Summary of G8 Education Ministers' Meeting in Tokyo on 4/1-2-/00

<<April 3, 2000>>

Steve McCarty <steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp>

P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor <tapio.varis@uta.fi>

Takashi Sakamoto, Ph.D. <sakamoto@nime.ac.jp>

Ben I. Haraguchi <haragucb@arentfox.com>

Dear Steve:
===========

(1) Many thanks for your msgs (ATTACHMENT II and III) in response to my
request (ATTACHMENT I).

Dear Electronic Colleagues:
===========================

(2) ATTACHMENT IV is the summary of G8 Education Ministers' Meeting in Tokyo
on 4/1-2, 2000.

(3) This is almost the same as the goal, principle and direction of our Global
University System -- especially in lifelong learning and distance learning.

Dear Tapio:
===========

You may be interested in reading it -- in reference to your
lecture tour to Caracas, Venezuela next week.

Japanese Colleagues:
====================

I would suggest that you read English version -- which is clearer
than Japanese version.

Dear Prof. Sakamoto:
====================

(4) During our Tampere event, you suggested that our proposed Tokyo
workshop/conference on "Emerging Global Electronic Distance Learning
(EGEDL)" should be held in conjunction with this summit mtg.

I sincerely regret that we could not do so and missed a great opportunity.

Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I

Date: Sun, 02 Apr 2000 09:08:49 -0400
From: "Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D." <utsumi@columbia.edu>
To: Steve McCarty <steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp>
CC: David Johnson <daj@utk.edu>, Marco Antonio Dias <mardias@club-internet.fr>,
        Tapio Varis <tapio.varis@uta.fi>, Joe Pelton <ecjpelton@aol.com>,
        John Rose <j.rose@unesco.org>, Louis Padulo <padulo@libertynet.org>,
        Peter Knight <ptknight@attglobal.net>
Subject: Education Summit of UNESCO in Tokyo

Dear Steve:

(1) Pls visit <http://www.nikkei.co.jp/> and read an article (in
Japanese) about the captioned subject above.

(2) The conclusion of the summit is very similar to our GUS project.

(3) Pls try to find any similar news articles about this summit in
English newspapers, e.g., Japan Times, etc., and send to me.

Dear Marco and John:

(4) If you can find any articles in UNESCO web site or in any UNESCO
newspapers, pls let me know about this.

Thanks in advance.

Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II-III

Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 11:55:25 +0900
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
From: Steve McCarty <steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp>
Subject: Re: Education Summit of UNESCO in Tokyo

After searching for a long time in Japanese,
I found the home page for the Education Summit
at the Japanese Ministry of Education:

G8 Education Ministers' Meeting and Forum
http://www.monbu.go.jp/g8/eng/e_index.htm

Report of G8 Education Ministers' Meeting and Forum
http://www.monbu.go.jp/g8/eng/e_h1.htm

[the above site in Japanese:]
http://www.monbu.go.jp/g8/index.htm

The Japanese translation of their report:
http://www.monbu.go.jp/g8/jpn/j_h1.htm

I agree that you can cite this report in support of your projects,
especially the sections on distance education and ICT.

BTW, the Global University System Early 2000 Correspondence
page is now updated to include "Draft of Travel Grant Application
to the NSF for the Manaus Mini-Workshop":
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve/global-univ-2000.html

Collegially,
Steve McCarty
Professor, Kagawa Junior College, Japan
President, World Association for Online Education
Website Map: http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve/
In Japanese: http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/

****************************************
ATTACHMENT IV

Excerpt from
<http://www.monbu.go.jp/g8/eng/e_h1.htm>

Report of G8 Education Ministers' Meeting and Forum

G8 EDUCATION MINISTERS' MEETING, Tokyo, 1-2 April 2000
CHAIR'S SUMMARY

In their 1999 Summit Meeting, the Heads of Government of the G8 countries
and the President of the European Commission stressed the importance of
education in social and economic development for all countries, in
particular their own. They set out their convictions in the Cologne Charter
- Aims and Ambitions for Lifelong Learning, in which they emphasised the
role of education in achieving economic success, civic responsibility and
social cohesion. They declared that education and lifelong learning would
provide individuals with the 'passport to mobility' that they would need to
adjust to the flexibility and change they would face in the change from
traditional industrialized society to the emerging knowledge society.

In 2000, the G8 Education Ministers and the Member of the European
Commission responsible for Education have met for the first time and taken
up this vision in more detail from the perspective of "Education in a
Changing Society". We met in Tokyo on 1-2 April with participating observers
from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO). The following is a summary of our conclusions which we commend to
the Okinawa G8 Summit to be held in July 2000, to our own communities and to
other countries beyond the G8.

Knowledge societies offer both significant opportunities and real risks.
They require fundamental changes in learning and teaching habits, a new
organisation of content and structure of learning provision and a new
appreciation of learners' intellectual, emotional and social needs. The
skill levels required in the labour market are high and all societies face
the challenge of raising their educational performance. Individuals who
develop and maintain high skill levels can achieve considerable social and
economic success. Those who do not are at more risk than ever of
marginalisation with little prospect of finding sustained employment and the
means that it provides for full engagement in other aspects of social and
cultural life.

