Updated on 2024/07/28

Information

 

写真a

 
VICKERS EDWARD
 
Organization
Faculty of Human-Environment Studies Department of Education Professor
School of Education (Concurrent)
Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies Department of Education(Concurrent)
Title
Professor
Contact information
メールアドレス
Tel
0928025194
Profile
I currently hold Kyushu University's UNESCO Chair on Education for Peace, Social Justice and Global Citizenship (established in 2021). I research the history and politics of education in contemporary Asia, with a particular focus on Chinese societies (the People's Republic of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong). I am co-author (with Zeng Xiaodong) of the definitive study, Education and Society in Post-Mao China (2017), which critically assesses the development of China’s education system since the 1970s. I am particularly interested in education's role as part of the apparatus of political control in China, across Asia and beyond. My early research was concerned with the politics of history as a school subject in Hong Kong (In Search of An Identity, 2003). This work analysed tensions inherent in Hong Kong’s post-1997 project of ‘national education’ - tensions that have subsequently contributed to the recent protests and subsequent restrictions on civil liberties. I also published the first major comparative study of history education across East Asia, an issue of crucial importance in regional politics. My research extends to museums, cultural policy and identity in Taiwan, and my recent work includes a pathbreaking collaborative study of war-related heritage across East Asia, Remembering Asia’s World War Two (2019). I am currently working on a collaborative study of the politics of public history in post-civil war Sri Lanka (led by Mark Frost of UCL in London). I have helped coordinate two major reports for UNESCO: Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century (2017), and the 'International Scientific and Evidence-based Educational Assessment' (2022). I am founding Director of the Kyushu University Taiwan Studies Program, President of the Comparative Education Society of Asia (2021-2025), and joint editor of the East Asian Journal of Popular Culture. PROPSPECTIVE POSTGRADATE STUDENTS PLEASE NOTE: I ONLY RESPOND TO ENQUIRY EMAILS THAT SHOW THAT THE SENDER HAS (1) READ MY HOMEPAGE AND UNDERSTANDS MY EXPERTISE AND INTERESTS, AND (2) HAS THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT HE/SHE WANTS TO RESEARCH. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SEND ME A FULL RESEARCH PROPOSAL, BUT YOU MUST SHOW THAT YOU HAVE BEGUN TO THINK ABOUT YOUR OWN RESEARCH INTERESTS - AND ABOUT WHY YOU THINK THAT I WOULD MAKE AN APPROPRIATE SUPERVISOR. I AM ALSO MORE LIKELY TO RESPOND IF YOU WRITE TO ME IN ENGLISH.

Degree

  • PhD

Research History

  • The People's Education Press (人民教育出版社), Beijing, China (2000-2003), textbook author and editor Madam Lau Kam Lung Secondary School of Miu Fat Buddhist Monastery, Hong Kong (1993-1997), graduate master (schoolteacher) Longman (Hong Kong) Limited - freelance textbook author (1994-2005)   

    The People's Education Press (人民教育出版社), Beijing, China (2000-2003), textbook author and editor Madam Lau Kam Lung Secondary School of Miu Fat Buddhist Monastery, Hong Kong (1993-1997), graduate master (schoolteacher) Longman (Hong Kong) Limited - freelance textbook author (1994-2005)

  • University of London, Institute of Education 2003-2012 (Reader in Education) University of Hong Kong, postgraduate research student, 1997-2000   

Research Interests・Research Keywords

  • Research theme: The comparative study of the relationship between education and political socialisation in Asian societies - with particular reference to history and civics.

    Keyword: Asia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, identity, history

    Research period: 2000.10 - 2012.10

Papers

  • The politics of education on China’s periphery: ‘Telling China’s Story Well’ – or honestly? Invited Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers Sicong Chen

    Comparative Education   60 ( 1 )   2024.1

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    This article provides an overview of the politics of education as they affect regions and communities on the periphery of the People’s Republic of China. Drawing on the articles in this special issue of Comparative Education, it analyses tensions related to the attempted imposition of Bejing’s homogenising and totalising vision of Chineseness across Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and amongst the mainland’s migrant underclass. Also considered here are the politics of comparative educational scholarship, as they relate to a widespread failure to engage critically with the diversity and complexity of Chinese societies. Attributable largely to the West’s own ‘culture wars’, this failure betrays much-touted ethical commitments to social justice and anti-‘hegemonic’ resistance. It is thus a central purpose of this essay – and special issue – to urge educational scholars to interrogate the politics of oppression and injustice in China and elsewhere ‘beyond the Western horizon’.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2023.2299907

    Other Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03050068.2023.2299907

    Repository Public URL: https://hdl.handle.net/2324/7164788

  • Accelerating Hong Kong’s reeducation: ‘mainlandisation’, securitisation and the 2020 National Security Law Invited Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers Paul Morris

    Comparative Education   58 ( 2 )   187 - 205   2024.1

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    Whilst Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 has influenced education in various ways, major reforms perceived as promoting mainland control have been resisted. For two decades, Hong Kong’s educational autonomy under the ‘one country, two systems’ formula was thus largely maintained. This changed radically with the response to the protests of 2019–2020, culminating in the introduction of a National Security Law. This has drastically constrained Hong Kong’s civil society, enhanced central government control of education and accelerated efforts to reeducate Hongkongers as loyal PRC citizens. We trace how this transformation has been enacted and justified, and reflect on its consequences. We analyse the current situation through the lenses of ‘internal colonialism’ and securitisation, which have characterised governance of China’s restive periphery under Xi Jinping. We argue that analytical perspectives in Comparative Education, relating to postcolonialism/decolonisation and globalisation, obstruct or distort understanding of Hong Kong’s present predicament.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2022.2046878

    Repository Public URL: https://hdl.handle.net/2324/7164786

  • The motherland’s suffocating embrace: schooling and public discourse on Hong Kong identity under the National Security Law Invited Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers

    Comparative Education   60 ( 1 )   2024.1

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    While ‘national education’ has regularly been invoked by post-1997 Hong Kong administrations, its pursuit has acquired new force and urgency since the introduction in 2020 of a National Security Law. Investigating the role of schooling in this reinvigorated project of thought reform, this article asks how far recent initiatives have merely amplified official identity discourse or marked a qualitative change. It does so primarily by analysing the official curriculum and textbooks for Citizenship and Social Development (CSD), introduced in 2022 to replace Liberal Studies, a subject widely blamed by nationalists for fomenting sedition. Following a comparative overview of the new and old curricula, there is a discussion of changes to the textbook treatment of: the historical framing of identity; the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ model; culture’s significance for Hong Kong’s place in China; and civil, legal and constitutional rights and duties. The analysis concludes with reflections on what these changes imply both for China’s efforts to re-educate its unruly Hong Kong subjects, and for scholarly efforts to understand and explain such processes.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2023.2212351

    Other Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03050068.2023.2212351

  • Discipline and moralise: gratitude education for China’s migrant families Invited Reviewed International journal

    Wan Yi Edward Vickers

    Comparative Education   2024.1

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    The problems China’s rural-born migrants face in accessing urban public services, including education, are widely known. This article analyses how official discourse attributes migrant children’s vulnerability to their ‘problematic family background’ while exhorting them to show ‘gratitude’ to a benevolent state. Combining documentary analysis and insights from fieldwork, we examine how ‘gratitude education’ seeks to inculcate notions of a moral hierarchy in which migrants are subordinate or inferior. We further investigate parental beliefs and practices with respect to gratitude, and family participation in related educational activities. The findings indicate that such activities constitute just one aspect of a broader strategy that extends to initiatives focused on governance and philanthropy. Programmes of gratitude education are one tactic for concealing the deficiencies in government action on rural migrants’ behalf. By associating entitlement to public goods with individual or familial propriety, they aim to legitimate the institutional barriers that ensure migrants’ enduring marginalisation.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2023.2296191

    Other Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03050068.2023.2296191

  • Balancing unity and diversity? Shifting state policies and the curricular portrayal of China’s minority nationalities Invited Reviewed International journal

    Yan Fei Edward Vickers

    Comparative Education   60 ( 1 )   2024.1

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    This article analyses the implications of recent policy changes for the portrayal of minority nationalities in the latest China’s history textbooks published around 2017. We argue that ideological responses to the fierce ethnic clashes of the late 2000s and the leadership transition since 2012 have generated increasingly contradictory official discourses on the relationship between Chinese identity and cultural diversity, which are manifested in the textbooks. On the one hand, policies and textbooks still appear to endorse a multi-minzu, inclusive understanding of nationhood and Chinese history. On the other hand, an increasing emphasis on nationalist discourses celebrating the Han culture and achievements reinforces assimilationist narratives based on a monolithic and homogenising vision of Chinese nationhood. We argue that such tensions reflect conflicts over contradictory understandings of Chineseness that have intensified since 2008–2009, and that the increasing marginalisation in textbooks of non-Han groups may contribute to further exacerbating problems in the handling of inter-minzu relations.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2023.2213139

    Other Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03050068.2023.2213139

  • Huxleyan utopia or Huxleyan dystopia? 'Scientific humanism', Faure's legacy and the ascendancy of neuroliberalism in education Invited Reviewed International journal

