Catch up with CERC research and members! (Click the link and the PDF will display)
Inside this issue
Anthony Welch
Chair: Yang Rui
2:30-4:00pm
Tuesday 18 February 2014
204 Runme Shaw Building, Main Campus
Although higher education scholarship is still very Western-centric, we come to know the world of Chinese higher education better through the work of HKU scholars. The diverse world of ASEAN higher education is less well-known. But as China projects itself more internationally, growing links are evident between China and ASEAN in higher education. Such cultural and trading connections can be traced back to at least the Ming dynasty voyages of Zheng He (1420s), and even earlier to the Southern Song and Yuan period (1120s to late 1360s).
China and the countries of SE Asia are now much more intertwined economically and culturally (including the presence of a significant Chinese diaspora in a number of ASEAN member countries). Both China and ASEAN member states are keen to become innovative knowledge economies, and develop world class universities. What opportunities do this offer to each side, and what are the challenges? The seminar presents an analytic framework to consider these questions, and to illustrate with related data.
Anthony Welch is Professor of Education, University of Sydney. A policy specialist, with extensive publications in numerous languages. He has consulted to several state, national, and international governments and agencies, as well as US institutions and foundations, particularly on higher education reforms. Substantial project experience includes East and SE Asia. A Fulbright New Century Scholar on higher education (2007-08), he has also been Visiting Professor in the USA, UK, Germany, France, Japan, and Hong Kong. Professor Welch also directs the national research project, The Chinese Knowledge Diaspora, and was recently part of the team conducting Myanmar’s first Comprehensive Education Sector Review (CESR), the first since 1992.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
12:45pm until 2:00pm
203 Runme Shaw Building, HKU
Speaker: Julee Allen
Chair: Trey Menefee
Between 2007 – 2010 Haiti was rocked by a series of natural and man-made disasters that nearly destroyed its already weakened education system. Working within the sector for non-government and bi-lateral organizations in Haiti during this time, Julee Allen was a part of the recovery and rebuilding efforts. In this seminar Allen will provide an orientation to the Haitian education sector pre- and post-earthquake, commenting on strategies employed at the international, national, and local levels to rebuild and restart the education system.
About the Speaker: Julee Allen was responsible for the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) education portfolio in Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. Prior to that, she was the education sector manager for Save the Children. She has additionally served as the technical and management lead for a range of programs in rural primary education, early childhood, and school health and nutrition in Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, and the Horn of Africa.
6:00-7:30pm
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Runme Shaw 305, HKU Main Campus
Speaker: Maria Manzon
Chair: Ora Kwo
Abstract:
In this seminar, Maria Manzon will trace her research trajectory from being an MEd student of Comparative Education at HKU to a comparative education researcher, through the scholarly nurturing provided by CERC. Her in-depth sociological research on the global history of the field is presented in her book Comparative Education: The Construction of a Field (published by CERC in 2011). She will comment on aspects of her book and elaborate with further insights from recent projects.
Maria MANZON is a Research Scientist at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. She is Chair of the Admissions and New Societies Standing Committee of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES) and Editor of CIEclopedia. She was previously a Research Associate of the Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC) at HKU. Her research interests include comparative education theory, history and methodology, sociology of knowledge, and Asian pedagogies. She was co-editor of a volume of histories of comparative education societies (2007), and of another volume about comparative education in universities worldwide (2008). Her 2011 book entitled Comparative Education: The Construction of a Field has been acclaimed for its comprehensive approach and path-breaking conceptualisation.
All are welcome!
12:45-2:00pm
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Runme Shaw 203, HKU Main Campus
Speaker: Jennifer Chen
Chair: Nirmala Rao
This seminar will draw on interviews of 12 Chinese immigrant mothers in the USA with children aged two to six. The mothers’ parenting practices reflected the concept of jiaoyang, i.e. educating and rearing. The approach to parenting adopted by most mothers also reflected the psychological interdependence interaction pattern of the family model with a childrearing orientation focusing on parental control, emotional closeness and child autonomy. In addition to discussing the results of this qualitative study, the seminar will highlight those of a separate, quantitative study on the effects of the parenting practices of Chinese mothers in the U.S. and China on the behavioral adjustment of their children.
Jennifer Chen is a Fulbright Visiting Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at HKU. An Associate Professor of Early Childhood and Family Studies at Kean University in the USA, she is also the President of the New Jersey Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators. Dr. Chen earned her Ed.D. in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University.
12:45-2:00pm
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
204 Runme Shaw Building, HKU Main Campus
Speaker: Ruwaida Abu Rass
Chair: Mark Bray
Canada’s multiculturalism policy, launched in 1971, has been widely admired. Among its effects have been major improvements in the education of Native Canadians. The policy could be an exemplary model for other pluralistic societies. Israel is among those societies, and arguably needs a similar policy for its native population and especially the Arab Bedouins in the southern part of the country.
