Schools of Education at Research Universities: Challenges, Opportunities, Collaboration
During the two-day event, 22 deans and former deans of schools and faculties of education from 19 leading universities in 14 countries, as well as one OECD official, gathered to discuss various issues of common interest. The topics included the role and positioning of educational schools within research universities, their role in improving education policy and the practice of education. The participants also gave consideration to such challenges as construction of international research agenda and training of a new generation of researchers in the field of education.
Patricia Graham, former Dean of Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, during her keynote «The challenges of schools of education in research-intensive universities» discussed the role of educational schools in their home universities and generously shared with other Deans some stories and advice. She raised the questions about focused vs broad research agenda against the background of limited resources.
In describing the success of the event, Arthur Levine, President of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and former Dean of the Teachers College, Columbia University, said that this "small-scale meeting is like a single pebble that causes an avalanche and can actually turn out to be more important than the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF’16) held next door.”
During the meeting, the participants have agreed to keep their respective schools in touch for the purpose of exchanging ideas, matching faculty and PhD students, initiating further discussions and launching collaborative research projects. They tentatively agreed to assemble again in Beijing in 2017. Some of the participants have also agreed on a brief statement.