    Yoko Mochizuki Edward Vickers Audrey Bryan

    International Review of Education   68 ( 5 )   709 - 730   2022.11

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    In addition to the longstanding threat posed by narrow economism, faith in the possibility of peace and progress through democratic politics – central to the humanistic vision of the 1972 Faure report – today faces additional challenges. These challenges include the ascendancy of neurocentrism in the global policyscape. Whereas the effects of neoliberalism on education have been extensively critiqued, the implications of a newer, related ideological framework known as neuroliberalism remain under-theorised. Neuroliberalism combines neoliberal ideas concerning the role of markets in addressing social problems with beliefs about human nature ostensibly grounded in the behavioural, psychological and neurological sciences. This article critically examines a recent initiative of one of UNESCO’s Category 1 Institutes – the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) – that seeks to mainstream neuroscience and digital technology within global educational policy. Comparing the visions of the 1972 Faure, the 1996 Delors and the 2021 Futures of Education reports with MGIEP’s International Science and Evidence Based Education Assessment (ISEEA), the authors analyse continuity and change in UNESCO’s attempts to articulate a vision of “scientific humanism” which advocates the use of science for the betterment of humanity. They argue that ISEEA’s overall recommendations – as represented in its Summary for Decision Makers (SDM) – reinforce a reductive, depoliticised vision of education which threatens to exacerbate educational inequality while enhancing the profits and power of Big Tech. These recommendations exemplify a neuroliberal turn in global education policy discourse, marking a stark departure from the central focus on ethics and democratic politics characteristic of UNESCO’s landmark education reports. Reanimating, in cruder form, visions of a scientifically-organised utopia of the kind that attracted UNESCO’s inaugural Director-General, Julian Huxley, ISEEA’s recommendations actually point towards the sort of dystopian “brave new world” of which his brother, Aldous Huxley, warned.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-022-09982-6

    Other Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11159-022-09982-6

  • Towards Meritocratic Apartheid? Points Systems and Migrant Access to China's Urban Public Schools Invited Reviewed International journal

    #Wan Yi Edward Vickers

    The China Quarterly   ( 249 )   210 - 238   2022.3

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    This paper analyses rural migrant children's access to public schools in urban China, focusing on the implications of the recent introduction of points systems for apportioning school places. This approach, first piloted by Zhongshan city in Guangdong province from 2009, has steadily been extended nationwide. Here, we analyse the reasons for its spread and for divergence in its implementation in various urban districts. Notwithstanding rhetorical claims that points systems promote “fairness” or “equality” in the treatment of migrants, our analysis suggests that they maintain or even exacerbate the stratification of urban society, lending new legitimation to the hierarchical differentiation of entitlements. This is consistent with the aim of the 2014 “New national urbanization plan” to divert urban growth from megacities towards smaller cities. However, we argue that the use of points systems should also be seen in the context of an evolving bureaucratic-ideological project aimed at more rigorously monitoring and assessing China's entire population, invoking the logic of meritocracy for the purpose of control.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741021000990

  • Towards national socialism with Chinese characteristics? Schooling and nationalism in contemporary China Invited Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers

    World Yearbook of Education 2022   46 - 65   2022.1

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    DOI: DOI:10.4324/9781003137801-5

  • Schooling, Politics and the Construction of Identity in Hong Kong: the “Moral and National Education” Crisis in Historical Context Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers, Paul Morris

    Comparative Education   51 ( 3 )   305 - 326   2015.6

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    Since Hong Kong's retrocession, the government has endeavoured to strengthen local citizens' identification with the People's Republic of China – a project that acquired new impetus with the 2010 decision to introduce ‘Moral and National Education’ (MNE) as a compulsory school subject. In the face of strong local opposition, this policy was withdrawn in 2012, and implementation of MNE made optional. This article seeks to elucidate the background to the MNE controversy of 2012 by locating the emergence of a distinctive Hong Kong identity in its historical context, and analysing successive official attempts (before and after the 1997 retrocession) to use schooling for purposes of political socialisation. We argue that the school curriculum has projected and reflected a dual sense of identity: a ‘Chineseness’ located mainly in ethno-cultural qualities, and a ‘Hongkongeseness’ rooted in civic attributes. While reinforced by schooling, local civic consciousness has been intimately related to a tradition of public activism strongly evident since the 1970s, and further strengthened post-1997.

  • Shanghai's History Curriculum Reforms and Shifting Textbook Portrayals of Japan Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers, Yang Biao

    French Centre for Research on Contemporary China   2013/4   33 - 43   2013.12

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    This article examines the coverage of Japan in Shanghai's senior high history textbooks since the early 1990s – a period when the city's status as China's“showpiece for the global era”has been widely touted. Uniquely among cities on the Chinese mainland, Shanghai has throughout this period enjoyed the right to publish and prescribe its own textbooks for use in local schools (a right extended to most other regions only since the early 2000s). The portrayal of Japan in local texts thus offers a window onto the way in which a self-avowedly “global” Chinese metropolis has balanced an outward-looking and internationalist vision with the requirement for history to serve patriotic education. It also sheds light on the meaning and extent of local curricular “autonomy” in contemporary China.

    Other Link: http://chinaperspectives.revues.org/6317

  • Transcending Victimhood: Japan in the public historical museums of Taiwan and the People's Republic of China Reviewed International journal

    Edward Anthony Vickers

    French Centre for Research on Contemporary China   2013/4   19 - 32   2013.12

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    This article looks at how the major national (or pseudo-national) historical museums in China and Taiwan interpret and display very different “new rememberings” of Japan. The main focus is on the permanent exhibitions of the modern history wing of the National Museum of China (NMC; formerly the Museum of the Chinese Revolution), which finally reopened in 2011 after almost a decade of refurbishment, and of the National Museum of Taiwan History (NMTH), which opened in the same year. It discusses how museum portrayals of Japan reflect divergent public discourses on national identity. Through examining the relationship between museums and the apparatus of the Chinese state (ROC and PRC), the first section locates the NMC and NMTH in their bureaucratic and political contexts. A typology of approaches to the construction of national identity is then offered, considering the implications of different conceptions of identity for portrayals of Japan and its relationship with China or Taiwan. The remainder of the article looks in turn at the NMC and NMTH, outlining the history of each before examining how Japan is represented in their permanent exhibitions. It concludes by considering what can be learnt from this about the evolving relationship between official historical discourse and the broader political context on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

    Other Link: http://chinaperspectives.revues.org/6316

  • Editorial: Chinese Visions of Japan - official narratives of a troubled relationship Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers

    The French Centre for Research on Contemporary China   2013/4   3 - 5   2013.12

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    Other Link: http://chinaperspectives.revues.org/6306

  • History, Identity and the Politics of Taiwan's Museums: reflections on the DPP-KMT transition No. 3, 92-106. Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers

    China Perspectives   ( 3 )   2010.9

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    Museums in Taiwan—as elsewhere—have always been embroiled in politicised debates over collective identity, both reflecting and helping to shape the contours of identity discourse. During the four decades of the Martial Law era, the Kuomintang (KMT) regime used museums as vehicles for its campaigns to nurture patriotic citizens of a “Republic of China” encompassing the entire Chinese mainland. However, with the onset of democratisation from the late 1980s, museums increasingly reflected and reinforced a strengthening consensus over Taiwan’s historical and cultural distinctiveness, while also mirroring the considerable pluralism of popular identity consciousness. This trend was accentuated under the regime of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after 2000, but 2008 witnessed the return to power of a KMT determined to establish warmer ties with China. This paper examines the extent to which the new regime’s more accommodative approach to China has extended into the realm of museums, while considering whether developments within the sector, and within broader Taiwanese society, mean that museums are no longer quite the pliable tools of official cultural policy that they once were.

  • Selling Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: “Thought and Politics” and the Legitimisation of China’s Developmental Strategy Invited Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers

    The International Journal of Educational Development   29   2009.9

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    This article examines China’s senior high ‘Thought and Politics’ (sixiang zhengzhi) texts, analyzing how these seek to legitimize the regime’s developmental strategy. It is argued that their overriding emphasis on the strengthening of the state is premised upon the imperative of securing China’s position within global order conceived in Darwinian terms. While the school curriculum cannot be seen simply as an instrument with which the party-state shapes and moulds popular consciousness at will, it is assumed here that it does play a significant role in the political socialisation of young people. ‘Thought and Politics’ serves as a benchmark of ideological correctness within what remains a highly centralised system of curriculum development. The article begins by briefly analyzing the shifts and continuities in China’s developmental strategy, and of the roles assigned to education within that strategy. The importance traditionally attached to schooling’s moralizing function is noted, as is the relatively elitist character of the audience for the ‘Thought and Politics’ course – senior high school students. After considering how and why a discourse of state-centred patriotism has become central to the Communist Party’s efforts to legitimise its authority, the implications of the ‘Patriotic Education Campaign’ for the broader school curriculum are reviewed. The main discussion then focuses on the way in which the current texts for ‘Thought and Politics’ justify the national developmental strategy in terms derived from this patriotic discourse. Some potential implications of this combination of patriotic political socialisation with a highly labour-repressive developmental model, setting the case of China in comparative and historical context.

