Florence, Italy, June 12-13, 2014
World University Consortium was invited to participate in a major international conference on the “Future of Education” organized by Pixel in Florence, Italy on June 12-13, 2014. The aim of the conference was to promote transnational cooperation and the sharing of best practice in the field of innovation for Education. About 200 educators from 50 countries participated, and 132 papers were discussed in the framework of 12 thematic areas.
Alberto Zucconi WUC Secretary General and trustee of the World Academy presented the paper “The World University Consortium: a New Kind of Consortium, Including all the Stakeholders and Promoting trough Empowerment a Systemic, Interdisciplinary, Intersectorial, Intercultural Education” which he co-authored with Heitor Gurgulino De Souza, Garry Jacobs, Ivo Slaus, and Winston Nagan.
The paper argued that in this period of human history the development of accessible, affordable, quality higher education worldwide based on a human and person-centered approach is urgently needed not only to accelerate development in the field of higher education, but also in order to successfully address the wider economic, political and ecological challenges confronting humanity today.
Professor Zucconi also delivered the final keynote address of the conference entitled: “What kind of education will enable us to manage the present and future challenges?”
Stressing the need for concerted international collaboration as envisaged by establishment of WUC, he said, “A revolution in Higher Education is upon us and no force or agency on earth can ultimately prevent it. The question is not whether change is in the offing, but whether that change will be in the desired and most desirable direction. WUC has been established to attempt to steer the momentum toward the best possible future.”
