Forum on Smart Villages and Education for Rural Transformation | GSE2024 archived announcement

Archived announcement: the Forum on Smart Villages and Education for Rural Transformation was scheduled for Tuesday 20 August 2024, 08:30–12:00 in Lecture Hall 2. The event has ended. This page preserves the advance programme and original poster; names and roles reflect 2024 materials, not current appointments or confirmed attendance.

Conference context and forum topics

Approved by China’s Ministry of Education, the Global Smart Education Conference 2024 was scheduled for 18–20 August in Beijing, co-hosted by BNU and the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE). Under the theme of educational transformation and international understanding, its programme covered policy, technology and practice through plenaries, high-level dialogues, thematic forums, roundtables and workshops, with research and partnership launches and displays of cases and solutions to strengthen international exchange.

The forum addressed gaps in rural education during educational transformation. It considered how digital innovation could bridge the urban–rural digital divide, strengthen rural education, advance equity and support Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education and the 2030 Agenda.

The early poster identified seven topics:

• Revitalising rural education and using education to revitalise rural communities.
• Digital technology for high-quality rural education.
• Digital support for rural teaching workforces and professional development.
• STEM education in rural settings.
• Transformation of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in the digital era.
• Skills transformation and innovative talent development for rural revitalisation.
• Learning villages in the digital era.

Organising institutions

The following five institutions organised the forum:

• UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED).
• SEAMEO Regional Centre for Technical Education Development (TED).
• UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia.
• SEAMEO Regional Centre for STEM Education (STEM-ED).
• School of Educational Technology, Northwest Normal University, China.

08:30–09:00 Opening remarks

Opening remarks were scheduled for 08:30–09:00 with the following speakers, chaired by Zhao Yuchi, Executive Director of the UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED).

• Zhou Zuoyu — Vice-President and Professor, Beijing Normal University; Director, UNESCO INRULED.
• Shahbaz Khan — Director and Representative, UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia.
• Bo Chankoulika — Under Secretary of State, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Cambodia.

09:00–10:00 Keynotes

The 09:00–10:00 keynote session listed the following speakers, chaired by Qi Xinjian, Project Expert at UNESCO INRULED.

• Vinayagum Chinapah — Emeritus Professor, Stockholm University, Sweden; expert on the Learning Villages in a Digital Era project.
• Wang Libing — Chief of Educational Innovation and Skills Development, UNESCO Bangkok, as listed in the 2024 poster.
• Guo Jiong — Professor and Dean, School of Educational Technology, Northwest Normal University, China.

The 10:00–10:10 launch slot was to show the video Introduction of INRULED Projects. This was an advance arrangement, not confirmation of an actual launch or presentation.

10:10–11:20 Country case presentations

The 10:10–11:20 country case session listed seven speakers, chaired by Khat Prumsochetra, Deputy Director of SEAMEO TED. The list below retains the early poster’s speaker programme.

• Morn Kritsachai Somsaman — Director, SEAMEO STEM-ED.
• Ricaud Auckbur — Acting Chief Technical Officer, Ministry of Education, Mauritius.
• Shuai Jianzhu — Chairman, Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, Lin’an District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
• Khat Prumsochetra — Deputy Director, SEAMEO TED.
• Greg Shaw — Emeritus Professor, Charles Darwin University, Australia.
• Min Bahadur Bista — Emeritus Professor, Tribhuvan University, Nepal; former head of education at UNESCO Beijing, as listed in the poster.
• Risoi Koiyu — Executive Director, Institute of Technical Vocational Education and Training, University of Goroka, Papua New Guinea.

11:20–12:00 Panel discussion

The 11:20–12:00 panel addressed “Promoting Digital Transformation of TVET for Sustainable Rural Development”. Fang Yuan’an, Project Coordinator at UNESCO INRULED, was to chair the following participants.

• Supriatin Dra — Chairman, SMK Global Technology Vocational Technical High School, Indonesia.
• Haji Hamzah Ahmad Fakhrurazi — Dean, Lahad Datu Vocational College, Malaysia.
• Carina C. Untalasco — Principal IV, Calasiao Comprehensive National High School, Philippines; school name corrected using the conference handbook and local education-department documentation.
• Puttachard Suphalucksana — Director, Centre for International Education Promotion, Taksina Institute of Business and Technology, Thailand.
• Vu Van Phong — Deputy Director, Office of Science and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, Viet Nam.

Original poster and archive notes

Archive note: SLI’s announcement is dated 15 August 2024, while the public-account index gives 14 August; both differ from the event date of 20 August. This archive uses the official website date. The programme retains the early poster version; printed pages 56–58 of the English conference handbook provide a comparison. The spellings Bo Chankoulika, Vinayagum Chinapah and Risoi Koiyu follow the handbook. Carina C. Untalasco’s school is corrected to Calasiao Comprehensive National High School using the handbook and a 2024 Philippine education-department document; the poster’s different school name is not repeated in the text. The complete poster is retained, and an advance programme should not be treated as proof of attendance.