HONG KONG — Dr Charles Chen Yidan, founder of the world’s biggest education prize – the Yidan Prize, addressed leading global academics and educators on key issues facing the sector at the Yidan Prize Cambridge Conference on 29-30 January 2018. Also speaking alongside Dr Chen was one of the two inaugural laureates of the Yidan Prize, Ms Vicky Colbert, founder and director of Fundacion Escuela Nueva in Colombia.
Convened at the University of Cambridge and titled “Educating for the Future”, the conference examined the global economic and social challenges driving the need for transformational education reform, and the changes needed for education systems – and teachers and education practitioners in particular – to adapt to the rapid pace of change in our world today.
Dr Charles Chen Yidan said: “Educating for the future is a very broad topic covering issues ranging from changes in educational models to making sure students get the necessary skills to thrive in an automated world. It is also a topic that is so critical that more informed discussions are needed around the world in order for the transformation to happen at a global scale.
“I am honored to have had the opportunity to join our inaugural laureate, Ms Vicky Colbert, together with many other outstanding educators, at the Yidan Prize Cambridge Conference to deep dive into exploring the actions that need to be taken as we move forward.”
Following the huge success of the Yidan Prize Summit in Hong Kong in December 2017, which brought together over 350 world leaders on education for an interactive dialogue on “Education Redefined: The Future is Now”, the Yidan Prize Foundation took this much-needed debate to one of the world’s leading universities for another round of thought-provoking discussions at the Yidan Prize Cambridge Conference, held at the Frankopan Hall in Jesus College.
In addition to celebrating the achievements of the recent Yidan Prize recipients, Ms Vicky Colbert and Dr Carol S. Dweck, Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, the Cambridge conference brought together leading figures from the worlds of education research, education practice, psychology and international development to debate what high-quality education looks like and how it can become reality for all children globally.