In this context, lifelong learning is a high priority for all. Based on the
four pillars of learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and
learning to live together, it provides the enhanced opportunities that are
essential for full citizenship in the knowledge society. It is fundamental
to the development of a nation. It builds the base for economic and social
development, develops the capacity of individuals to contribute to and
benefit from that development, sustains and enriches both individual and
overall culture of a nation and builds mutual respect and understanding that
transcends cultural differences.

Education policy cannot be developed nor practice shaped in isolation. There
must be consistency and connections between primary, secondary and tertiary
education, resulting in true lifelong learning systems. There must also be
consistency and connections with other policy domains such as employment,
science, technology and information and communication. There must be
engagement in implementation with society as a whole and with local
communities.

New strategies will best be discovered collaboratively across countries.
Taking full respect of the diversity of cultures, languages and country's
education systems, the search will not be for uniformity but the outcome
will be enriched by understanding the experiences of others. Collaboration
will also enhance international understanding and appreciation but it must
extend beyond the G8. We look for collaboration with other countries and
opportunities to work with multilateral organisations to realise our vision.
We believe that special attention should be given to helping developing
countries build up their education systems. It is important that at the
World Education Forum in Dakar from 26-28 April 2000 the international
community strongly reaffirm the world's commitment to providing education
for all its children.

1. Educational challenges in a changing society

With democratization of education and the consequent access of increasing
numbers of young people to higher levels of education, diversification of
the levels and kinds of education is imperative, to respond to the more
challenging needs of our changing societies.

Education has created more opportunities for young people to participate in
the complex and information-rich society and economy of the new century.
These opportunities are not, however, shared evenly by all in society. Some
are disadvantaged by home circumstances, some by limited educational
opportunity and low expectations. As countries succeed in attracting more of
their young people to continue to higher levels of education, those who drop
out early are left further behind.

At the same time, social changes are creating new pressures. In the midst of
affluence, there is a risk that some who have the capacity to succeed can
lose the sense of purpose that is necessary to achieve. Community and family
ties are weaker. Social and cultural pressures on young people of all
backgrounds are greater. Schools have to address underachievement, school
absence, drop-out, and disruptive behaviour.

To rise to these challenges, G8 Governments are continuously pursuing a
variety of aims, inter alia:
- to instill values of ethical behaviour and citizenship, as well as the
knowledge and skills for adult life;
- to raise student performance;
- to develop indicators to monitor and compare educational performance and
practices;
- to counteract the disadvantages of poverty and social neglect, and to
provide strong safety nets for those at risk of marginalisation;
- to find new ways to engage those who lack the motivation to learn,
including more individual support and better connections to the workplace;
- to strengthen the teaching profession, especially by enhancing
professional skills;
- to broaden access to lifelong learning for those who traditionally have
not taken advantage of it;
- to encourage parents and communities' involvement in school activities.

The countries of the G8, in their different ways, are committed to tackling
these problems so as to provide a brighter future for their youth. We
recognize that many of these issues cannot be tackled through education
policies alone, but through combinations of social and economic policies.

We agreed to encourage research, dialogue and international links between
policy makers, educational practitioners, and researchers on effective
approaches to problems of educational disadvantage, ways to create better
learning environments and strategies to build tolerance and a spirit of
community among students.

2. Lifelong learning and distance learning

The Cologne lifelong learning charter recognized the challenge every country
now faces to become a learning society and to ensure that its citizens are
equipped with the knowledge, skills and qualifications they will need in the
new century. The rapid progress of information and communication
technologies in recent years such as satellite communications, large
capacity optical fiber communications and the Internet have greatly expanded
the power of distance learning as a tool for lifelong learning and
international understanding. The combination of learning and work can be
strongly facilitated by distance learning. Properly applied, ICT can be
powerful for expanding learning opportunities in developing countries.

We agreed to:

1) extend the opportunities for lifelong learning so that all people have
access to education anywhere and anytime throughout their lives;

2) encourage international collaboration by public and private sectors on
distance learning;

3) examine the implications for education systems of increasingly borderless
education, initially through a meeting of experts;

4) encourage institutions and experts to share experience on distance learning;

5) encourage universities and colleges to work together to use the Internet
and satellite communication for teaching, training and research, including
with their counterparts in developing countries.

3. Educational Innovation and ICT

The interaction of people and ideas is at the heart of education.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) hold out the promise of
enriching the contents and changing the mode of delivery of education,
potentially allowing societies to extend access to learning and deepen
students' ability to understand and innovate. They are also tools that
expand individuals' capacities to solve problems and acquire information in
school, in the work place, and throughout their lives. At the same time, we
need to pay attention to the dark side as well as the bright side of ICT. In
particular, care must be taken to adopt policies that reduce the 'digital
divide' between the more and less advantaged members of society.

