Hello, everyone! In our last post, I have introduced all of you about Global Leaders Forum 2020 hosted by TV Chosun!
I hope you had a chance to participate and watch some lectures from GLF 2020, but I also understand some of you may have not been able to make it - therefore, here is my review of Global Leaders Forum 2020 First Day sessions!
Of course, as a student studying in London, the time difference between Korea and the UK (9 hours difference) made it difficult to watch the whole GLF 2020 session; however, I decided to stay up the whole night (accompanied by continuous fatigue throughout Monday) to watch all three sessions of GLF 2020. In my Greenwich Mean Time, the first session began at 12: 30 AM and the last session finished at 8 AM in the morning, so yes I had to stay up for the entire 8 hours on Monday morning.
The opening speech and the first session was organized under the theme of "Post-Corona, Change of Education Paradigm"
The opening speech was provided by the former prime minister of the UK, Gordon Brown. As a student studying at King's, it was interesting to directly hear the speech from the Prime Minister of the UK, especially whom I had watched several times in the British TV news and discussed with my friends in the school, via a Korean platform. In his speech, Mr Brown has demonstrated the reasons why everyone in this world needs to receive a proper education and how we can provide such quality education to all people. Of course, this suggestion to improve the quality of education in developing countries by Mr Brown was not a surprise, considering that Mr Brown introduced New Labour Education Policies, which emphasizes the equality in education as well as higher quality of British education, during his time as the Primer Minister. Concluding the speech, Mr Brown has also emphasized the importance of the role of Korea as the responsible global actor to contribute to improving education in developing nations.
As a student studying International Relations with a strong interest in the International Development, I always had a belief that education is the most crucial factor in supporting social and economic development in developing countries. Accordingly, there were many points in Mr Brown's speech that I could agree upon. As such, I have already been participating in various education volunteer activities both online and offline while working with various university societies, NGOs, and charities. As Mr Brown explained the importance of the role of Korea, a now developed country, in supporting the developing countries, the opening speech was a great reminder and push for me to continue international educational volunteer activities I have been doing and to further contribute on providing educational opportunities on more students in this world.
As I have explained before, the first session was about "Post-Corona, Change of Education Paradigm". Various panels have discussed on how we can provide online education to students in diverse background and settings. Especially, the discussion focused on the fact that many schools have not been able to make the transition into a digital-based school setting and minorities in the international community such as refugees are not able to receive proper education opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a solution for those issues, panels have emphasized the need for increased investment in education in the global society. Especially, in order to ensure digital technology can be used in education in a way that is most beneficial for students and humans, they emphasized that the increased investment in education is inevitable. Volunteering for students from less economically developed countries (LEDCs) such as Belarus, I have learnt that digital technologies that are easily accessible in the UK or Korea, including stable internet connection, smartphones or laptops, may not be easily accessible for students living in LEDCs. This is a significant factor as the lack of access to technologies in LEDCs during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the 4th Industrial Revolution is resulting in discrimination on educational opportunities and access to education itself. Therefore, I believe it is important for international society to place more focus on improving the access to education through technology in more LEDCs and conduct international activities to overcome this issue. Of course, in the future, if I get to work with international organizations such as the UN Development Programme, I also hope to work in projects that can change the improve the quality of education for more students in this world and provide easier access to education for all.
The second session of the day was under the theme of "AI Education and Disruptive Innovation," with discussion on how to adapt the new technologies into education.
The most interesting point in the second session was the discussion over "High Tech, High Touch" trend in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the improvement in technology through the 4th industrial revolution, there has been less need and opportunity to meet other people face to face. "High Tech, High Touch" trend paradoxically emphasizes that we should not forget the importance of human emotions and the in-person communication among people in our lives. Listening to this discussion, I figured that the trend also applies to my lives as I have been missing face to face interaction with my lecturers, seminar leaders, and friends in the university! The session concludes with the lesson that we have to prepare ourselves so that values of humanity do not get lost even during the technological innovation, especially in the education of our students.
As a person who works with varying international student organizations for their communications, I believe "High Tech, High Touch" is an important value for me to remember. Whenever I am designing any online materials or running an online program, considering the "High Tech, High Touch" value indeed will support me to create online activities that students can easily emphasize and have the most similar experience as face to face experience before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The last session I participated on the 16th of November was under the theme of "AI Education and Disruptive Innovation".
In the last session, various panels in the field of economics have discussed how international economics and the Korean economy will change after COVID-19 pandemic. Personally, a short lecture by the Associate Professor of National University Singapore (NUS), Jang-Sup Shin, was one of the most interesting parts of the discussion. He argues that the global and Korean governments should not aim their economic policies to simply go back to Pre-Covid-19 economies. He further argues that the Korean economy was already experiencing stagflation and therefore it is important for the Korean government to actively bring changes to the economy rather than simply trying to go back to Pre-COVID-19 economy.
As the student taking the International Political Economy, I definitely agree with his point. Yes, it is true that the COVID-19 had a negative impact on the economy in general, already before the pandemic, the Korean economy was experiencing persistent growth in the inflation rate, while the unemployment rate was also increasing even with the low-interest rate set by Korean Bank and the Korean government. In the international level, due to the increase in the use of technologies by the firms, even though the active economic activities by firms made some countries to appear as experiencing economic growth, the unemployment rate of those economies were steady or increasing as labour was less needed in the production process. Therefore, as Professor Shin argues, it is important for us to use COVID-19 as the opportunity to bring a paradigm shift in the world economy and the Korean economy.
As you may have already noticed from my review on GLF 2020, as an International Relations student, Global Leaders Forum 2020 was a very meaningful and informative program for me to participate. I had a great opportunity to learn how the world is changing and how can we participate in those global changes. Furthermore, it was a great chance for me to reflect upon myself and learn more about how can I create good future policies for the Korean society and the international community that can respond to the changes brought by the pandemic. I am confident these learnings will be a great asset in my future career in either Korean politics or international organizations. Although for this year I was only able to participate in the first day of GLF 2020 (due to huge time difference and my school work), I hope I can participate in person to the conference in Seoul for next year's Global Leaders Forum 2021.
If you would like to listen to some lectures from the Global Leaders Forum, you can easily watch at TV Chosun Youtube Channel. Link to the Lecture Videos: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdL7USGieQC0TuWun8sJJmZy1UNmiv_s5
글로벌 리더스 포럼 2020
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Thank you very much for TV Chosun team on hosting this great event and all the speakers for great sessions!
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