  • Rebranding Gandhi for the 21st century: science, ideology and politics at UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGIEP) Invited Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers

    Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education   2024.1

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    This paper analyses the development of UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute on Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), examining its record from global, national and institutional perspectives. The global perspective encompasses challenges to UNESCO’s attempts to articulate a distinctive, humanistic vision in competition with other multilateral bodies. The national perspective relates to India, which hosts MGIEP, provides the bulk of its funding and exerts significant influence over its governance. Consideration is also given to the relationship between MGIEP’s work and Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas. Finally, the institutional perspective relates both to the author’s own experience with MGIEP, and to information gained through interviews with others involved with the institute. It is argued that MGIEP’s story illuminates challenges to attempts, within India and internationally, to sustain a humanistic vision of education in the face of powerful countervailing interests.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2022.2108374

    Other Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080%2F03057925.2022.2108374

  • Smothering Diversity: Patriotism in China's School Curriculum under Xi Jinping Invited Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers

    Journal of Genocide Research   2023.6

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    No abstract

    Other Link: 10.1080/14623528.2021.1968142

  • Introduction: The “Comfort Women” as Public History - Scholarship, Advocacy and the Commemorative Impulse Invited Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers and Mark Frost

    Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus   March 1, 2021 Volume 19 | Issue 5 | Number 3 ( Article ID 5555 )   2021.3

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    In this introductory essay to the special issue of The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus on “The Comfort Women as Public History,” we analyze the turn since the early 2000s towards “heritagization” of this controversial issue. After reviewing the political, cultural and historiographical background to ongoing disputes over “comfort women,” we examine how the reframing of this issue as “heritage” has been accompanied by increasing entanglement with the global politics of atrocity commemoration, and associated tropes. Prominent among such tropes is the claim that commemoration fosters “peace”. However, following recent critical scholarship on this issue, and drawing on the papers that comprise this special issue, we question any necessary equation between heritagization and reconciliation. When done badly, the drive to commemorate a contentious issue as public history can exacerbate rather than resolve division and hatred. We therefore emphasise the need for representation of comfort women as public history to pay due regard to nuance and complexity, for example regarding the depiction of victims versus perpetrators; the transnational dimension of the system; and its relationship with the broader history of gender politics and the sexual subjugation of women.

    Other Link: https://apjjf.org/2021/5/Frost-Vickers.html

  • Slaves to rival nationalisms: UNESCO and the politics of ‘comfort women’ commemoration Invited Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers

    Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus   March 1, 2021 Volume 19 | Issue 5 | Number 5 ( Article ID 5546 )   2021.3

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    In October 2017, the application to list the Voices of the Comfort Women archive on UNESCO’s “Memory of the World Register” was rejected (or “postponed”). In this paper, I set that decision in the context of other recent instances of “heritage diplomacy” in East Asia, highlighting the tensions between nationalistic agendas and UNESCO’s universalist pretensions. I then discuss the nature and extent of similar tensions in the framing of the “comfort women” issue, as manifested in “comfort women museums” (institutions closely associated with the preparation of the 2016-17 Memory of the World application). I focus especially on the case of China, where the Xi Jinping regime first sought to weaponize this issue against Japan, only to pull back in 2018 as Sino-Japanese ties warmed. I conclude by considering how the story of the comfort women might be reframed to underline its global significance (or “outstanding universal value”), in a manner that makes it more difficult for Japanese nationalists to portray the campaign for recognition and commemoration as an anti-Japan conspiracy.

    Other Link: https://apjjf.org/2021/5/Vickers.html

  • Reconstructing the History of the “Comfort Women” System: The Fruits of 28 years of Investigation into the “Comfort Women” Issue in China Invited Reviewed International journal

    Su Zhiliang and Edward Vickers (translator)

    Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus   March 1, 2021 Volume 19 | Issue 5 | Number 7 ( Article ID 5548 )   2021.3

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    Since 1991, scholars from all over Asia have sought to reconstruct the history of the Japanese military’s “comfort women” – that is, to recover the facts relating to this system of sexual slavery – by analysing documentary records and interviewing survivors. As a result, an international consensus has emerged concerning the status of this system as a wartime atrocity involving large-scale violation of human rights, for which Japan ought to apologize. However, within Japan many persist in denying responsibility for the invasion [of China and associated atrocities]. Therefore, no effort should be spared to pass on the memory of this history to future generations, through discussing this atrocity of sexual slavery in school textbooks, applying for a [UNESCO] Memory of the World inscription, producing documentary films, or building museums, memorials and so forth. Other Asian countries thus continue their intense disputes with Japan over the nature and scale of the comfort women system, and the appropriate terminology for describing it

    Other Link: https://apjjf.org/2021/5/Su.html

  • Debating Shusenjo - the Main Battlefield of the Comfort Women Issue: Director Miki Dezaki in conversation with Mark R. Frost and Edward Vickers Invited Reviewed International journal

    Miki Dezaki, Mark Frost and Edward Vickers

    March 1, 2021 Volume 19 | Issue 5 | Number 11 ( Article ID 5554 )   2021.3

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    This Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus special issue on “The Comfort Women as Public History” concludes with documentary filmmaker Miki Dezaki in conversation with Edward Vickers and Mark R. Frost. Dezaki’s film Shusenjo, released in 2018, examines the controversy over “comfort women” within Japan, as well as its implications for Korea-Japan relations. Dezaki, himself Japanese-American, also devotes considerable attention to the growing ramifications of this controversy within the United States, as an instance of the increasing international significance of the comfort women issue. In this discussion, he, Frost and Vickers reflect on the messages of the film, the experience of making and distributing it, and what this reveals about the difficulty - and importance - of doing public history in a manner that respects the complexity of the past.

    Other Link: https://apjjf.org/2021/5/Dezaki.html

  • Comparative Education in Asia: Inaugurating the APJE-CESA Affiliation Invited Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers

    Asia-Pacific Journal of Education   37 ( 3 )   279 - 282   2018.1

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2017.1341107

    Other Link: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02188791.2017.1341107

  • All Quiet on the Eastern Front? Populism, Nationalism and Democracy in East Asia Invited Reviewed International journal

    Edward Vickers

    The Georgetown Journal of International Affairs   18 ( 2 )   59 - 68   2017.6

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Research paper (scientific journal)  

    Contrary to the prevailing narrative of East Asian immunity to the recent surge of anti-establishment, populist politics across the West, Vickers argues that features of populist nationalism are already ingrained in the established order across much of East Asia. Examining China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, he finds that many of the forces now challenging the status quo in Europe and the United States are part of the East Asian political mainstream.

    DOI: doi:10.1353/gia.2017.0021

    Other Link: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/675153/pdf

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Books

  • The International Science and Evidence-Based Education Assessment - Working Group 2, 'Education and Context'

    Edward Vickers Kenneth Pugh Latika Gupta (lead authors and editors)(Role:Joint author)

    UNESCO  2022.4 

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    Language:English   Book type:General book, introductory book for general audience

    (From the introductory chapter): This chapter introduces Working Group 2 (WG2) of the International Science and Evidence based Education Assessment. Building upon (WG1), which highlights the importance of mobilizing education to support human flourishing, WG2 emphasizes the complex ways in which diverse contexts (ecological, political, cultural, social and economic) shape, and are shaped by, diverse understandings of what it means to lead a fulfilling life, and of education’s role in this. We begin by explaining our approach, acknowledging both the challenges and importance of analysing context from a multidisciplinary perspective. After summarizing the overall content of WG2, we discuss themes that are especially urgent, in particular the role of politics and ideology in shaping (or distorting) educational priorities. We challenge the tendency in much contemporary discourse to hail education as a silver bullet for society’s ills and argue that realizing an educational vision consistent with true human flourishing requires understanding the limitations of education to solve the problems that confront us. Recognition of the enormous transformative potential of education is at the heart of our vision, but rather than expecting education alone to transform our societies, we need to commit to action to alter our social and political contexts so as to enable education systems to refocus on the instrinsic value of learning.

    DOI: DOI:10.56383/DYNT7243

    Other Link: https://mgiep.unesco.org/iseeareport

  • Remembering Asia's World War Two

    Mark Frost, Daniel Schumacher and Edward Vickers (eds)(Role:Edit)

    London and New York  2019.4 

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    Responsible for pages:Published by Routledge   Language:English   Book type:Scholarly book

    Over the past four decades, East and Southeast Asia have seen a proliferation of heritage sites and remembrance practices which commemorate the region’s bloody conflicts of the period 1931–45. Remembering Asia’s World War Two examines the origins, dynamics, and repercussions of this regional war “memory boom”. The book analyzes the politics of war commemoration in contemporary East and Southeast Asia. Featuring contributions from leading international scholars, the chapters span China, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singapore, covering topics such as the commemoration of the Japanese military’s “comfort women” system, forms of "dark tourism" or commemorative pilgrimages (e.g. veterans’ tours to wartime battlefields), and the establishment and evolution of various war-related heritage sites and museums. Case studies reveal the distinctive trajectories of new and newly discovered forms of remembrance within and across national boundaries. They highlight the growing influence of non-state actors over representations of conflict and occupation, as well as the increasingly interconnected and transnational character of memory-making. Taken together, the studies collected here demonstrate that across much of Asia the public commemoration of the wars of 1931–45 has begun to shift from portraying them as a series of national conflicts with distinctive local meanings to commemorating the conflict as a common pan-Asian, or even global, experience. Focusing on non-textual vehicles for public commemoration and considering both the local and international dimensions of war commemoration within, Remembering Asia’s World War Two will be a crucial reference for students and scholars of History, Memory Studies, and Heritage Studies, as well as all those interested in the history, politics, and culture of contemporary Asia.

