Comparative Education Society of Asia

Latest Update: A tentative programme for the conference is now available.

An online payment method is now available. The registration deadline is now August 31

12TH CESA BIENNIAL CONFERENCE KATHMANDU 2021 (ONLINE)

Learning can be seen as an informal, everyday phenomenon; as a formal, systematised process; or (lying somewhere along an informal-formal spectrum) as a more flexibly-planned and organised ‘non-formal’ activity. Studies of diverse contexts highlight the dynamics of everyday learning and its importance to various communities – something that is often overlooked in research focusing on the formal sector. This is perhaps especially true in societies, such as those of South Asia, where access to institutions of formal education remains highly problematic for many. It is also especially true in situations, such as that of the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020-2021, which require the widespread closure of formal educational institutions and their transfer ‘online’. Realising the potential for life-long learning everywhere depends on understanding how informal learning complements and shapes learning in more formal settings. Comparative perspectives are crucial to an analysis of how different forms of learning interact in different social and cultural contexts, and therefore to efforts to render education more relevant and accessible to various social groups. As a forum for exchanging comparative insights (especially, but not only, in relation to Asia), the 12th Biennial CESA Conference will contribute to bridging the gulf between studies of formal and informal learning. The conference theme is:

Valuing Diversity in Education: Formal and Informal Learning Across Cultures

While keynote and plenary sessions will directly address the overall conference theme, the sub-themes (around which parallel sessions will be organised) are framed quite broadly in order to accommodate a wide range of presentations.

• Ethics, philosophy and the meaning of learning across cultures
• Historical perspectives on learning across Asia
• Curriculum development and ‘skills’
• Assessment + accreditation of learning across the formal-informal divide
• Planning, governance and finance of learning systems (formal and informal)
• Inequalities in access to learning
• Learning, technology and ‘new media’
• Learning to belong – identity formation, political socialisation and values
• Learning for diverse societies
• Learning for sustainable development – the challenge of SDG 4.7
• Learning and the market – shadow education, privatisation, etc.
• ‘Lifelong learning’ and the workplace
• Covid-19 and new challenges for education and learning – across Asia and beyond

In addition to keynotes, plenaries and parallel sessions, the conference will feature panel discussions and a pre-conference writing workshop (to be delivered online).

Due to the continuing disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, it has been decided to conduct this conference online.

If you are interested in presenting, please fill out a “Presenter’s Proposal Form” giving details of your presentation(s) and send it to CESA2020@kusoed.edu.np by March 31 2021.

DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTERS’ PROPOSAL FORM

IN CASE GOOGLE IS NOT AVAILABLE IN YOUR COUNTRY/REGION:

DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTERS’ PROPOSAL FORM

For further details, please contact:

CESA 2020 Conference Secretariat, GPO BOX NO 6250, Kathmandu, Nepal

Phone: +977-1– 5250524 Email:  CESA2020@kusoed.edu.np

Important Dates

Jan 1, 2021                                Call for submission open

April 30, 2021(Extended!) Deadline for proposal submission

May 30, 2021                          Acceptance notification

Aug 31, 2021                            Conference Registration

Sept 24, 2021                          CESA Board Meeting

Sept 25-26, 2021                  Conference sessions

The following registration fees apply for conference participants:

For more details, please visit https://kusoed.edu.np/cesa/?page_id=1205

Dear colleagues,

It is my great honour to have the opportunity to serve as President of the Comparative Education Society of Asia. Since it was established in 1995, CESA has grown in membership, geographic representation, capacity, and academic influence. It has functioned successfully as a platform for promoting exchange and cooperation in research and teaching, as well as mutual understanding, friendship and international dialogue amongst those engaged in researching education in, or about, Asia.

In an age of dramatic social and technical change, education in different countries and regions faces similar challenges, problems, and difficulties. CESA as an academic community should operate as a platform for collaborative research into such issues, for promoting the balanced development of education across Asia, and for advancing the frontiers of educational scholarship. In recent decades across Asia, numerous masters and doctoral programs in Comparative Education have been launched or expanded. CESA can and should do more to facilitate and strengthen networks amongst relevant institutions to improve the quality and range of Asian scholarship in the field of Comparative Education. It can do this, for example, through enhancing mechanisms for promoting faculty and student mobility, organizing professional development events (such as the writing workshops held in conjunction with our conferences since 2016), and upgrading its website and enhancing its online presence. Through these and other measures, CESA can make an even more significant contribution to creating an Asian community of educational comparativists – the core aim espoused by its founders almost three decades ago.

The development of Comparative Education across Asia has been uneven. As the president of CESA, I call on established scholars in this field to volunteer their assistance to those institutions, countries or regions where the tradition of Comparative Education is relatively weak, in order to help build new programs and draw those who have been isolated or overlooked into closer engagement with their international colleagues.
In this age of globalization, the development of CESA as well as its individual and institutional members is closely intertwined with the development of the broader Comparative Education community globally. CESA will continue to play an active role and amplify its voice within the WCCES, strengthen its ties with other comparative education societies throughout the world, and, crucially, assist its members in enhancing the international visibility and influence of Asian educational scholarship. It is partly with this end in view that, as of 2017, we have entered into a formal partnership with the Asia-Pacific Journal of Education – which is now officially the CESA journal.

CESA’s 12th biennial conference will be held on September 26-27, 2020 (Postponing due to COVID-19)  in Kathmandu, Nepal – marking the first time this event has been staged in South Asia. The theme of the conference is Valuing Diversity in Education: Formal and Informal Learning Across Cultures. The conference will offer the opportunity for presentations of cutting-edge research addressing theoretical, empirical, and practical problems in education. All educational researchers, policymakers, scholars, students and other stakeholders are sincerely invited to attend the conference and make their contributions to the field. The Call for Papers is now open and can be downloaded from our website.

