Date
13-Jan-2012 to 15-Jan-2012 		Location
Oxford, UK		 Format
International

Symposium on Tertiary Education in Emerging Market Countries

With the economic growth and social development in emerging markets today, the need for increasing supplies of trained and educated men and women is necessary for equitable and sustainable development. Recognising these realities, emerging market governments and other actors have expanded and reformed tertiary institutions as instruments of human capital formation.

To discuss questions relating to how the emerging markets that are emphasizing science, engineering, business management, medicine and technology will meet emerging needs for professional expertise in social sciences, humanities and related fields; address social and human development issues and develop capabilities in public administration,governance, occupational and environmental health and conflict management; are emerging markets developing sustainable policies to support life-long and practical learning, the symposium on Tertiary Education in Emerging Market Countries was held at Egrove Park on January 13-15, 2012. A total of 49 participants from emerging market and other countries with backgrounds in the public, private and voluntary sectors and academe participated in this three day symposium.

The Opening Ceremony of the symposium began on 13 January followed by a keynote address on Tertiary Education in Emerging Markets. The following day saw joint and parallel sessions on Changing Patterns of Demand for Tertiary Education in Emerging Markets being held. Discussion on the structural and curriculum issues were also undertaken with Dr. Rajesh Tandon, President, Society for Participatory Research in Asia being one of the introductory speakers on the Parallel session on Curriculum Issues. In this session, he stressed about the blend of different learning types of providing education to the public and spoke about the relevance of curriculum which caters to the local needs.

The last day sessions looked at the Global Market Issues in Tertiary Education and joint and parallel discussions were held on the findings and recommendations where the participants were divided into groups and had to present their inputs by refining and crystallizing their reports from the parallel sessions held on the previous day.