    Other Link: https://www.routledge.com/Remembering-Asias-World-War-Two-1st-Edition/Frost-Schumacher-Vickers/p/book/9780367111328

  • Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century: The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia

    Yoko Mochizuki, Krishna Kumar, Edward Vickers(Role:Joint author)

    2017.11 

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    Language:English   Book type:Scholarly book

    UNESCO MGIEP officially launched the new publication 'Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century: The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia' on 2 November 2017 in Paris at the UNESCO General Conference. This report involved more than 60 researchers from 22 countries in Asia and is based on the content analysis of key education policy and curricular documents from these countries and an extensive review of literature on Asian schooling. It seeks to develop benchmarks against which future progress can be assessed. It also argues forcefully that conceptions of the fundamental purposes of schooling need to be configured, if the ideals of SDG 4.7 to which the global community has subscribed are actually to be realized.

  • Education and Society in Post-Mao China

    Edward Vickers, Zeng Xiaodong(Role:Joint author)

    London and New York: Routledge  2017.5 

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    Language:English   Book type:Scholarly book

    The post-Mao period has witnessed rapid social and economic transformation in all walks of Chinese life – much of it fuelled by, or reflected in, changes to the country’s education system. This book analyses the development of that system since the abandonment of radical Maoism and the inauguration of ‘Reform and Opening’ in the late 1970s. The principal focus is on formal education in schools and conventional institutions of tertiary education, but there is also some discussion of preschools, vocational training, and learning in non-formal contexts. The book begins with a discussion of the historical and comparative context for evaluating China’s educational ‘achievements’, followed by an extensive discussion of the key transitions in education policymaking during the ‘Reform and Opening’ period. This informs the subsequent examination of changes affecting the different phases of education from preschool to tertiary level. There are also chapters dealing specifically with the financing and administration of schooling, curriculum development, the public examinations system, the teaching profession, the phenomenon of marketisation, and the ‘international dimension’ of Chinese education. The book concludes with an assessment of the social consequences of educational change in the post-Mao era and a critical discussion of the recent fashion in certain Western countries for hailing China as an educational model. The analysis is supported by a wealth of sources – primary and secondary, textual and statistical – and is informed by both authors’ wide-ranging experience of Chinese education.

    Other Link: https://www.routledge.com/Education-and-Society-in-Post-Mao-China/Vickers-Zeng/p/book/9780415597395

  • Constructing Modern Asian Citizenship

    Edward Vickers, Krishna Kumar(Role:Edit)

    London and New York  2015.1 

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    Language:English   Book type:General book, introductory book for general audience

    In many non-Western contexts, modernization has tended to be equated with Westernization, and hence with an abandonment of authentic indigenous identities and values. This is evident in the recent history of many Asian societies, where efforts to modernize – spurred on by the spectre of foreign domination – have often been accompanied by determined attempts to stamp national variants of modernity with the brand of local authenticity: ‘Asian values’, ‘Chinese characteristics’, a Japanese cultural ‘essence’ and so forth. Highlighting (or exaggerating) associations between the more unsettling consequences of modernization and alien influence has thus formed part of a strategy whereby elites in many Asian societies have sought to construct new forms of legitimacy for old patterns of dominance over the masses. The apparatus of modern systems of mass education, often inherited from colonial rulers, has been just one instrument in such campaigns of state legitimation. This book presents analyses of a range of contemporary projects of citizenship formation across Asia in order to identify those issues and concerns most central to Asian debates over the construction of modern identities. Its main focus is on schooling, but also examines other vehicles for citizenship-formation, such as museums and the internet; the role of religion (in particular Islam) in debates over citizenship and identity in certain Asian societies; and the relationship between state-centred identity discourses and the experience of increasingly ‘globalized’ elites.

  • Imagining Japan in Post-war East Asia: identity politics, schooling and popular culture

    Edward Vickers, Paul Morris, Naoko Shimazu(Role:Edit)

    London: Routledge  2013.12 

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    Language:English   Book type:General book, introductory book for general audience

    Imagining Japan in Postwar East Asia analyses the portrayal of Japan in the societies of East and Southeast Asia, and asks how and why this has changed in recent decades, and what these changing images of Japan reveal about the ways in which these societies construct their own identities. It examines the role played by an imagined ‘Japan’ in the construction of national selves across the East Asian region, as mediated through a broad range of media ranging from school curricula and textbooks to film, television, literature and comics. Commencing with an extensive thematic and comparative overview chapter, the volume also includes contributions focusing specifically on Chinese societies (the mainland PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan), Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. These studies show how changes in the representation of Japan have been related to political, social and cultural shifts within the societies of East Asia – and in particular to the ways in which these societies have imagined or constructed their own identities. In the decades since her defeat in the Second World War, Japan has continued to loom large in the national imagination of many of her East Asian neighbours. While for many, Japan still conjures up images of rampant military brutality, at different times and in different communities, alternative images of the Japanese ‘Other’ have vied for predominance – in ways that remain poorly understood, not least within Japan itself. Bringing together contributors working in the fields of education, anthropology, history, sociology, political science and media studies, this interdisciplinary volume will be of interest to all students and scholars concerned with issues of identity, politics and culture in the societies of East Asia, and to those seeking a deeper understanding of Japan's fraught relations with its regional neighbours.

  • Education as a Political Tool in Asia

    Edward Vickers, Marie Lall(Role:Edit)

    Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK  2009.9 

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    Language:English   Book type:Scholarly book

    This book offers a fresh and comparative approach to analyzing the uses of education and the effects of its politicization on Asian societies in the era of globalisation. Education has been used as a political tool throughout the ages and across the whole world to define national identity and underpin the political rationale of regimes. In the contemporary world Asian societies manifest this phenomenon in a variety of ways, ranging from tensions over religious versus secular definitions of national identity in India and Pakistan, to various blends of ethno-culturally primordialist and 'multicultural' nationalism in China, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam. In Asia, modern education systems have their origins in processes of state formation aimed either at bolstering 'self-strengthening' resistance to the encroachments of Western and/or Asian imperialism, or at furthering projects of post-colonial nation-building. State elites have sought to popularise powerful visions of nationhood, to equip these visions with a historical 'back-story', and to endow them with the maximum sentimental charge. This book explores these developments in various national contexts, emphasising that education is seen by nations across Asia, as elsewhere, as far more than simply a tool for economic development, and that issues of national identity and the tolerance - or lack of it - of ethnic, cultural or religious diversity can be at least as important as issues of literacy and access. Interdisciplinary and unique in its analysis, this book will be of interest to scholars of political science, research in education and Asian Studies.

    Repository Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2324/1001481311

  • History Education and National Identity in East Asia

    Edward Vickers, Alisa Jones(Role:Edit)

    New York and London  2005.9 

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    Language:English   Book type:Scholarly book

    This original collection offers the first significant comparative study of the politics of history curricula across East Asia. Vickers and Jones examine the relationship of history education to changing official visions of the past in a context of political transformation, giving special consideration to the rise of communism, decolonization, and the Cold War divisions of China and Korea. Chapters by a range of international scholars deal with history education in Japan, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the two Koreas. They focus on the content of official syllabi and textbooks, and on the influences shaping government policy regarding the teaching of history. Highlighting the tension between the traditional nation-building priorities of history education and the emerging cross-regional concern with the promotion of 'skills', this important book shows how the school subject of History has been a major site for the construction and contestation of definitions of national and regional identity.

    Repository Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2324/1001482679

  • In Search of An Identity: The Politics of History as a School Subject in Hong Kong, 1960s-2005

    Edward Vickers(Role:Sole author)

    Hong Kong  2005.9 

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    Language:English   Book type:Scholarly book

    In most societies, the school subject of History reflects and reinforces a sense of collective identity. However, in Hong Kong this has emphatically not been the case. Official and popular ambivalence towards 'the nation' in the shape of the People's Republic of China, and the sensitivity of Hong Kong's own political and cultural status, have meant that the question of local identity has until recently been largely sidestepped in school curricula and textbooks. In this study, Edward Vickers sets out to reexamine some of the myths concerning colonialism and schooling under the British, while showing how in postcolonial Hong Kong these myths have been deployed to legitimize a programme of nationalistic reeducation. In the Afterword to this 2005 edition, he emphasizes that it is Hong Kong's fundamentally undemocratic political context that has thwarted and continues to thwart efforts to make history education a vehicle for fostering a liberal, democratic sense of regional and national citizenship.

  • Frontiers of Memory in the Asia-Pacific: Difficult Heritage and the Transnational Politics of Postcolonial Nationalism

    Shu-Mei Huang Hyun Kyung Lee Edward Vickers(Role:Edit)

    Hong Kong University Press  2024.1 

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    Language:English   Book type:Scholarly book

    Frontiers of Memory in the Asia-Pacific explores the making and consumption of conflict-related heritage throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Contributing to a growing literature on the notion of heritage, this collection advances our understanding of how places of pain, shame, oppression, and trauma have been appropriated and refashioned as “heritage” in a number of societies. The authors analyze how the repackaging of difficult pasts as heritage can serve either to reinforce borders, transcend them, or even achieve both simultaneously, depending on their political agenda. The volume shows how efforts to preserve various sites of difficult heritage can involve the construction of new borders between what is commemorated and what is often deliberately obscured or forgotten. The studies presented here suggest new directions for comparative research into “difficult heritage” across Asia and beyond, applying an interdisciplinary and critical perspective that spans history, heritage studies, memory studies, urban studies, architecture, and international relations.

