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Global Education Conference at HGSE

Education for Syrian refugees, educational inequality in South Africa, and teacher professionalism reform in Chile were some of the very engaging (and often difficult) topics discussed at the Global Education Conference held at HGSE on January 22. This daylong affair, not only served as a platform for inspiring, thought-provoking ideas but also as a call to action. In 10-minute slots, the presenters exposed urgent problems that persists in education today and proposed policy recommendations that were bold, yet firmly rooted in sound empirical evidence.

The brainchild of Professor Fernando Reimers, director of the International Education Policy Program, the Global Education Conference has become a beloved annual tradition at the Ed School. Reimers invites the authors of the best papers written in his course Education Policy Analysis and Research in Comparative Perspective to present the findings of their semester-long research. This year, Gutman Conference Center was buzzing with participants shuffling between simultaneous sessions, talking, tweeting, and thinking about some of the most difficult issues in education today.

Setting the conference apart is its genuine effort to bridge the gap between research and practice, thereby promoting a forward-looking view of the international development arena. Attendees included Charles MacCormack, former president and chief executive officer of Save the Children; Hans Brattskar, state secretary at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Dave Offensend, president and chief executive officer at EDC; HGSE Lecturer Haiyan Hua, vice president at World Education, and Atif Rafique, Ed.M.’03, education specialist at UNICEF. Those unable to join in person due to the snowstorms in Washington, D.C., were able to take part virtually. Among those who video- and phone-conferenced in to the event were Claudia Costin, senior director of education at the World Bank; Sandra Licon, senior program officer at the Gates Foundation; Charito Kruvant, co-founder and CEO of Creative Associates; and Barbara Chow, education program director at the Hewlett Foundation.

The notable guests chaired one or more panels throughout the day and engaged the student-authors in constructive and informative dialogue. My policy recommendations for addressing the shortage of teachers in rural Sudan, for example, were closely examined and critiqued: “Your focus is on new graduates, where are your recommendations for the existing teachers?” “Can you take your proposal to scale?” “Have you thought of permutations and adaptations of existing policies?”

All in all, the Global Education Conference was an avenue for discussion and a showcase of the brilliance, ingenuity, passion, and commitment of the men and women working tirelessly to improve the lives of children around the world through education. For me, it served as a powerful reminder of why I was pursuing my degree and a much-needed energy boost to take on the last semester.

We also got free pens. 

Hibatalla Ibrahim is a master’s candidate in International Education Policy. @HibaIbra

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