Release date：2021.07.01
2021 IIOE Asia-Pacific Mid-Year Consultation Meeting
Digital Transformation for Inclusive and Quality Higher Education: Mapping the Core Competencies of the Higher Education Workforce
Over the past years, higher education in the Asia-Pacific has experienced rapid growth in advancing towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 - Quality Education. Due to the increasing demand of digital competencies and skills in global market, 84% Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the region have regenerate the new strategies in talent cultivation and started to prepare for the digital transformation. In the same manner, HEIs also attempted to address the challenges of quality assurance and graduate's employment due to the fast expansion. However, the unprecedented global health crisis since 2020 has disrupted its progress. Although UNESCO and its partners have quickly responded by promoting and adopting an online and blended approach in planning and conducting educational activities, challenges persist and tend to exacerbate. For example, during the pandemic, less than 60% of the HEIs in the region manage to continue some of their academic activities online, while the remaining are still struggling to find solutions to resume. The pace of catching up and adapting to the new normal is concerning for developing countries in the region.
Given these concerns, UNESCO-ICHEI and the 2021 IIOE's Presidency, University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Pakistan jointly call for a consultation meeting. It seeks to update its existing IIOE ICT Competency Framework for Higher Education Workforce through highlighting the roles of Continuing and Professional Development (CPD) for teachers and Supportive University Ecosystem. These two complement each other and form a strong drive, prompting higher education to swiftly undergo the stages from building readiness, applying and infusing, to achieving transformation eventually. Considering the vast differences among countries in its network, the meeting will be divided into two stages, with pre-consultation meetings grouped by sub-regions on July 15th, 2021, and a consultation meeting on July 27th, 2021. Both sessions will synthesize significant insights that can be applied to the digitalization of education in the foreseeable future.
Date
July 15th, 2021: Pre-consultation Meetings
July 27th, 2021: Regional Consultation Meeting
Objectives and Outcomes
• Showcase good practices of IIOE among partners from different perspectives and compile into Regional Case Studies of IIOE in the Asia-Pacific.
• Identify challenges and enabling factors to ensure that teachers can take lead and be engaged in online and blended learning with support from the institutional ecosystem.
• Adopt an updated IIOE Competency Framework for Higher Education Workforce which can better reflect and integrate to existing national teachers' competency standards and actual needs across countries in Asia-Pacific.
• Initiate a Policy Brief centering Continuing and Professional Development (CPD) for teachers and competencies of higher education workforce, for the upcoming UNESCO World Higher Education Conference in 2022.
Pre-Consultation Meetings on July 15th, 2021 (Thursday)
Both pre-consultation meetings have been successfully held on July 15th. The constructive feedback and suggestions collected at both pre-consultation meetings have synthesized significant insights, and have been incorporated into the updated Competency Framework for the Higher Education Workforce. Their recordings are available here:
Regional Consultation Meeting on July 27th, 2021 (Tuesday)
Participants
Partner universities, organizations, enterprises and other key stakeholders in the IIOE network in the Asia-Pacific region.
Languages
English and Chinese (with simultaneous translation)
UNESCO-ICHEI University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Pakistan.
Should you have any query please contact Asia-Pacific Programme Office, UNESCO-ICHEI.
• Ms. Sherry Duan at duanxt@ichei.org
• Mr. Mingshun Xu at xums@ichei.org
Key Documents Presentations