    Other Link: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/F/bo185844036.html

  • Remembering and forgetting war and occupation in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan

    Edward Vickers(Role:Sole author)

    London and New York: Routledge  2017.6 

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    Responsible for pages:In Patrick Finney (ed.) 'Remembering the Second World War', pp. 46-67   Language:English   Book type:Scholarly book

    In recent years, a number of scholars have analysed Chinese memories of the AJW with a particular focus on implications for relations with the West (e.g. Wang 2012; Gries 2004) or with Japan (e.g. Rose 1998; Reilly 2012; He 2013). Most such studies effectively equate ‘China’ with the PRC. Here, I focus instead on the memory divides within and especially between the mainland PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan. I argue that the centrality of memory of ‘national humiliation’ in general, and the AJW in particular, to notions of patriotic identity on the mainland exacerbates the mutual alienation between Chinese ‘patriots’ and Hongkongese and Taiwanese for whom other memories and identities have come to assume more immediate significance.

    Other Link: https://www.academia.edu/33983061/Remembering_and_forgetting_war_and_occupation_in_the_Peoples_Republic_of_China_Hong_Kong_and_Taiwan_pre-publication_draft_

  • Altered states of consciousness: Identity politics and prospects for Taiwan-Hong Kong-mainland reconciliation

    Edward Vickers(Role:Sole author)

    London and New York: Routledge  2017.1 

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    Responsible for pages:In Annika Frieberg and C. K. Martin Chung (eds), 'Reconciling with the Past: Resources and Obstacles in a Global Perspective'   Language:English   Book type:Scholarly book

    The continuing divisiveness of relations with mainland China has been underlined in recent years by Hong Kong’s 2012 protest over a ‘Moral and National Education’ initiative (Morris and Vickers 2015), and the ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Sunflower’ movements of 2014 (in Hong Kong and Taiwan respectively). In both societies, schooling has been a key battleground for struggles between different visions of local identity, and of its relationship to political, ethnic or cultural Chineseness. But attitudes to the mainland and mainlanders are shaped at least as much by experience outside the classroom as by discourse within it. This essay traces the evolution of identity consciousness in Taiwan and Hong Kong, analyzing its relationship both to official education policy and to developments beyond the school gates. It shows that, in these societies shifts in the curricular representation of identity have often reflected preceding changes in popular consciousness, rather than producing them. A key insight – that should be obvious to political leaders, but clearly is not – is that top-down efforts to mould identity, when they go against the grain of lived experience, tend further to alienate estranged communities, rather than reconciling them.

    Other Link: https://www.academia.edu/33311075/Altered_states_of_consciousness_Identity_politics_and_prospects_for_Taiwan-Hong_Kong-mainland_reconciliation

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Presentations

  • A Plenary Panel Discussion on the UNESCO Report 'Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century - the State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia' Invited International conference

    Mark Bray, UNESCO Chair Professor in Comparative Education at the University of Hong Kong; Edward Vickers, Professor of Comparative Education at Kyushu University, Japan; Yoko Mochizuki, Head of Rethinking Curricula Programme of UNESCO MGIEP and a specialist in comparative education; while the discussants included HE Ton Sa Im, Under Secretary of State of the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport of Cambodia; Jandhyala B.G. Tilak, Distinguished Professor at the Council for Social Development and former Vice-chancellor at National University of Educational Planning and Administration, India; Jeremy Rappleye, Associate Professor at Kyoto University, Graduate School of Education.

    Comparative Education Society of Asia  2018.5 

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    Event date: 2019.6

    Language:English   Presentation type:Symposium, workshop panel (public)  

    Venue:Siem Reap   Country:Cambodia  

    On 12 May, a plenary panel discussion was dedicated to UNESCO MGIEP’s seminal report Rethinking Schooling: The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia. Dr Yoko Mochizuki, Head of Rethinking Curricula Programme of UNESCO MGIEP, presented the key findings.

    The report is based on the analysis of 172 official documents in 18 languages based on a common coding scheme and extensive literature review on Asian schooling. It seeks to assess how far the aims and values encapsulated in SDG 4.7 have been incorporated into the educational policies and officially-mandated curricula of 22 Asian countries. By analysing current policies, curricular frameworks, subject syllabi, and textbooks, it aims to create a baseline against which further progress towards SDG 4.7 can be monitored. At the same time, it sets out to change the way we talk about and act upon SDG 4.7 and argues that a broader vision of education’s nature and social role is essential to our chances of achieving a peaceful and sustainable future for Asia and the world.

    Panellists for the session included Mark Bray, UNESCO Chair Professor in Comparative Education at the University of Hong Kong; Edward Vickers, Professor of Comparative Education at Kyushu University, Japan; Yoko Mochizuki, Head of Rethinking Curricula Programme of UNESCO MGIEP and a specialist in comparative education; while the discussants included HE Ton Sa Im, Under Secretary of State of the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport of Cambodia; Jandhyala B.G. Tilak, Distinguished Professor at the Council for Social Development and former Vice-chancellor at National University of Educational Planning and Administration, India; Jeremy Rappleye, Associate Professor at Kyoto University, Graduate School of Education.

  • Is UNESCO still ‘the conscience of the United Nations’? Sustaining a role for UNESCO in the ‘sustainable development’agenda International conference

    Yoko Mochizuki, Edward Vickers (Kyudai), Lorna Down, Eleni Christadoulou

    Comparative and International Education Society  2019.4 

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    Event date: 2019.6

    Language:English   Presentation type:Symposium, workshop panel (public)  

    Venue:San Francisco   Country:United States  

    In 2015, 193 Member States of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its accompanying set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Education for peace, sustainable development and global citizenship is enshrined in SDG Target 4.7, which focuses on equipping learners with “knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development”. While SDG 4.7 has been characterized by UNESCO as an important target pertinent to “the social, humanistic and moral purposes of education” (UNESCO, 2016, p.288), discussions surrounding its monitoring and implementation have been limited to technical issues such as the lack of baselines, and have largely avoided raising critical questions about fundamental challenges to promoting peace and sustainability through education.

    In this panel, we will argue that central to these challenges is the fact that, today, UNESCO finds itself compelled to pursue its humanistic agenda in the context of an increasingly influential movement for the ‘global governance’ of education, promoted by the OECD and World Bank. This subjects policymaking in education, as in other areas, to what Muller calls ‘the tyranny of metrics’ (2018), whereby ‘accountability’ demands assessment of ‘performance’ by reference to measurable, quantitative benchmarks. As Muller and others observe (see, for example, Morris, 2016; Wolf, 2002), this approach tends to skew the emphasis in policymaking and curriculum development towards ‘skills’ that are readily measurable and comparable. It is also informed by a largely economistic approach to the goals of education, prioritising its role in ‘human capital’ generation, on the questionable assumption that measurable ‘performance’ in ‘key skills’ translates into enhanced economic growth (Komatsu and Rappleye, 2017).

    Here we will examine to what extent continuing efforts to pursue UNESCO’s longstanding humanistic goals, now repackaged as SDG 4.7, are conditioned by this global drive towards quantifiability, economistic instrumentalism and ‘skills’. We do this by focusing on the work of UNESCO-MGIEP (the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development), UNESCO’s first ‘Category 1’ Research Institute in the Asia-Pacific region, and the only one focusing on ‘education for peace and sustainable development’ (i.e. the themes encompassed by SDG 4.7). Although MGIEP has a global mandate and is an integral part of UNESCO, its evolution since its inception in 2012 cannot be properly understood without taking into consideration its base in India.

    The first paper, by Edward Vickers, will provide an overview of the development of MGIEP itself, analysing the evolution of its mission and agenda, and the factors that have influenced this. It will explain how MGIEP’s agenda has been shaped by a combination of macro-institutional factors (involving both UNESCO’s position in relation to other multilateral organizations, and MGIEP’s positioning vis-a-vis other UNESCO entities); the national context, involving the state of educational debate within India (and the enormous stake national and multinational ‘ed-tech’ companies have in penetrating the Indian market); and micro-level intra-organisational factors.

    MGIEP’s evolving agenda has recently led to a research focus on ‘social and emotional learning’ or SEL, and techniques for what amounts to behaviour modification informed by cognitive psychology or ‘learning science’ and neuroscience. Terms such as ‘social and emotional skills’, ‘pro-social behaviour’, ‘mindfulness’, ‘kindness’, ‘empathy- and compassion-building’ are coming to form a new lexicon framing debate over educational ‘transformation’ for the 21st century. The second paper, by Yoko Mochizuki, examines the rise of SEL as a new ‘zeitgeist’, analysing the recent fashion for foregrounding social and emotional skills—sometimes referred to as ‘non-cognitive’ (OECD) or ‘soft’ skills—and delineating some major implications of current efforts to mainstream SEL in schooling, particularly in the context of SDG4.7 implementation. While two MGIEP publications released in 2017 (Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century and Textbooks for Sustainable Development) focused largely on curricular and pedagogical issues relating to the promotion of civic values encapsulated in SDG 4.7 (including human rights, respect for cultural diversity and appreciation of culture’s contribution to sustainable development), this new work on ‘SEL’ aims to foster a capacity for ‘self-regulation’ on the part of individual learners, with little reference to the broader social or political context. The paper will argue that this marks a potentially significant departure from UNESCO’s traditional approach to education for sustainable development, peace, human rights, and global citizenship.

    Finally, Lorna Down will analyse one example of a more conventional capacity-building initiative by MGIEP—a pilot project conducted in 2018 in the State of Sikkim, India, aimed at training textbook authors (including practising teachers) to ‘embed’ ideas relating to sustainable development in teaching materials designed for use in local classrooms. Sikkim became India’s first fully ‘organic’ state in 2016, and is committed to integrating SDGs in all sectors including education. The paper will consider the challenges involved in supporting these practitioners in their efforts to grasp relevant concepts and relate them meaningfully to the experiences of young children, while taking account of the practical and material constraints faced by teachers and schools.

