As many of our member would know, this week London hosted more than 100 Ministers of Education / Higher Education and Labour / Employment from all over the globe to the Education World Forum (EWF).
On Monday I attended the ASEAN Ministerial round table hosted by Andrew Mitchel, Minister of State for International Development and Robert Halfon, Minister of State at the Department for Education. The round table brought together high level Ministerial representatives from Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, together with counterparts from the ASEAN Secretariat and SEAMEO. The round table was chaired by DBT’s Education specialist Sir Steve Smith and focused around ‘How can green / net-zero skills be the transformative game changer that realises multiple SDG ambitions by 2030 and beyond’. The topic is very familiar to the BEI members, especially those part of the Skills & Training Working Group, where we explore the links between education and industry providers in developing bespoke programmes that aim to tackle climate challenges, while building resilient economies.
On Tuesday morning, together with the Department for Business and Trade, I was honoured to host a Breakfast reception which brought together over 20 Ministers of Education across the African continent. At British Expertise we take pride in our members’ work and it was an immense pleasure to celebrate the impact of the partnerships between our members and many of the Ministers present in the room It was a great opportunity to offer our members a platform to discuss potential new initiatives which will unlock our common vision of offering every child access to quality education.
Shortly after the African Breakfast reception, I attended a session led by His Excellency Nadiem Anwar Makarim. Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia. Throughout the session, Minister Nadiem presented the his Ministry’s vision on current priority and some already developed mechanisms for collaboration between UK Higher Education providers and Indonesian Education institutions across green economy, blue economy, tourism, digital technology and health infrastructure. If you wish to find our more, I will be happy to share with members the slides presented by the Minister during his session.
On Tuesday we also hosted colleagues from FCDO Ian Attfield, Senior Education Adviser, South Asia Region and Anila Khan, Socio-cultural Counsellor, at the FCDO representation to the ASEAN. Part of the UK-ASEAN Action Plan, Ian and Anila officially launched the £30 million funding available for the ASEAN countries to boost education opportunities for women and girls. The new programme will provide around 100,000 women and girls with access to education and training in South-East Asia. This programme will also boost female employment in data and technology. If you wish more information on the framework, I will be happy to share with members the slides presented by Ian during the session.
For our last event marking the EWF was a round table event with Dr. Roger Yap Chao Jr., Head of Education, Youth and Sports at the ASEAN Secretariat. Roger has been a pivotal support in BEI’s engagement with the ASEAN Ministers of Education and was one of the main contributors to our last year’s event on Recover Learning and Building Resilience which brought together all the ASEAN Ministers of Education. During the event, Roger presented us with opportunities in Early Years, Higher Education, TVET and Monitoring and Evaluation.
