DOHA, Qatar, November 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser AL-MISSNED, Chair of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, officially opened this morning, the premiere edition of the World Innovation Summit for Education - WISE, an initiative of Qatar Foundation.
Addressing 1,000 of the world's pre-eminent opinion leaders, Her Highness delivered her vision on education, the answer to the challenges posed today by globalization focusing on the theme of the Summit Global Education: Working Together for Sustainable Achievements:
Innovation in education, which is the focus of this Summit should become an achievable and executable process. It should be at the heart of the education which is the force which exerts human energy and guides it wisely for the purpose of expanding human intelligence and creativity to serve the objective of just and equitable human societies.
Therefore this Summit requires us to debate deeply and discuss a series of issues at the core of the right to education in order to draft an agreement on which we can build our next steps, concluded Her Highness Sheikha Mozah.
As Guest of Honour, Mrs Irina BOKOVA, newly appointed UNESCO Director-General, chose to address WISE worldwide community of opinion leaders and stakeholders, for her first official intervention abroad:
Mrs Bokova explained that: The world is undergoing a profound and rapid transformation. The economic and financial crisis has brought education sharply into focus. Education is a lifetime pursuit and an investment for the future.
Dr. Abdulla bin Ali AL-THANI, Chairman of WISE and Qatar Foundation's Vice-President of Education, engaged WISE attendees to make the most of the unique dialogue opportunity that WISE brings. During his address, Dr. AL-THANI expressed hope for meaningful debates that will lead to global collaboration to help identify the strategic educational priorities for the upcoming years.
Dr. Abdulla bin Ali AL-THANI explained: We hope WISE will become a medium - a global education forum - where all actors can meet, reflect and consider, and ultimately enact them. Through this collaborative process, we can identify major educational challenges and explore innovative and sustainable ways to address them. The priorities identified over the next three days, will be formalised in a declaration, a universal call for action, to be announced at the end of the Summit.
ABOUT WISE
WISE (World Innovation Summit for Education) is a global, groundbreaking collaborative initiative established by Qatar Foundation under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned. WISE seeks to monitor and contribute to 21st century challenges and their impact on education. With 1,000 leading education stakeholders, opinion leaders and decision-makers from 120 countries and from the spheres of education, politics, international institutions, NGOs, grassroots movements, the private sector, media and multimedia, culture and the arts. WISE endeavours to propose visionary thinking on education, offer new ways of addressing current global challenges and untapped opportunities and anticipate future education models. The WISE Forum will take place in Doha, Qatar, from November 16th to 18th, 2009. Full details on the WISE website: http://www.wise-qatar.org
ABOUT QATAR FOUNDATION
Founded in 1995 by decree of His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, Qatar Foundation is a non-profit organization focusing on education, scientific research and community development. Under Qatar Foundation's umbrella are Education City, which comprises elite universities, several academic and training programs and Qatar Science and Technology Park, which boasts more than twenty-one world-class companies involved in scientific research and development.
Chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, Qatar Foundation also aims to enhance lives through community development initiatives including Doha Debates, Reach out To Asia and Al Jazeera Children's Channel.
Joint venture partnerships in the areas of design, ICT, telecommunications, policy studies and event management contribute to fulfilling the objectives of the Qatar Foundation. For more information, please visit: http://www.qf.org.qa
NOTE TO EDITORS:
Unedited recording of the WISE Opening Plenary Session is available on WISE website: http://www.wise-qatar.org
For further information, please contact : Emilie Demange / Constance Lozet Tel: +33(0)1-47-42-19-54 / +33(0)1-47-42-92-78 Email : wisepr@fleishman.com
SOURCE: World Innovation Summit for Education - WISE
CONTACT: For further information, please contact : Emilie Demange /Constance Lozet, Tel: +33(0)1-47-42-19-54 / +33(0)1-47-42-92-78, Email :wisepr@fleishman.com
Comments