    The contributors to the panel will debate what the overarching focus of UNESCO-MGIEP on digital learning and neuroscience means for the various projects the institute pursues, and for the interpretation by UNESCO as a whole of SDG 4 (on ‘inclusive and equitable quality education’). They will seek to engage the audience for this panel in a discussion of the extent to which the trends affecting the work of MGIEP are also at work in the education policy arena in national contexts other than that of India (where MGIEP is located), and within UNESCO at large and other multilateral and civil society organisations. Amongst the questions they will pose are: To what extent is the pursuit of ‘learning science’, ‘evidence-based’ education policymaking and technology-based means for the enhancement of schooling effectiveness crowding out serious reflection on the fundamental purposes of education, and its social and political (as well as economic) functions? And to the extent that this is happening, should it worry us, and why?

  • Celebrating the Humane Superpower China, the Holocaust and Transnational Heritage Politics - the case of Shanghai’s Jewish Refugees Museum International conference

    Edward Vickers

    Association of Asian Studies  2021.3 

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    Event date: 2021.3

    Language:English   Presentation type:Symposium, workshop panel (public)  

    Country:United States  

    This article examines the portrayal of the Nazi Holocaust in Chinese public culture today, focusing on the case of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum (SJRM). It begins by critiquing the overarching official narrative of Chinese victimhood at the hands of foreign 'colonialists' and ‘imperialists’. It is argued that a more balanced understanding of the history and politics of race and colonialism in China is essential to an analysis of the Communist Party's efforts to project power and influence abroad, and reinforce its legitimacy at home. The case of the SJRM shows how these efforts extend to fierce competition with Japan for UNESCO recognition of war-related heritage, as each country seeks to trumpet its role in saving Jews from Nazi terror during World War Two. The paper analyses the representation of the history of the Jewish Refugee Zone in the SJRM, looking at how the exhibition there has evolved, and interpreting its emphases and omissions in the light of recent shifts in official historiography and heritage diplomacy. It concludes that the Chinese state's interest in the Holocaust as heritage has remained overwhelmingly instrumental, focused on enhancing Shanghai's civic profile, and burnishing China's international image.

  • ‘History Education, Propaganda and Inter-Ethnic Conflict in Contemporary China’ Invited International conference

    Edward Vickers

    The Georg Eckert Institute for Textbook Research / ICAS - Metamorphoses of the Political  2018.10 

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    Event date: 2019.6

    Language:English   Presentation type:Oral presentation (general)  

    Venue:Institute for the Study of Developing Societies (ISDS), New Delhi   Country:India  

    This presentation discusses the propaganda uses of history to legitimise Chinese rule over 'minority' ethnic regions, looking particularly at the school curriculum, museums and exhibitions.

  • The politics of war-related heritage in contemporary Hong Kong International conference

    Edward Vickers

    Comparative and International Education Society  2015.6 

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    Event date: 2019.3 - 2015.3

    Language:English   Presentation type:Oral presentation (general)  

    Country:United States  

  • Japan through East Asian Eyes - an introduction to the Leverhulme Network on Japan and East Asian Identities

    Edward Vickers

    Comparative Education Society of Asia  2012.7 

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    Event date: 2012.7

    Country:Japan  

    Japan through East Asian Eyes - an introduction to the Leverhulme Network on Japan and East Asian Identities

  • Citizenship, identity and education in Greater China: reflections following the 2014 Hong Kong protests Invited International conference

    Edward Vickers

    Harvard China Fund symposium, Cultivating Civic Consciousness in China  2014.12 

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    Language:English  

    Venue:Harvard Center Shanghai   Country:China  

    Assessing the impact of schooling on civic consciousness is always extremely difficult, especially nowadays, given the range of other influences to which young people are exposed. But whatever its actual impact, the school curriculum remains central to official efforts to shape popular consciousness, and to public arguments over identity and values. Culture and history are invariably key themes in such debates. This paper therefore highlights some of the problems arising from an over-reliance on culture in attempts either to explain, or to shape, civic consciousness. In doing so, it focuses not just on the Chinese mainland, but also on the case of Hong Kong – where the practice of active citizenship has recently been making global headlines.

  • Identity Politics, Education and the Prospects for Reconciliation: Hong Kong-mainland and Taiwan-mainland relations International conference

    Edward Vickers

    British Association of International and Comparative Education  2014.9 

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    Language:English   Presentation type:Oral presentation (general)  

    Venue:University of Bath   Country:United Kingdom  

  • Capitalists can do no wrong: memories of war and occupation in contemporary Hong Kong Invited International conference

    Edward Vickers

    2014.3 

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    Language:English   Presentation type:Oral presentation (general)  

    Venue:University of Essex   Country:United Kingdom  

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MISC

  • Education and Climate Change - Is blaming 'Western Modernity' the answer?

    Edward Vickers

    NORRAG - network for international policies and cooperation in education and training   2018.12

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (scientific journal)  

    This NORRAG Highlights was prepared in response to the blog post by Iveta Silova, Hikaru Komatsu and Jeremy Rappleye: “Facing the Climate Change Catastrophe: Education as Solution or Cause?” In this post, Edward Vickers, Professor of Comparative Education at the Department of Education, Kyushu University, argues that it is both mistaken and counter-productive to portray the problematic role of modern mass schooling in climate change as a consequence of specifically ‘Western’ ethical failings. Citing a recent report on Asian schooling that he co-authored for UNESCO, he rejects attempts to dichotomize the ‘West’ and ‘non-West’ in assigning blame for our climate crisis. Instead, he urges the importance of recognizing our shared responsibility for this as a factor of our common human frailty.

    Other Link: https://www.norrag.org/education-and-climate-change-is-blaming-western-modernity-the-answer-by-edward-vickers/

  • Review of The Strong State and Curriculum Reform: Assessing the politics and possibilities of educational change in Asia, edited by Leonel Lim and Michael W. Apple - with a response from the authors

    Edward Vickers, Michael Apple, Lionel Lim

    London Review of Education   2018.6

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

    This is a critical review essay on the Lim and Apple edited volume, accompanied by a response from the editors.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.16.2.12

    Other Link: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/ioep/clre/2018/00000016/00000002/art00012?crawler=true&mimetype=application/pdf

  • Review of 'Schooling Selves: Autonomy, Interdependence and Reform in Japanese Junior High Education' by Peter Cave.

    Edward Vickers

    2017.8

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/692538

  • Review of 'The Strange Child - Education and the Psychology of Patriotism in Recessionary Japan,' by Andrea Gevurtz Arai

    Edward Vickers

    Monumenta Nipponica   2017.3

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

    DOI: doi:10.1353/mni.2017.0020

  • Review of 'Education, poverty and gender: schooling Muslim girls in India', by Latika Gupta (Routledge India, 2015)

    Edward Vickers

    Compare: a journal of Comparative Education   2016.10

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (scientific journal)  

  • Review of 'Taiwan education at the crossroad: where globalization meets localization', by Chuing Prudence Chou and Gregory Ching (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)

    Edward Vickers

    Compare: a journal of comparative and international education   2015.10

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

  • Review of 'Exhibiting the Past: Historical Memory and the Politics of Museums in Post-socialist China', by Kirk Denton (University of Hawaii Press, 2014)

    Edward Vickers

    The China Quarterly   2014.12

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

  • Review of 'Reimagining Japanese Education: borders, transfers, circulations and the comparative', edited by David Blake Willis and Jeremy Rappleye (Oxford: Symposium Books, 2011)

    Edward Vickers

    Compare: a journal of comparative and international education   2014.11

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

  • Review of 'Citizenship and citizenship education in a global age: politics, policies and practices in China', by Wing-Wah Law, New York, Peter Lang, 2011, 259pp.

    Edward Vickers

    Comparative Education, Vol 48, No. 3   2012.8

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    Language:English   Publishing type:Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

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Professional Memberships

  • British Assocation of International and Comparative Education

  • Comparative Education Society of Japan

  • Comparative Education Society of Asia

Committee Memberships

  • Comparative Education Society of Asia   Secretary General   Foreign country

    2012.7 - 2014.9   

Academic Activities

  • CESA Secretary-General International contribution

    Biennial Conference of the Comparative Education Society of Asia  ( Siem Reap Cambodia ) 2018.5

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:250

  • Screening of academic papers

    Role(s): Peer review

    2018

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    Type:Peer review 

    Number of peer-reviewed articles in foreign language journals:7

  • Core partner, co-organiser International contribution

    Exhibiting the Fall: Remembering and Representing War and its Aftermath in Asia  ( National Museum of Singapore Singapore ) 2017.9

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:120

  • Core partner, co-organiser International contribution

    WARMAP Essex Workshop  ( Essex University UnitedKingdom ) 2017.3

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:4

  • Screening of academic papers

    Role(s): Peer review

    2017

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    Type:Peer review 

    Number of peer-reviewed articles in foreign language journals:13

  • Main organiser International contribution

    Borders of Memory: National Commemoration in East Asia Conference  ( Kyushu University Japan ) 2016.12

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:40

  • Core partner, co-organiser International contribution

    WARMAP China workshops  ( Department of History, Nanjing University & Department of International Studies, Zhejiang University China ) 2016.9 - 2016.1

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:4

  • Core partner, co-organiser International contribution

    WARMAP writers’ workshop  ( School of Advanced Study, University of Konstanz Germany ) 2016.7

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:3

  • Asia-Pacific Journal of Education International contribution

    Role(s): Peer review

    2016.6 - 2020.6

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    Type:Academic society, research group, etc. 