We agreed to:

1) support research and share information on what it means to be
technologically literate, effective practices to teach and assess the skills
required for such literacy, and ways that technology may be effectively used
to support learning in schools and other learning places of the future;

2) encourage the application of ICT to the world of learning, including
vocational education and training and learning at the workplace;

3) share effective practices to lower barriers to access to educational
technologies and thus reduce the 'digital divide' both within and between countries;

4) acknowledge the value of and strengthen material and intellectual support
for projects aimed at developing clearinghouses or portals to access
high-quality contents and software applicable to education;

5) share information on ways to prepare teachers to use educational
technologies effectively, including ways to help their students to select
accurate and appropriate information and to use technology as an appropriate
tool for discovery, learning and educational achievement;

6) encourage the development of international networks of experts, including
educators, researchers, technology developers, and policy makers, to work
cooperatively to develop practical applications of emerging technologies to
educational challenges;

4. Promoting international exchange of students, teachers, researchers and administrators

More than ever, international experience has a high value for students,
teachers, researchers and administrators at all levels. The increasing
interdependence of the world economy has increased the need for mutual
understanding through international cooperation and exchange in various
fields and friendly relationship based on mutual trust among nations.
Knowledge and skills are increasingly transferable internationally.

The Cologne summit identified the importance of the promoting exchange of
students, teachers, and administrators and invited Education Ministers to
identify the main obstacles and to come forward with proposals.

We want to encourage more mobility at all levels of education and training,
not only through formal exchange programmes, but also through cooperative
arrangements between institutions and the voluntary mobility of individual
students and staff. We place particular priority on giving teachers more
opportunities for professional development through international experience.

Obstacles that need to be tackled include:
- Issues of evaluation and recognition of curricula, credits and
qualifications for studies undertaken abroad;
- lack of access to relevant information on counterpart institutions;
- levels and portability of financial support;
- problems of language and intercultural understanding;
- regulatory barriers (entry procedures, tax, social security and health
coverage, work rules);
- career progression and provision of substitutes for teachers;
- scarcity of accommodation.

In the case of exchanges of teachers and administrators, there can be the
additional obstacle of lack of recognition by policymakers of the
significance and benefits of international exchange.

We, confirming our determination to make every effort to promote
international exchanges of students, teachers, researchers and
administrators, agreed to:

1) explore ways to substantially increase the overall level of exchange
among G8 countries and with other countries , with the goal of doubling the
rate of mobility over the next ten years;

2) encourage appropriate agencies and educational institutions to increase
the transferability of qualifications and credits, and validation of studies
for internationally mobile students;

3) share the experience of international mobility models like Erasmus and
UMAP and encourage further development of networks for educational exchange;

4) continue to strengthen foreign language learning, area studies and
intercultural education at all levels, and encourage or support programs
delivered in foreign languages, particularly in universities;

5) further strengthen the role of human resources development and personnel
exchange programs in development assistance policies. With its universal
nature, UNESCO should be able to play a useful role in this context.

Finally Ministers agreed to review and report to leaders on progress of the
agreements stated above by making use of existing international fora such as
OECD. In addition, it was suggested at the meeting that further meetings of
G8 education ministers would be held in the future as the need arises.
****************************************
List of Distribution

Steve McCarty
Professor
Kagawa Junior College
President, World Association for Online Education (WAOE)
3717-33 Nii
Kokubunji, Kagawa 769-0101
JAPAN
+81-877-49-8041 (office, direct line)
Fax: +81-877-49-5252
steve@kagawa-jc.ac.jp
steve_mc@kagawa-jc.ac.jp
mccarty@mail.goo.ne.jp -- web mail
http://www.waoe.org -- for WAOE
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/WAOE-founding.html
Website Map: http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve/
English language home page and online publications page:
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/ -- for Japanese language home page
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/jpublist.html -- for online publications
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/presence.html
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/epublist.html
(an Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library 4-star site)
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/asia-pacific/projects-ej.html
("Fundamental Projects of Dr. Takeshi Utsumi")
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/asia-pacific/index.html
(Global University System Asia-Pacific Framework)

P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor
Acting President, Global University System
Chairman, GLOSAS/Finland
Professor and Chair
Media Culture and Communication Education
Hypermedia laboratory
University of Tampere
P.O.Box 607
FIN-33101 Tampere
FINLAND
Tel: +358-3-215 6110
GSM: +358-50-567-9833
Fax: +358-3-215 7503
tapio.varis@uta.fi
http://www.uta.fi/~titava

Takashi Sakamoto, Ph.D.
Director General
National Institute of Multimedia Education (NIME)
2-12, Wakaba
Mihama-Ku, Chiba 261-0014
JAPAN
Tel: +81-43-298 3000
Fax: +81-43-298 3471
sakamoto@nime.ac.jp
http://www.nime.ac.jp/
http://hoklpc25.uta.fi/egedl/outline/virtualuniversityinjapan.htm -- his slide
presentation at Tampere event.

Ben I. Haraguchi
President
Foundation for the Support of the United Nations (FSUN)
809 United Nations Plaza, Suite 1200
New York, NY 10017
USA
Tel: +1-212-986 8114
Fax: +1-212-986 8131
haragucb@arentfox.com
bharaguchi@fsun.org
http://www.fsun.org
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA                  *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE                                                   *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education)      *
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of     *
*   Global University System (GUS)                                   *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A.               *
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676             *
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/                            *
**********************************************************************

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