Comparative Education Society of Asia Conference
May 16-18, 2014.
Hangzhou Normal University, China
Education, Equality and Social Harmony –
Asian Experiences in Comparative Perspective.
Proposal for pre-Conference WCCES Executive meeting
(May 15 or 16, 2014)
1. Conference date and location:
The Comparative Education Society of Asia (CESA) holds its conferences
biennially in different Asian universities. The 2014 CESA conference will be
hosted by Hangzhou Normal University (HNU) in Hangzhou, China, from May 1618, 2014. The main business of the conference will take place on Saturday, May
17 and Sunday, May 18.
As plans currently stand, CESA is due to hold its own Board meeting on Friday,
May 16, which would mean holding the WCCES Executive meeting prior to that,
on Thursday, May 15. However, the question of whether to hold the WCCES
Executive meeting on the Thursday or Friday is negotiable.
2. Conference theme and sub-themes:
The relationship between education and social inequality has aroused
increasingly acute concern in many Asian societies over recent years. Rapid
industrialization and urbanization in developing Asian countries has been
accompanied in many cases by widening regional and urban-rural divides, as
urban elites enjoy expanding access to global opportunities (in education and
employment), while the less-privileged struggle to secure good-quality basic
education. Meanwhile, globalization, rapid technological and commercial change,
and the increasing currency of international ‘league tables’ of educational
performance have fuelled a tendency amongst many policymakers to see
education above all as a lever for maximizing national economic
competitiveness.
It is with this context in mind that the 2014 CESA conference takes as its theme
Education, Equality and Social Harmony – Asian Experiences in Comparative
Perspective. The conference invites participants to consider what we can learn
from the experiences of developed and developing societies, within Asia and
beyond, regarding the relationship between education, equality and stability or
‘harmony’ – both within particular societies, and in their relations with each
other. This theme is intended to stimulate debate over what different societies
can teach us regarding the balance to be struck between education’s role in
promoting economically-relevant ‘skills’, and the other vital roles that it
performs – in terms of political socialization, the distribution of opportunity, and
the broad fostering of those capabilities necessary to the pursuit of a fulfilling
life. It thus encompasses the whole range of educational thought, policy and
practice, but particularly encourages participants to consider educational
phenomena – as comparativists have traditionally done – in terms of their
relationship with, and implications for, the broader social, political and cultural
context.
Paper presentations at this conference will be grouped around the following
twelve sub-themes:
● Higher education in an era of expansion–quality, access and equity
● The teaching profession–conditions, training, role and status
● Technology and new forms of educational provision–social implications
● Education, society and the market
● Curriculum development–control or autonomy, diversity or uniformity,
elitism or equality?
● Technology and new forms of educational provision – social implications The
educational experiences of minorities, migrants and refugees
● Gender and educational equity – structures and values
● Education and international harmony – or discord
● Policy, finance and administration – designing equitable education systems
● ‘Lifelong’ and ‘life-wide’ education – changing patterns of adult, non-formal
and vocational education
● Pre-schooling and child care – educational and social implications
● Education and social inclusion for students with ‘special needs’
Keynote speakers:
CESA and HNU are inviting four distinguished keynote speakers, based in Asia
and elsewhere, to address the conference (three have agreed in principle, though
final confirmation of their availability is still pending):
- Prof. KARIYA Takehiko (University of Oxford; formerly of the University
of Tokyo)
- Prof. Krishna KUMAR (University of Delhi)
- Prof. Paul Morris (IOE, University of London; former President of the
Hong Kong Institute of Education)
- A senior Chinese Comparative Education scholar (to be decided)
Visits to local educational institutions:
The organisers plan to arrange visits to local educational institutions on the day
after the conference (Monday, May 19).
Additional activities (possibly including a pre-conference workshop) may be
added to the schedule – perhaps involving WCCES Executive members.
3. Contact persons:
The conference will be organized and chaired jointly by:
Professor CHANITA Rukspollmuang, CESA President, Dean of the Faculty of
Education, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Tel. 0-2218-2562 ext. 700
Email: chanita.r@chula.ac.th
Prof. JI Cheng-jun, Dean of the School of Education, Hangzhou Normal
University, No.58 Haishu Road, Cangqian St., Yuhang Zone, Hangzhou, P.R. Of
China, 311121
CESA 2014 Conference Secretariat:
Office of Foreign Affairs, School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University,
No.58 Haishu Road, Cangqian St., Yuhang Zone, Hangzhou, P.R. Of China, 311121
E-mail: cesa2014conference@163.com
All enquiries should be addressed either to the email address above, and/or to:
- Dr. Ye Lin of the School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University
(email: ylrihe@aliyun.com; telephone: +86-13735591820)
- Dr. Edward Vickers, CESA Secretary General, Dept of Education, Kyushu
University, 6-19-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, JAPAN
(email: vickers.edward.645@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp; telephone: +81-90-28575157)
4. Conference flyer, website, etc.
A copy of the simple flyer distributed at the WCCES Congress in Buenos Aires is
appended below. A more elaborate version is currently in production.