  • Core partner, co-organiser International contribution

    WARMAP international workshop “Pasts not past: War memories & memoryscapes in a transforming Asia”  ( University of Hong Kong Hong Kong ) 2016.1

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:20

  • Screening of academic papers

    Role(s): Peer review

    2016

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    Type:Peer review 

    Number of peer-reviewed articles in foreign language journals:6

  • partner International contribution

    WARMAP network (Leverhulme Trust international network on War Memoryscapes in Asia) - planning meeting  ( University of Konstanz Germany ) 2015.6

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:4

  • network partner International contribution

    WARMAP network: planning workshop  ( National University of Singapore Singapore ) 2015.1

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:6

  • Chair/organiser of symposium: 公開シンポジウム I 東アジアをつなぐ教育の可能性を探る −貧困・格差・ナショナリズムを越えて−

    日本教育学会大会  ( Kyushu University, Fukuoka Japan ) 2014.8

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:300

  • Invited speaker International contribution

    Political Reconciliation in Comparative Perspective  ( Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong ) 2014.6

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:30

  • Organiser / Secretary General of the Society International contribution

    Comparative Education Society of Asia: Ninth Biennial Conference  ( Hangzhou China ) 2014.5

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:250

  • invited speaker International contribution

    Asia's Great War - memories and memoryscapes of the 1937-1945 conflict  ( University of Essex UnitedKingdom ) 2014.3

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:30

  • Main organiser International contribution

    East Asia Images of Japan: International Symposium  ( Kyushu University, Fukuoka Japan ) 2013.9

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:90

  • Secretary General International contribution

    Comparative Education Society of Asia  ( Kyushu University Japan ) 2012.7 - 2014.8

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

  • organiser International contribution

    Leverhulme Network on Japan and East Asian Identities  ( Taipei Taiwan ) 2012.5

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    Type:Competition, symposium, etc. 

    Number of participants:20

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Research Projects

  • Living with Violent Heritage (LIVHERE) International coauthorship

    2022.9 - 2023.8

    British Academy (UK) 

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    Authorship:Coinvestigator(s) 

    This project investigates the politics of heritage and education in contemporary Sri Lanka, with a particular focus on implications for post-conflict reconciliation

  • Comparing the role of History in Chinese schooling and propaganda relating to 'minority' regions, Hong Kong and Taiwan International coauthorship

    2019.4 - 2022.3

    JSPS Grant-in-Aid 

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    Authorship:Principal investigator 

    Chinese claims to both ‘minority’ regions (e.g. Xinjiang and Tibet), and peripheral ‘Han’ regions (Hong
    Kong, Taiwan) are hotly contested – leading to efforts to bolster legitimacy through state propaganda and
    schooling. Control of the historical account is crucial here, but we do not understand (a) the consistency of
    narratives relating to ‘minorities’ and peripheral ‘Han’ populations; (b) how recent changes to both have
    been influenced by political shifts under Xi Jinping; or (c) their implications for China’s stability. This is
    the contribution of the research proposed here. It builds on work that the PI – a leading expert on education and
    identity politics in Chinese societies – has been conducting for many years. The analysis focuses on the portrayal
    of ‘minorities,’ and of Hong Kong and Taiwan, in Chinese History textbooks and in relevant historical museums.
    It will greatly enhance our understanding of the politics of schooling and state propaganda, of the
    dynamics of Chinese nationalism, and what this means for stability around China’s periphery.

  • Comparing the role of History in Chinese propaganda (schooling and museums) relating to 'minority' regions, Hong Kong and Taiwan

    Grant number:19K02530  2019 - 2022

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research  Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

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    Authorship:Principal investigator  Grant type:Scientific research funding

  • The Kyushu Taiwan Studies Program International coauthorship

    2017.10 - 2020.9

    Ministry of Education, Taiwan (ROC) 

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    Authorship:Principal investigator 

    Kyushu and Taiwan enjoy thriving cultural and commercial ties, but educational links (at university level) have been limited - until now. In 2017, Kyushu University, with support from the Ministry of Education of the ROC (Taiwan), established a new Taiwan Studies Program. This aims to promote interest in and understanding of Taiwan amongst students and scholars in Western Japan, and to strengthen ties between Japanese researchers, their Taiwanese counterparts, and the Taiwan Studies community worldwide. It also promotes Taiwan-related research, particularly in the area of identity politics and Taiwanese culture.

  • Kyushu University Interdisciplinary Taiwan Studies Program

    2017 - 2020

    Ministry of Education (Taiwan, ROC) Taiwan Studies Project

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    Authorship:Principal investigator  Grant type:Contract research

  • The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia International coauthorship

    2016.6 - 2017.11

    UNESCO-MGIEP (India) Engagement Global (Germany) 

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    Authorship:Coinvestigator(s) 

    UNESCO MGIEP officially launched the new publication Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century: The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia on 2 November 2017 in Paris at the UNESCO General Conference. This report involved more than 60 researchers from 22 countries in Asia and is based on the content analysis of key education policy and curricular documents from these countries and an extensive review of literature on Asian schooling. It seeks to develop benchmarks against which future progress can be assessed. It also argues forcefully that conceptions of the fundamental purposes of schooling need to be configured, if the ideals of SDG 4.7 to which the global community has subscribed are actually to be realized.

  • Education for migration and the Filipino Diaspora - political and economic implications

    2015 - 2018

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research  Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows

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    Authorship:Principal investigator  Grant type:Scientific research funding

  • Leverhulme Trust International Network on 'War Memoryscapes in Asia' International coauthorship

    2014.10 - 2017.10

    The Leverhulme Trust (UK) 

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    Authorship:Collaborating Investigator(s) (not designated on Grant-in-Aid) 

    WARMAP is an interdisciplinary research collaboration that investigates Asia's conflict heritage in a globalized world. Accompanying Asia's economic emergence, the region has witnessed a corresponding 'memory boom' marked by two contrasting trends. On the one hand, the remembrance of 20th century conflicts which still define its national identities (and enmities) has become intensified. Conversely, the production and dissemination of war memories has been subject to powerful transnational flows – of people, practices, capital and digitized information. The "War Memoryscapes in Asia Partnership" (WARMAP) brings together scholars from different disciplines in an effort to explore Asia's conflict heritage in a globalized world, focusing on the powerful transnational flows which are challenging, subverting and transforming official discourses of war remembrance. WARMAP is a joint research project between the University of Essex (UK), Deakin University (AU), Kyushu University (JP), the National University of Singapore (SG), Wageningen University (NL), and Academia Sinica (TW). It is funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

  • 中国をめぐるアイデンティティ

    2013.4 - 2016.3

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    Authorship:Coinvestigator(s) 

    This project sets out to analyse and compare the sociology of identity in different Chinese societies - on the Chinese mainland, in Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas. Its focus encompasses attitudes to the law and constitutionality, and the ways in which relationships between the citizen and the state are conceptualized in these various Chinese communities. The findings of this research should further understanding of the degree to which civic norms and mores across Chinese societies are converging or diverging, and hence serve to elucidate the various meanings of 'Chineseness' in the contemporary world.

  • 「中国」をめぐるアイデンティティとナショナリズム

    2013 - 2016

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research  Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)

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    Authorship:Coinvestigator(s)  Grant type:Scientific research funding

  • Leverhulme Trust International Network on 'Japan and East Asian Identities' International coauthorship

    2010.10 - 2013.10

    The Leverhulme Trust, UK 

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    Authorship:Principal investigator 

    This project is designed to promote collaborative research on perceptions of Japan amongst East Asian youth, the influences that help shape those perceptions, and the implications of this for the construction of national identities and a trans-national ‘East Asian’ identity.

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Class subject

  • 比較国際教育学 II

    2013.10 - 2014.3   Second semester

  • 比較教育学概論 I 演習

    2013.10 - 2014.3   Second semester

  • 比較国際教育学Ⅰ

    2013.4 - 2013.9   First semester

  • 比較教育改革論

    2013.4 - 2013.9   First semester

  • 比較教育学特論Ⅰ

    2013.4 - 2013.9   First semester

  • 教育学文献講読

    2013.4 - 2013.9   First semester

  • 国際教育論Ⅰ

    2013.4 - 2013.9   First semester

  • 比較国際教育学 II

    2012.10 - 2013.3   Second semester

  • 比較教育学概論 I 演習

    2012.10 - 2013.3   Second semester

  • 比較教育改革論

    2012.4 - 2012.9   First semester

  • 修士 比較国際教育学Ⅰ

    2012.4 - 2012.9   First semester

  • 国際教育論Ⅰ

    2012.4 - 2012.9   First semester

  • 教育学文献講読

    2012.4 - 2012.9   First semester

  • 比較教育学特論Ⅰ

    2012.4 - 2012.9   First semester

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Visiting, concurrent, or part-time lecturers at other universities, institutions, etc.

  • 2012  Tohoku University, Graduate School of Education  Classification:Intensive course  Domestic/International Classification:Japan 

    Semester, Day Time or Duration:August 20-29

Participation in international educational events, etc.

