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he University of Tsukuba Japan as one of the active Affiliate member of SEAMEO has worked collaboratively in many areas with SEAMEO Secretariat since the beginning of its membership. One of the long-established collaborations between both institutions is SEAMEO-The University of Tsukuba Symposium that was convened annually since 2013, with the constant support of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.

The 8th SEAMEO-The University of Tsukuba Symposium was held on 13-14 February 2020 at Tokyo Campus of the University of Tsukuba, Japan. With the theme ‘Education for Inclusive Growth on 4th Industrial Revolution for Society 5.0,’ the symposium aimed to provide a platform for clarifying the emerging issues in educations shaped by the fourth industrial revolution, and for sharing educational reform, challenges, and issues within the scopes of global citizenship beyond region, education for sustainable development, human characters developed through school subjects, and soft skills and lifelong learning in this fast-changing Society 5.0 driven by Industry 4.0.

The symposium has been successfully convened with a total of 54 Participants who actively engaged during the event. The symposium managed to presents one Keynote address during the opening, three keynote speeches in a plenary session, and a total of 20 paper presentation in five plenary sessions. Thirteen SEAMEO Centres represented by the Directors or Deputy Director shared their flagship programmes and research findings related to the Symposium theme.

Professor Dr Kiyoshi Karaki, Chair of Global Teacher Education Committee, the University of Tsukuba, Japan welcomed all delegates in his welcoming remarks and extended his appreciation toward sustainable collaboration between SEAMEO and the University of Tsukuba.

Later, in his welcome address Mr Yoshihide Miwa, Director, Office for International Strategy Planning, International Affairs Division MEXT, Japan shared various efforts on SDGs that carried out at universities, elementary, middle and high schools in Japan, and how the education sector in Japan responded to the Society 5.0.

Dr Kritsachai Somsaman, Deputy Director for Administration and Communication, SEAMEO Secretariat, recalled the recommendations from the 4th Strategic Dialogue for Education Ministers 2019 in Kuala Lumpur that call for all SEAMEO Units to commit to inclusive and equitable education and lifelong learning for all, using technology to improve learning outcomes and work collaboratively with international and regional organisations and partners as well as stakeholders to train teachers and learners to thrive in the future of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Era. He iterated that the theme of symposium "Education for Inclusive Growth on the 4th Industrial Revolution for Society 5.0" align with that recommendation, encourage the delegates to address these concerns, seeking significant input not only within and between SEAMEO units but also substantive engagement by the Ministries of Education and key education players.

Dr Bundit Thipakorn, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, and Former Secretary General, Ministry of Education, Thailand delivered his keynotes by emphasizing the needs for improvement in education and training frameworks to prepare people with the flexibility and critical thinking skills that students will need in the future workforce.

Professor Masami Isoda, the Director of CRICED, The University of Tsukuba, thanked all keynote and panel speakers and all delegates for their active participations to make the symposium successful. He invited all speakers to submit full papers for consideration in the SEAMEO Journal publication. Finally, he extended his invitation for the next SEAMEO- The University of Tsukuba Symposium IX in 2021 with the proposed theme ‘Resilience for Global Citizenship.’

URL:

https://www.seameo.org/Main_news/193