation among APEC members,” he said.
“We will try to make it a turning point for the development of the ministerial dialogue by ensuring the meeting sets practical and tangible agenda for cooperation.”

Concrete and practical action plans will be pronounced in a joint statement to be announced Wednesday, he said.

As it did in the G-20 summit and global climate meetings, Korea is committed to bridging developing and advanced countries and will work together to establish a practical vision of educational cooperation and future directions, he added.


Technological shifts

The minister hopes the event will be a chance to promote Korea’s information technology-based learning systems.

The global IT powerhouse has harnessed its advanced technologies to make education interactive, more efficient and less expensive. Electronic systems are helping to narrow the gaps in education among regions and income groups and expand opportunities for life-time learning.

“Future technology and ability needed for a knowledge-based society, and more innovative systems to deliver education will be among topics for intensive discussion,” Lee said.

During the meeting, the ministry is planning provide participants first-hand experience and knowledge of future education such as smart classroom and digital textbooks.

“Accelerating technology transition present new challenges as well as opportunities,” he said. “We’re hoping to be a global role model in smart education.”

Technological evolution has provided huge momentum for growth for Korea, and now the country aims to use digital technology to become one of the most advanced countries in the field, he said.

The ministry is working on applying technology to bring in rapid changes in classrooms.

The ministry has developed new education tools, such as digital textbooks and e-learning programs. It is also planning to digitalize all textbooks and teaching materials for elementary schools by 2014.

Teachers will use electronic whiteboards and classrooms will have wireless internet connections. Students will be able to access learning materials anytime, anywhere by using cloud computing, he said.


Globalization of education

Former lawmaker and chief presidential aide on education, Lee is the key architect of educational reforms of the Lee Myung-bak administration. Since taking power in 2008, the president has pushed for drastic reforms aimed at nurturing human resources with creative and practical knowledge, opening doors to international schools and global talents, upgrading high education and broadening vocational learning.

“The meeting will be a good opportunity for us to show our educational reform and present its achievements as an example of future educational overhaul to the international community,” Minister Lee said.

Globalization, he said, has been the key objectives of the ministry for the past years. The government first started to target foreign students in 2004 with the launch of the Study Korea Project.

The number jumped from 16,832 in 2004 to 83,842 in 2010, and the government is planning to double the number to 200,000 by 2020 by boosting the quality of higher education and improving recruitment policies.

To meet the goal, the ministry is introducing policies such as providing a one-stop online information center and expanding its scholarship programs for foreign students,

“We’re also expanding our overseas development assistance for developing countries to attract their students,” he added.



Educational reforms



Since he took the helm of the ministry in 2010, Lee has tried to reform in higher education polices. The World Class University and the World Class College initiatives are two of his major changes.

The aim of the WCU program, he said, is to nurture local universities into internationally competitive schools. Under the WCU project, the ministry aims to foster world-class universities by hiring renowned scholars. It aims to make at least five Korean universities among top 200 global universities through the project.

On the other hand, the WCC program is designed to develop better vocational training programs.

Under the WCC program, the ministry is planning to select a total of 21 vocational colleges by 2013 and will provide an annual state subsidy of 260 billion won each for the next three years.

Lee said he considers the vocational training program as the pillar of the country’s future economy. With the belief, the ministry has also developed so-called 21 Meister high schools that focus on technical education and apprenticeships.

These high schools are aimed at giving students technical education and an apprenticeship so that they can develop expertise required for specific industries, such as shipbuilding, mechanical engineering and semiconductors.

He believes that certain firms will prefer Meister high school graduate with hands-on experience over a four-year university graduate.

In recent years, Korea’s educational reforms have been praised by advanced countries and international organizations. And many developing countries want to emulate its success in nurturing human resources that power the nation’s economic development.

The minister said the nation will enhance cooperation in education with other countries as a way to increase its contribution to the world.

“We want to create international educational collaboration, and we want to take this opportunity to be a global educational powerhouse as well,” Lee added.


Main theme of APEC Education Ministerial Meeting

“Future Challenges and Educational Responses: Fostering Global, Innovative and Cooperative Education”

● Globalization: To nurture students with future skills for the globalized, knowledge-based economy

● Innovation: To create instructional delivery systems that help students address challenges in innovative ways

● Cooperation: To boost discussion of collaborative measures and create mechanisms for implementation

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)