This presentation will draw on two studies of newly-recruited teachers in the Northwest Territories of Canada and in the Negev of Israel. Both are remote areas with distinctive cultures; and both import teachers from other parts of the country to work alongside indigenous teachers. The seminar will highlight some of the achievements and tensions, and the lessons from the comparison.
Ruwaida Abu Rass is a teacher educator in the Academic Arab Institute for Education in Beit Berl Academic College, Israel. She also holds the UNESCO Chair for Multiculturalism in Teacher Training. She specializes in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and in multiculturalism in teacher edu- cation. She has been a member of the Second Authorities for Broadcasting in Israel, representing the Arab Palestinian minority.
12:45 – 2:00
October 22, 2013
206 Runme Shaw Building, HKU Main Campus
Speakers: Michael A Peters & Tina Besley
Chair: Liz Jackson
The MOOCs revolution promises to open up school level and higher education by providing accessible, flexible, affordable courses, using a range of platforms. Fast-track completion of university courses for free or low cost has the potential to change course delivery, quality assurance and accreditation, credentialing, tuition fee structures and academic labour. Educational institutions need to learn from these initiatives’ new business, financial and reve- nue models to meet the needs of learners in an open marketplace. Open education brings opportunities for innovation and exploration of new learning models and practices. We need to understand the threats of the monopolization of knowledge and privatization of higher education together with the prospects and promise of forms of openness (open source, open access, open education, open science, open management) that promote creative labour and the democratization of knowledge. Policy makers need to embrace open- ness and make education affordable and accessible and also profitable for institutions in an open higher education ecosystem.
Michael A. Peters Professor of Education at the University of Waikato and Emeritus Professor at the University of Illinois is the executive editor of Educational Philosophy and Theory and editor of two international journals, Policy Futures in Education and E-Learning and Digital Media. His interests are in education, philosophy and social policy, and he has written over 60 books.
Tina Besley Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for Global Studies in Education, University of Waikato, recently returned to New Zealand after 11 years in UK & US universities. She has published widely in philosophy of education, educational policy, subjectivity, youth studies, interculturalism, and the global knowledge economy.
12:45-2:00pm
Tuesday, 8 October, 2013
206 Runme Shaw Building, HKU Main Campus
Speakers: Suguru Mizunoya
Chair: Mark Bray
This seminar will provide a short history of the education sector in Kenya, highlighting major events such as the introduction of Free Primary Education, post-election violence in 2008, the Horn of Africa Drought Crisis, and promulgation of the new constitution and Education Act in 2013. It will discuss ways in which Development Partners are working with the government, while also highlighting some tensions and challenges. The discussion will include focus on political and financial issues which are relevant to the wider EFA agenda in Africa and beyond.
Suguru Mizunoya has recently joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Programme of Global Political Economy), having previously worked for UNICEF and Chaired the Education Development Partner Group in Kenya. He has also worked in UNICEF’s regional office in Bangkok, and for the World Bank and ILO. His research includes financing and planning of education systems, impact evaluation, and cost-benefit analysis of education policies.
All are welcome!
12:45-2:00pm
Wednesday October 2
206 Runme Shaw Building, HKU Main Campus
Speaker: Rattana Lao
Chair: Mark Bray
Influenced by the theory of policy borrowing and lending, this seminar explores why “a global education policy” such as quality assessment (QA) resonates in Thailand. The research deployed a qualitative case study methodology with a triangulation from document analysis, 80 elite interviews, and a three-month internship at the Office of National Educational Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA).
Historical legacies of the Thai state as an active borrower of foreign idea creates a fertile ground for QA to resonate in Thailand. The Thai elites have always, actively and purposefully, made reference to policies from elsewhere in order to legitimize national reform. Thailand deploys externalization strategy to justify the locally and historically rooted logic and aspiration that becoming modern and adapted to global trends is a national necessity.
Rattana Lao (Amp) was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, and for her doctorate graduated from Teachers College, Columbia University, USA. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the HKU Faculty of Education.
Speaker: Abbas Madandar Arani
Chair: Liz Jackson
Dialogue among civilizations requires a full understanding of different
views towards the functions of each civilization. Islamic civilization has
been one of core points in controversies about both “dialogue and conflict
among civilizations”.
The word ‘Islam’ may raise two general views on this civilization. The first
regards Islam as a culture, and the second considers Islam as an ‘Ideology’.
These two views entail different social and cultural implications.
Universities can promote one of the two aforementioned views. Taking a
cultural view towards Islamic civilization, universities can strengthen an
intellectual relationship between civilizations. Alternatively, promotion of
an ideological view increases the conceptual distances and gapes in
understanding between Islamic civilization and other civilizations.
The presentation will first explain these two views, and will then indicate
different functions of universities and other higher education centres in
some Islamic countries.
Abbas Madandar Arani received his PhD from Mysore University, India,
and is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at
Lorestan University, Iran. His research and teaching interest is in the field
of comparative education, with particular focus on education reform,
globalization and internationalization, religion and schooling, and
educational management and leadership.