Now in its third decade, CESA faces new opportunities and new challenges from a position of unprecedented strength. But CESA‘s future depends on the joint efforts and contributions of academics from around Asia and beyond. We sincerely welcome questions, suggestions, and new ideas for collaboration from colleagues throughout the world. Let us join hands and try to make a difference in education.

Sincerely yours,

Professor Liu Baocun

Institute of International and Comparative Education
Beijing Normal University, China

President

Liu Baocun (Beijing Normal University)

Past President

Chanita Rukspollmuang (Siam University)

Yoshio Gondo (Nakamura Gakuen University)

Lee, Byung-Jin (Korea National University of Education)

Muhammad Fakry Gaffer (Indonesia University of Education)

Kengo Mochida (Kyushu University)

Secretary General

Edward Vickers (Kyushu University)

Assistant Secretary General

Maria Manzon (Sophia University)

Liu Qiang (Beijing Normal University)

Sicong Chen (Kyushu University)

Suwithida Charungkaittikul (Chulalongkorn University)

Teng Jun (Beijing Normal University)

Wataru Hanai (University of Fukui)

Assistant Secretary

Mervin Low Ze Han (Graduate Student at Kyushu University)

Fukuda Sayaka  (Graduate Student at Kyushu University)

Chen Xi (Graduate Student at Kyushu University)

Web Manager

Mervin Low Ze Han (Graduate Student at Kyushu University)

Chen Xi (Graduate Student at Kyushu University)

Board Members

Abdul Hameed (University of Management and Technology, Pakistan)

Chanita Rukspollmuang (Vice President, Siam University)

Dorothy I-ru Chen (National Chi Nan University)

Furqon (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia) (alternate)*

Il Hwan Chung (Catholic University of Daegu) (alternate)*

Jandhyala B G Tilak (Council for Social Development, New Delhi)

Kwon Dong-Taik (Korea National University of Education) (alternate)*

Leang Un (Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Royal University of Phnom Penh)

Liu Baocun (Beijing Normal University)

Mahesh Parajuli (Dean, School of Education, Kathmandu University)

Manzoor Ahmed (BRAC University)

Liz Jackson (University of Hong Kong)

Mark Bray (University of Hong Kong)

Minoru Morishita (Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology)

Palaniappan Ananda Kumar (University of Malaya)

Tatsuya Kusakabe (Hiroshima University)

Virgilio Manzano (University of the Philippines Diliman)

* The CESA constitution stipulates that there can only be one voting Board member for each country or region.

CESA BIENNIAL CONFERENCES, 1996- present

The 11th Biennial Conference: Siem Reap.

10th – 12th May 2018

Theme: Education and Social Progress: Insights from Comparative Perspectives.

Host:  Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia (PUC)

The 10th Biennial Conference: Manila.

28th-30th January 2016

Theme: Diversity in Educational Policy and Practice: Challenges and Opportunities

Host: Henry Sy Bldg., De La Salle University.

The 9th Biennial Conference: Hangzhou.

16th-18th May 2014

Theme:  Education, Equality and Social Harmony: Asian Experiences in Comparative Perspective

Host: Hangzhou Normal University

The 8th Biennial Conference: Bangkok.

8th-11th July 2012

Theme: Education of the Dawn of the New Decade: When the Quality and Sustainability Movement Converge.

Host: Chulalongkorn University

The 7th Biennial Conference:  Gwangju.  

11th-13th November 2010

Theme: Diversity, Co-existence and Challenge of Multicultural Education in Asian Countries

Host: Gwangju National University of Education(GNUE)

The 6th Biennial Conference:  Hong Kong. 

8th-10th January 2007

Theme: Learning from Each Other in an Asian Century

Host: The University of Hong Kong

The 5th Biennial Conference:  Bangi.

30th-31th May 2005

Theme: Education for World Peace: The Asian Context

Host: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

The 4th Biennial Conference: Bandung.

21st-22nd July 2003

Theme: Global Changes and the Role of Education in Asia

Host: Indonesia University of Education

The 3rd Biennial Conference: Taiwan.

2001

Theme: The Prospects of Asian Education for the New Century

Host: National Taiwan Normal University

The 2nd Biennial Conference:  Beijing.

1998

Theme: Modernization of Education vs. Cultural Traditions: Prospect of Asian Education in the 21st Century.

Host: Beijing Normal University 

The 1st Biennial Conference: Tokyo.

10th-11th December 1996

Theme:  “Asian Perspectives in Education for the 21st Century”

Host: Waseda University

5 June 2018 – We have launched CESA Review and Publication.

11 May 2018 – The 11th Biennial Comparative Education Society of Asia, CESA 2018 was held at Sokhalay Angkor Villa Resort, Siem Reap, Cambodia from 11-12 May 2018. For further information, please follow the link.

06 September 2017 – CESA and the Asia-Pacific Journal of Education have agreed on a formal association, whereby the APJE becomes the official journal of CESA. A focus issue of the APJE, inaugurating its new relationship with CESA, was published which can be accessed here.

30 May 2017 – We have launched the website for CESA.

07 Jul 2015 – The 10th Biennial Conference was held at Henry Sy Bldg., De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines from 28th-30th January 2016.
For further information, please visit the website for the 10th biennial conference, CESA 2016 from the link below. http://www.cesph.org/

22 Dec 2014 – Report of the 9th Biennial Conference is now available from here.

13 Apr 2014 – We have relaunched our website. We apologize for any inconvenience occurred to you.

10 Apr 2014 – We are pleased to announce 9th CESA Conference in Hangzhou, China. Please see here.

30 Jun 2011 – We have built a new website for CESA. All new information will be updated here.