The 5th UNESCO International Conference on Learning Cities (ICLC), the largest lifelong learning conference in the world, hosted and prepared by Yeonsu, Incheon, opened on the 27th at Songdo Convensia.
This conference, held under the theme From emergency to resilience: Building healthy and resilient cities through learning,’ will discuss the importance of contactless education in the post-COVID era, global health education, and ways to respond to crises with global cities.
ICLC is a representative international event in the field of lifelong learning, hosted by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), and held every two years on a global continent. In spite of the COVID-19 situation, David Atchoarena, director of the UNESCO Lifelong Learning, representatives of international cities from 24 countries around the world, and more than 200 domestic and foreign officials will attend the in-person meeting.
In addition, lifelong learning member cities from 229 countries will participate through Zoom and Metaverse during the event. It is expected that more than 8,000 people will attend Global Network of Learning Cities Lifelong Learning Expo, which will be held as a linked event on the 29th, both online and offline for 4 days, including those who make a reservation in advance.
This international conference is expected to open a forum to promote a new educational paradigm change in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic through discussions by experts by selecting various topics for each of the 24 sessions.
Most of the international participants have arrived in Korea. On the morning of the first day, the official conference started with the press conference held in the presence of David Atchoarena, director of UIL.
At the press conference, David Atchoarena, director of UIL said, “I wish for a successful hosting and completion of this conference. I hope that this conference will be of great help in a situation where education is difficult to proceed properly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic."
The first meeting of the day opened with ‘Asia-Pacific Learning Cities Regional Meeting.’ This conference is a follow-up to the inaugural meeting of the Alliance for Asia-Pacific Learning Cities (APLC), which unites 300 learning cities in 48 countries on September 30th.
Then, at 3 P.M, at the Mayor Forum, which was hosted by David Atchoarena, director of UIL, about 40 international figures participated offline. In particular, the heads of municipalities in Korea also participated online, making it feel as if they were in person.
Also, at 6 P.M, the UNESCO Learning City Award ceremony was held, which is given to 10 cities with outstanding achievements in lifelong learning. Osan, Korea and Shanghai, China, and Wyndham, Australia received the honor of receiving the award.
On the 28th, when the full-fledged session begins, the opening ceremony will be followed by a keynote speech by former UN Secretary-General Ki-moon Ban and congratulatory speech by Eun-hye Yoo, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education.
A special session will be held online and simultaneously with the theme of ‘UNESCO’s 7 Principles for Future Education.’ The whole session will be held under the themes of ‘Learning for Health: A New Paradigm in the Post-COVID Era’ and ‘City’s Resilience: Strengthening Community and Local Learning Systems’.
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