The fifth Capacity-building Workshop on ‘Strengthening Education Systems from a Lifelong Learning Perspective’, jointly organized by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and Shanghai Open University, successfully concluded its in-person phase from 19th to 25th October 2023, in Shanghai.
The workshop adopted a hybrid modality for the first time this year. Following an online phase from 11th to 22nd September, 12 representatives from each country team participated in the in-person phase from 19th to 25th October. The representatives included the team leaders, deputy team leaders, and excellent team members from four country teams, namely Malaysia, Republic of Azerbaijan, South Africa, and China.
The in-person phase began with the participation of the representatives in the international conference on ‘Promoting lifelong learning in higher education: From institutional strategies to practical implementation’. Ms Suraya Hani Saleh, team leader of Malaysia, joined the Presidents’ Forum of the conference. Mr Collin Pillay, from South Africa, shared the experience of Learning City Durban, in the Session 7 ‘The role of universities in addressing local challenges, engaging communities and promoting learning cities’.
The representatives then engaged in interactive discussions, country presentations, and site visits. The discussions were facilitated by workshop experts Mr Sergio Cárdenas-Denham and Ms Katarina Popović, based on the shared themes, priorities, and challenges for structured knowledge exchange. The team leaders of each country team also shared the draft outline of their workshop output documents. The representatives of team Egypt, who could not attend in person, joined the discussions and presentations online.
The in-person phase also included visits to Yangpu Branch Campus and Changning Branch Campus of Shanghai Open University.
At Yangpu, the representatives visited the Coffee Course for people with disabilities, and learned about other training courses offered by the Yangpu Campus in collaboration with Shanghai Disabled Persons’ Federation, as well as the upskilling training, the employment, and the financial support for people with disabilities. They also experienced the Tea Art Course and Woodcut Printmaking Course, which showcased the lifelong learning programmes with Chinese traditional culture.
At Changning, the representatives explored Shanghai Silicon Alley, a neighbourhood for urban renewal and industrial clustering on vocational training, enterprise support and employment promotion, as well as Changning Citizen Learning Centre, a centre for technology-enabled lifelong learning for citizens. They also visited the flagship programme of Changning Branch, the Air Transport Training Centre. This is a customised programme for Honghe in Yunnan province, a remote ethnic minority area. The representatives were impressed by the inclusive and equitable lifelong learning programmes in Shanghai.
After the in-person phase, the representatives will return to their countries, to finalize the output documents with their team members. They will continue to develop their national lifelong learning policies, the related implementation strategies, or the targeted action plans. They will further promote lifelong learning in their own countries with insights and reflections in Shanghai.
