Dear All,
We would like to invite participants for an ESRC-funded seminar series on 'New
Spaces of Education: the changing nature of learning in the 21st century'.
The aims of the series include:
To examine the changing spaces within which learning takes place, including:
homes, transnational (immigrant) spaces, cyberspace and workplaces, and to
develop a set of conceptual tools for exploring further the questions raised
through these discussions;
To explore the transformation of spaces of education at different ‘stages’,
including: nursery/pre-school; primary and secondary; tertiary and higher
education; adult education; community-based provision; and workplace
learning;
To consider changes in the traditional relationship between life-stage and
education (including concepts of lifelong and life-wide education, workplace
learning, and education in retirement);
To explore the spatial variability in the value attached to different
credentials/qualifications (i.e. the different ways in which they may be valued
across geographical boundaries);
To provide, where possible, a comparative perspective, considering different
national and policy contexts on learning at different stages;
To consider associated changes in definitions of what constitutes education
and learning at the beginning of the 21st century (critically assessing the
nature of credentialism, the value attached to different qualifications, the
impact of economic imperatives, hierarchies of institutions and national
educational systems, etc.).
The first of four seminars will be held at the University of Liverpool on 2nd
June 2009. Details of all the seminars can be found at:
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/politics/NewSpacesofEducationIndex.htm
Seminar 1: International/Transnational Spaces of Education (University of
Liverpool, 2nd June 2009)
This session will examine recent developments in the internationalisation and
transnationalisation of education including: the growth of an international
education industry; the emergence of satellite university campuses
and ‘offshore’ schools; the expansion of international MBA programmes; the
creation of national education ‘brands’; and the ‘global’ entrepreneurial
activities of educational institutions. It will also consider the social and spatial
implications of the international/transnational mobility of students: the number
of foreign (tertiary) students within OECD countries has doubled over the past
20 years (OECD, 2002). Today there are more than 2.7 million foreign students
in tertiary education worldwide (OECD, 2007), in addition to an unquantified
number at primary and secondary levels. The spatial configuration of this
mobility testifies to an increasingly differentiated and uneven global geography
of education – students generally flow from ‘East’ to ‘West’ and from non-
English-speaking to English-speaking countries. However, a number of regional
geographies of student mobility are also emerging (for example, student
mobility in and around East and Southeast Asia and the development of a
European space of learning). This session will address the implications and
impacts of these uneven spatial configurations for governments, policymakers,
non-governmental organisations, educational institutions (including universities
and schools) and students and their families.
Confirmed speakers:
Professor Kris Olds, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Professor Susan Robertson, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol
Dr Mary Hayden, Department of Education, University of Bath
Jess Guth, School of Management, Bradford University
Don Olcott, Chief Executive, Observatory on Borderless Higher Education
To reserve a place at this seminar, please contact Dr Johanna Waters
([log in to unmask])
We have a number of bursaries available to cover the travel expenses of
doctoral students who would like to attend the seminar. If you would like to
apply for one of these, please contact me, specifying the amount you are
requesting (assuming a second class train fare)
Best wishes,
Rachel Brooks
University of Surrey
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