Symposium

Registration (Deadline: Sept. 30, 2025)

This form is intended for individual participants who wish to attend the International Education Development Forum (IEDF) Symposium 2025.

We warmly welcome all who are interested to join us.

• If you would like to attend online, please fill out the following form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfHXNfsCwdY-8zFKaxmhndNPiKH_b4EMR7vGS0T-LDNJN9vqg/viewform?usp=header

• If you would like to attend on-site please fill out the following form(40 seats available, first come, first served):

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfYvckfl2MmDfE-ToGY6CF5j5Rt-npXD27rdmyY3bYeQFuRqw/viewform?usp=header

Background

Since the collapse of the Cold War, the world has entered an era characterized by escalating conflicts, climate emergencies, growing inequalities and deepening divisions. Although global education policies, most notably SDG 4 on inclusive and equitable quality education, have aimed to address these challenges, they remain rooted in a modernization paradigm that often overlooks local contexts, indigenous knowledge systems and structural injustices.

As the 2030 deadline approaches, this symposium critically examines the agendas that shape international educational development and the goals and approaches needed towards and beyond 2030. Taking the Asia-Pacific region — including Japan — as its central focus, the symposium asks how the region's experiences, challenges and innovations can contribute to reimagining education in more inclusive, just and sustainable ways.

Purpose of the symposium 

The symposium invites cross-border, collaborative dialogue to explore how education can evolve from technical solutions to transformative, context-responsive paradigms. By bridging research, education, and practice, the symposium aims to develop evidence-based alternatives and promote collaborative knowledge production to support the renewal of international educational development towards and beyond 2030.

Expected outcomes

The symposium will generate a critical synthesis of emerging priorities and alternative frameworks for international educational development towards and beyond 2030, paying particular attention to perspectives rooted in the Asia-Pacific region. The symposium aims to strengthen cross-regional networks of researchers, educators and learners who are committed to advancing justice-oriented and contextually grounded educational practices. Through collaborative dialogue, the symposium will identify and document transformative initiatives that challenge the dominant modernization paradigm and offer evidence-based insights into more pluralistic and sustainable pathways. By doing this, it will help to rethink the futures of international educational development and provide information for policy recommendations for global and regional institutions involved in creating the post-2030 education agenda.