Virtual Educa Caribe 2008 Will Be Inaugurated Today With a Conference on Education, Equity and Competitiveness in Ibero America

The conference, “Education, Equity and Competitiveness in Ibero America ,” will be presented by Francesc Pedro, Manager of the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation in Paris , marking today the official commencement of the Third Edition of Virtual Educa Caribe, an activity organized by Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE).

The forum seeks to promote discussion and foster the use of new technologies in education, capacity building and training. In this manner, Virtual Educa Caribe seeks to contribute to elevating labor efficiency and ultimately economic growth and competitiveness in the country.

FUNGLODE Headquarters will be the meeting ground for the long list of conferences and panels on new educational paradigms and viable alternatives that will facilitate citizen access to quality education, to be presented by prominent international experts. Moreover, the event also strives to contribute to the creation of a responsible and productive citizenry, and therefore, to the nation’s capacity to confront the technological and economic challenges of the 21st century.

Virtual Educa Caribe, headquartered in the Dominican Republic , was launched in Santo Domingo during the Inter-American Forum on New Technologies that took place in April, 2007.

About Francesc Pedro:

Francesc Pedro was born in Barcelona , Spain in 1960. He holds a master’s degree in Education from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, a doctorate degree in Comparative Education from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, and a post doctorate degree from the Institute of Education at the University of London . He has served as Professor of Comparative Education and Public Policy and as the program’s Academic Director at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona .

Since 2005 he has worked as the Manager of the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation in Paris , and has headed the New Millennium Apprentice Project, which strives to provide teaching guidelines to educators so that they can reformulate their classes in order to meet the expectations of a new stile of students: “digital natives.” His most recent publication is “Fauna Académica. La profesión docente en las universidades europeas” (“Academic Fauna. The Teaching Profession in European Universities”) (2004).

Sponsors

Virtual Educa Caribe relies on a select group of committed institutions to explore relevant themes during the forum:

Civil Society and Private Sector Support:

• Alianza ONG
• United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic (UNA-DR)
• EDUCA
• Microsoft Mujeres en Desarrollo (MUDE)

Educational Sector:

• Instituto Tecnológico de las Américas (Public Sector)
• Ministry of Education (Public Sector)
• Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (Public Sector)
• Universidad del Caribe (UNICARIBE)
• Universidad Abierta para Adultos (UAPA)
• Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD)
• Universidad INTEC

Governmental Sector:

• Comisión Nacional de la Sociedad de la Información y la Comunicación (CNSIC)
• Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciónes (INDOTE)
• Oficina Presidencial de Tecnología de la Información y Comunicación (OPTIC)

Fees: Universities – RD$250.00

Professors – RD$350.00

Professionals – RD$500.00

See Program:

http://www.globalfoundationdd.org/seminars/virtualeducacaribe2008/cpo_program.asp

For more information:
Yamile Eusebio y.eusebio@funglode.org
Paul Goris p.goris@funglode.org