The conference website is currently under construction, but can already be
viewed at: http://www.zjys.com.cn/cesa2014/index.asp
Or at: cesa2014-hznu.com
5. Further information on conference organization:
No. of participants (expected): 200-300
Venue: the Yuhuangshan (玉皇山) campus of HNU
(http://yyxy.hznu.edu.cn/introduction_scenery.asp?class1=5)
Conference hotel: The Jade Emperor Hotel (玉皇山庄), adjacent to the
Yuhuangshan campus of HNU
(http://hotels.ctrip.com/Domestic/ShowHotelInformation.aspx?hotel=1986&rel
atedate=2&utm_source=&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=&campaign=CHNgoogl
e262&adid=H1986&gclid=&isctrip=T)
Responsibility for organizing the conference lies solely with Hangzhou Normal
University. HNU was granted the right to hold CESA’s 2014 conference after
submitting a bid to the Society’s Board in early 2013, and is bound by the terms
set out in that bid. The HNU organizers nonetheless regularly consult the CESA
Secretariat (represented by Dr. Vickers) over various issues related to the
conference preparations.
The majority of the funding for the conference will come from registration fees
paid by attendees. These will be supplemented by a subsidy from HNU itself.
6. Links to WCCES and other constituent societies:
CESA’s biennial conferences bring together eminent scholars in the field of
Comparative Education from around Asia and beyond. The CESA Board currently
includes members who play a leading role in the Comparative Education
Societies in the following Asian countries or regions:
- India
- China (PRC)
- Hong Kong SAR
- Taiwan (‘Chinese Taipei’)
- Japan
- Thailand
- The Philippines
- Indonesia
The Board also includes members from:
- Pakistan
- Malaysia
- Vietnam
- Brunei
Our Board members currently include two former WCCES Presidents (Prof. Mark
Bray of Hong Kong University and Prof. Lee Wing-on of NIE, Singapore), and the
organizer of the next WCCES World Congress in Beijing (Prof. Liu Baocun,
President of the International and Comparative Education Institute, Beijing
Normal University). Our Indian Board member is Prof. Jandhiyala B.G. Tilak of
NIEPA, President of the Comparative Education Society of India. The Board
member from the Philippines, Prof. Aurelio Manzano, has recently been
instrumental in the revival of the Comparative Education Society of the
Philippines.
Rationale for holding the WCCES Executive meeting at CESA’s 2014
conference in Hangzhou:
In recent years, WCCES Executive meetings have typically been held at the
annual conferences of the Comparative and International Education Society in
North America. CIES conferences generally attract substantial numbers of
participants from around the world, so it is easy to see how this has come to
seem a natural arrangement. However, this practice arguably also serves to
reinforce and entrench the status of the CIES conference as the major gathering
of eminent scholars in Comparative Education worldwide. The global mission of
the WCCES would be well served by using the annual meetings of its Executive to
give a ‘boost’ to the activities of Comparative Education societies in other
regions.
Holding the next WCCES Executive meeting in Hangzhou will contribute to the
success of CESA’s 2014 conference by bringing to the event a number of eminent
scholars from around the world who might otherwise not attend. It is important
to make the CESA conferences as international as possible, not least because the
journey to CIES is prohibitively difficult and expensive for many scholars and
students in Asia. The organizers therefore very much hope that members of the
WCCES Executive who come to Hangzhou will also present papers at the CESA
conference. Moreover, if it is decided to hold the meeting in Hangzhou, the
organizers would like to explore the possibility of inviting one or more Executive
members to stage a pre- or post-conference workshop, perhaps focusing on
research methods (in which case expenses will be covered and a modest
honorarium provided).
The decision by WCCES to hold the 2016 World Congress in Beijing indicates that
members of the Executive already recognize the importance of engaging with
Asia. This event also further reinforces the case for holding the next Executive
meeting in Hangzhou. By participating in CESA’s 2014 conference, WCCES
Executive members will have the opportunity to experience for themselves an
international conference organized in China, and thus to gain a better
appreciation of issues that may arise relating to the 2016 World Congress. Since
Professor Liu Baocun and others involved in organizing that Congress will be in
Hangzhou, this shared experience will make for more meaningful discussions in
the run-up to 2016. To some extent, therefore, CESA’s 2014 conference could be
regarded by WCCES as a ‘pilot’ for the much larger 2016 event.
7. WCCES activities and venue:
The proposed venue for the WCCES Executive meeting (pre-conference) is the
Jade Emperor Hotel (玉皇山庄), adjacent to the Yuhuangshan campus of HNU.
HNU will pay for the booking of a suitable meeting room in the hotel, and will
also provide lunch and tea/coffee. Should an additional half-day meeting need
arranging, this should be discussed with the organizers at HNU at the earliest
opportunity.
Pictures of the venue are provided on the following page:
Hotel exterior:
Meeting room:
Bedroom:
Comparative Education Society of Asia
Biennial Conference: Hangzhou, China, May 16-18, 2014
Education, Equality and Social Harmony:
Asian Experiences in Comparative Perspective
Host: School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University
The relationship between education and social inequality has aroused increasingly acute
concern in many Asian societies over recent years. This conference will invite participants to
consider what we can learn from the experiences of developed and developing societies,
within Asia and beyond, regarding the relationship between education, equality and stability
or ‘harmony’ – both within particular societies, and in their relations with each other. This
theme is intended to stimulate debate over what different societies can teach us regarding the
balance to be struck between education’s role in promoting economically-relevant ‘skills’, and
the other vital roles that it performs – in terms of political socialization, the distribution of
opportunity, and the fostering of those capabilities necessary to the pursuit of a fulfilling life.
Hangzhou, famous for its scenic West Lake, was the capital of China during the Southern
Song Dynasty (1123-1276). Relics of its historic past remain, and the city continues to attract
large numbers of domestic and overseas tourists. Conference participants are strongly
encouraged to take the opportunity of their visit here to take a day or two before or after the
conference to explore the lake and some of the related sights.
Further information available soon via the CESA website: www.cesa.jp
Queries may also be directed to Dr. Ye Lin of HNU (ylrihe@aliyun.com)