Forum Program & Speakers

Select a session or speaker to view the forum video clip, download the presentation and see speaker biographies.

Change the World

Anthony Salcito, Vice President for Education at Microsoft, hosted this year’s Education Leaders Forum, and opened the conference with a student perspective. Dan Brown, a young American internet blogger with over 200,000 followers, gave his opinion on institutional education: How universities changed the world, their need today to adapt to the landscape of the information age, and their important role ‘to empower students to change the world for the better’

Dan Brown, a young American internet blogger with over 200,000 followers, gave his opinion on institutional education: How universities changed the world, their need today to adapt to the landscape of the information age, and their important role ‘to empower students to change the world for the better’

Prof. Dr. hab. Barbara Kudrycka, Minister of Science and Higher Education Poland, welcomed international participants to the forum and said the event provided an inspiring and fruitful experience. Kudrycka shared some insight on how Poland’s higher education institutions are fostering development and usage of new technologies, and how they are partnering with industry.

Jean-Philippe Courtois, President of Microsoft International, spoke about economic competitiveness and education’s role as an economic driver. Access, Innovation and Employability are key to enable sustained economic and social opportunity. He talks about the opportunity of cloud computing and how to connect technology innovation with economic development.

Hal Plotkin is a senior policy advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Education in the U.S. in the Department of Education. Building on his background as successful journalist and community college graduate, he tells his story, a story many Americans share, about him, not dropping out, but being pushed out of education due to economic circumstances and lack of resources. Plotkin talks about untapped human capital, about the 95% who don’t have the opportunity to develop their talents and the growth potential related to that. Representing Obama’s administration, he shared insights on policy development, which is looking at the challenge of transforming higher education - nationally and internationally - from a system that weeds people out to one that lifts people up.

Dr. Tarek Shawki, Director of the Regional Bureau for Science in the Arab States, UNESCO, introduces Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO.

Irina Bokava, UNESCO Director General, highlights the importance of public-private partnerships to achieve and build equitable, inclusive and participatory knowledge societies. With the economic crisis it is now more important than ever that young people acquire the knowledge that enables them to become dynamic and proactive members of their communities.

Prof. Geoffrey Scott is a renowned practioner and researcher from the University of Western Sydney, Australia. Part of his work focuses on what retains students in post-secondary education. He examines if the traditional model of teaching and learning is fit for purpose in a 21st century context, and highlights the importance of shifting the focus from facts and content to building capabilities and competencies. He undermines his points with a study, which looks further into what makes people highly effective, adaptive and change-capable.

Dr. Hossam Badrawi, Chairman of the Education and Research Committee at the National Democratic Party in Egypt, emphasizes the importance of nurturing the new generation of innovators. Asking leaders around the world to describe what is key to their company’s future success, would probably generate similar answers: A Talented, creative, competitive and entrepreneurial workforce. With his statement of making ordinary people winners, he ties Hal Plotkin’s remark that 95% of human capital is untapped. Traditional teaching and learning models might change, but teachers are still an important tool to help shape the future and realize that potential.

Janice Richardson is a Senior Advisor at the European Schoolnet (EUN). She took participants through EUN’s vision on partnerships and networks, and how these can help teachers expanding their skills. EUN works with 33 Ministries of Education, and Richardson outlined 3 models they are supporting through EUN: centralized driven by the European Commission, decentralized driven through multi-stakeholder networks, and one model led by different industry players.

Michael Furdyk, Co-founder and Director of Technology at TakingITGlobal in Canada, looked at the challenges and opportunities connected with the promise of technology. A lot of Furdyk work is focused on 21st century readiness for students, and by being part of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, he helps to promote critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and innovation. Furdyk started his own company in grade two, and despite not having sold his software then, he proceeded to be a successful entrepreneur at the age of fifteen.

Krzysztof Stanowski, Former Under Secretary of State in Poland, took ELF participants on an interesting journey through Polish recent history, and how it went from a collapsed, centralized economy with only one non-state owned university between Tokyo and West-Berlin 20 years ago, to one of the stronger economies in Europe, which despite the global downturn managed to maintain a course of positive economic growth. Different to other areas in the world Poland did not benefit massively from natural resources, but owes its positive development to entrepreneurship and empowering local communities.

Balint Magyar, Member of Governing Board of European Institute of Innovation and Technology and Former Minister of Education in Hungary, highlights why Digital Literacy must be categorized as Human Right. Millions of people face economic, social and geographic barriers in gaining digital literacy skills and access to technology. To decrease the Digital Divide it is vital to make these available to everyone. Magyar gave further insight about EU policy and development goals related to Digital Literacy, and building an open knowledge and innovation based society.

Beno Csapo, Professor of Education at the University of Szeged, Hungary, spoke about the importance of assessment in education. He refers to OECD, which recently published a book titled ‘The High Cost Of Low Education Performance’ and his work with PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), which provide significant data about education quality and its impact on economic output. Csapo highlighted an interesting example, which shows how the GDP in European countries would rise, if they reached the level of education Finland enjoys. Further he shared results and his experiences, with PISA 200, Cicso, Intel and Microsoft’s collaboration project on Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills , and diagnostic assessment work at his University.

Paula Vickers, Pro Vice-Chancellor at Middlesex University in the UK believes that universities have always been a place for generating new ideas and responding to change and challenge. Student’s lifestyle drives student’s expectations of their university learning experience. Access to services around the clock, from any device and any place, raises new infrastructure requirements and challenges more traditional ways of content delivery.

Anthony Salcito, Vice President for Education at Microsoft, hosted this year’s Education Leaders Forum. As he reflects on the first day of the conference and the feedback from the working sessions, he highlights two major points: Scale and Change. How to scale great ideas and concepts, and how to support change in education. Making change possible requires a high-end vision, but also tactical considerations on how to make it real and work collaboratively on solutions to overcome any obstacles for transforming education. And this is not really about technology, but common dialogue on process, people and environment.

Willy Roe, Scotland Commissioner on the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, took on the role as forum facilitator. He brings with him a wide range of skills and experience in public service, business and consultancy, and has advised many government departments and public agencies in Scotland and England and financial services and technology companies, both in the UK and North America.

Willy Roe, Scotland Commissioner on the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, took on the role as forum facilitator. He brings with him a wide range of skills and experience in public service, business and consultancy, and has advised many government departments and public agencies in Scotland and England and financial services and technology companies, both in the UK and North America.