Prof. Chen Xiaoyu Attended the Global Education Dean Summit

During June 17-18, 2016, Deans of schools of education from leading research universities gathered in the town of Pushkin, near St. Petersburg, Russia. The Summit entitled “Schools of Education at Research Universities: Challenges, Opportunities, Collaboration” was organized by the Institute of Education, Higher School of Economics, and the Graduate School of Education of Peking University. Prof. Chen Xiaoyu, Dean of PGSE, was invited to the summit.

 
The participants of Summit “Education at Research Universities: Challenges, Opportunities, Collaboration”

During the two-day event, 22 deans and former deans of schools and faculties of education from 19 leading universities in 14 countries, as well as an OECD official, gathered to discuss various issues of shared concern. The topics included the role and position of educational schools within research universities in improving education policy and practice，and the challenges on fostering a new generation of researchers in the field of education and conducting international research program.

 Patricia Graham, former Dean of Graduate School of Education of Harvard University, in her keynote speech “The challenges facing schools of education in research-intensive universities”, discussed the role of educational schools in Harvard university, and generously shared with other Deans some stories and advice. She raised some questions about focused or broad research agenda against the background of limited resources.

 At the end of the event, Arthur Levine, President of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and former Dean of the Teachers College of Columbia University, concluded “this small-scale meeting is like a single pebble that causes an avalanche and can actually turn out to be more important than the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF’16) held nearby.”

 During the meeting, the participants have agreed to keep their schools in touch for the purpose of exchanging ideas, initiating further discussions, matching faculty and PhD students and launching collaborative research projects. They tentatively agreed to gather again in Beijing in 2017, attending next year's summit hosted by Graduate School of Education, Peking University. At the end of the event, some of the participants have also agreed on a brief statement.