  • 2014.12

    Harvard University (Harvard Center Shanghai)

    Harvard University China Fund Symposium: Cultivating Civic Consciousness in China (December 12-13, 2014) Keynote lecture: 'Citizenship, identity and education in Greater China: framing the debate'

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    Venue:Shanghai, China

    Number of participants:30

  • 2013.9

    Kyushu University, Department of Education

    East Asian Images of Japan - International Symposium Organiser and Presenter

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    Venue:Fukuoka, Japan

    Number of participants:50

  • 2013.6

    University of Macao

    8th International Convention of Asia Scholars presenter in panel on 'East Asian Images of Japan'

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    Venue:Macau, China

    Number of participants:600

  • 2012.7

    Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

    Comparative Education Society of Asia, biennial conference

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    Venue:Bangkok, Thailand

    Number of participants:300

  • 2012.5

    Institute of Education, University of London

    Leverhulme International Network on 'Japan and East Asian Identities'

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    Venue:Taipei, Taiwan ROC

    Number of participants:20

  • 2012.2

    East China Normal University

    Lecture on the Politics of History Education in Hong Kong

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    Venue:Shanghai, China

    Number of participants:100

  • 2011.11

    Brown University

    The Strait Talk Symposium

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    Venue:Providence, Rhode Island, USA

    Number of participants:30

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Outline of Social Contribution and International Cooperation activities

  • On behalf of Kyushu University's Education Department, I successfully applied for conferral of a UNESCO Chair on Education for Peace, Social Justice and Global Citizenship. This was formally approved in June 2021. The UNESCO Chair involves a partnership with a number of partner universities and UNESCO Institutes, primarily in Asia and the Pacific. It will form an important platform for expanding and promoting our international activities in postgraduate teaching and research over the coming years.

    In September 2021, I was elected President of the Comparative Education Society of Asia (CESA). I had previously served as Secretary-General of CESA for 9 years (2012-2021).

Social Activities

  • Open forum, 'Taiwan Today' (台湾事情)

    Organised by the Kyushu University Taiwan Studies Program, with the support of the Fukuoka Branch, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka. Chief organiser, Dr. Shiho MAEHARA, Research Assistant Professor, Kyushu Taiwan Studies Program - Director, Prof. Edward Vickers.  Kyushu University, Ito Campus  2018.12

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    Audience:General, Scientific, Company, Civic organization, Governmental agency

    Type:Seminar, workshop

    On December 15-16, 2018, the Kyushu University Taiwan Program hosted Katakura Yoshifumi, Katakura Mari, and Dr. John Chuan-Tiong Lim for the second annual 台湾事情 symposium. Mr. and Mrs. Katakura delivered lectures during the first day on the theme of ‘Taiwan’s history and diversity’. On the second day, Dr. Lim (of Academia Sinica) discussed identity issues in Okinawa, Taiwan and Hong Kong in comparative perspective. Over 100 people attended the symposium over the two days, including both Kyushu University students and members of the public. The symposium was generously supported by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (branch) in Fukuoka.

  • Voices of the Comfort Women International Symposium Invited speech - Slaves to rival nationalisms: UNESCO and the politics of ‘comfort women’ commemoration

    International Joint Nomination Committee - 'Voices of the Comfort Women'  Korean YMCA, Tokyo  2018.11

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    Audience:General, Scientific, Company, Civic organization, Governmental agency

    Type:Lecture

    In October 2017, the application to list the Voices of the Comfort Women archive on UNESCO’s ‘Memory of the World Register’ was rejected (or ‘postponed’). In this paper, I attempt to locate that decision in the context of other recent instances of ‘heritage diplomacy’ in East Asia, highlighting the tensions between nationalistic agendas and UNESCO’s universalist pretensions. I then discuss the nature and extent of similar tensions in the framing of the ‘comfort women’ issue, as manifested in ‘comfort women museums’ (institutions closely associated with the preparation of the 2016-17 ‘Memory of the World’ application). I focus especially on the case of China, where the Xi Jinping regime first sought to ‘weaponise’ this issue against Japan, only to pull back in 2018 as Sino-Japanese ties warmed. I conclude by asking how the story of the ‘comfort women’ might be reframed to
    underline its global significance (or ‘outstanding universal value’), in a manner that makes it more difficult for Japanese nationalists to portray the campaign for recognition and commemoration as an 'anti-Japan' conspiracy.

  • Junior English for China 2A, 2B Go For It, Books 1-3 PEP Up Your English (Readers)

    People's Education Press, Beijing, China  2003.9

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    Audience:Infants, Schoolchildren, Junior students, High school students

    Type:Other

Media Coverage

  • A live interview for RTHK's Backchat programme on the commemoration of the Nanjing Massacre in Hong Kong's schools TV or radio program

    RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) Radio 3  2021.12

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    A live interview for RTHK's Backchat programme on the commemoration of the Nanjing Massacre in Hong Kong's schools

  • Interviewed for NHK World's 'Asian View' programme, discussing the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party TV or radio program

    NHK World  2021.7

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    Interviewed for NHK World's 'Asian View' programme, discussing the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party

  • A live interview for the 'Backchat' program about changes to the history curriculum for Hong Kong schools TV or radio program

    RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) Radio 3  2021.6

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    A live interview for the 'Backchat' program about changes to the history curriculum for Hong Kong schools

  • Quoted in the 'Chaguan' column, in an article entitled 'Educational freedom is under assault in Hong Kong'. The article cited work by Vickers and Paul Morris (of the UCL-IOE) on the changing portrayal of Japan in Hong Kong's history textbooks. Newspaper, magazine

    The Economist  2020.5

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    Quoted in the 'Chaguan' column, in an article entitled 'Educational freedom is under assault in Hong Kong'. The article cited work by Vickers and Paul Morris (of the UCL-IOE) on the changing portrayal of Japan in Hong Kong's history textbooks.

  • Interview broadcast as part of the Program 'Lies My Teacher Told Me: Japan - Revising the Past' TV or radio program

    BBC Radio 4  2020.1

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    Interview broadcast as part of the Program 'Lies My Teacher Told Me: Japan - Revising the Past'

  • Prof. Edward Vickers was interviewed on the program 'Taiwan Lecture Hall' (民視台灣學堂) on September 10, 2018. The interview was conducted by Dr. Yin C. Chuang of National Taiwan Normal University. Dr. Chuang and Prof. Vickers discussed history education and the politics of national identity in Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China. TV or radio program

    Formosa Television  2018.9

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    Prof. Edward Vickers was interviewed on the program 'Taiwan Lecture Hall' (民視台灣學堂) on September 10, 2018. The interview was conducted by Dr. Yin C. Chuang of National Taiwan Normal University. Dr. Chuang and Prof. Vickers discussed history education and the politics of national identity in Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China.

  • Factory Model Schools (letter to the Editor) Newspaper, magazine

    The Economist  2018.5

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    Factory Model Schools (letter to the Editor)

  • Interviewed for and quoted in article entitled, 'Westminster and Kings accused of Helping Chinese teach propaganda', by Rosemary Bennett Newspaper, magazine

    The Times  2018.3

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    Interviewed for and quoted in article entitled, 'Westminster and Kings accused of Helping Chinese teach propaganda', by Rosemary Bennett

  • Interviewed for and quoted in article entitled 'Students in East China and Vietnam top rich world peers', by Simon Roughneen Newspaper, magazine

    Nikkei Asia Review  2018.3

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    Interviewed for and quoted in article entitled 'Students in East China and Vietnam top rich world peers', by Simon Roughneen

  • Lessons in Education from Post-Mao China Newspaper, magazine

    East Asia Forum  2018.3

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    Lessons in Education from Post-Mao China

  • Warn Students about Expensive Diploma Mills (letter to the Editor) Newspaper, magazine

    The Financial Times  2018.2

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    Warn Students about Expensive Diploma Mills (letter to the Editor)

  • At What Price Success? Lessons in education from Post-Mao China

    Asian Currents (online newsletter of the Asian Studies Assocation of Australia)  2018.1

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    At What Price Success? Lessons in education from Post-Mao China

  • Interviewed for and quoted in article entitled 'Chinese universities scramble to open centers to study Xi Jinping Thought', by Simon Denyer Newspaper, magazine

    The Washington Post  2017.11

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    Interviewed for and quoted in article entitled 'Chinese universities scramble to open centers to study Xi Jinping Thought', by Simon Denyer

  • Japan's Pyrrhic Victory over 'Comfort Women' Commemoration Newspaper, magazine

    The Diplomat  2017.11

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    Japan's Pyrrhic Victory over 'Comfort Women' Commemoration

  • Lecture entitled 'Educating China after Mao' in RN's 'Big Ideas' series (broadcast September 27, 2017) TV or radio program

    Australian Broadcasting Corporation, National Radio (RN)  2017.9

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    Lecture entitled 'Educating China after Mao' in RN's 'Big Ideas' series (broadcast September 27, 2017)

  • Japan Scores Tragic Own Goal with UNESCO Stance Newspaper, magazine

    The Diplomat  2016.10

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    Japan Scores Tragic Own Goal with UNESCO Stance

  • Japan Scores Tragic Own Goal (reprint of article originally published in 'The Diplomat') Newspaper, magazine

    The Japan Times  2016.10

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    Japan Scores Tragic Own Goal (reprint of article originally published in 'The Diplomat')

  • 「世界的趨勢としての人文社会科学危機」 という記事を執筆した。 Newspaper, magazine

    中央公論  2016.1

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    「世界的趨勢としての人文社会科学危機」 という記事を執筆した。

  • Article with Jeremy Rappleye entitled, 'Can Japanese Universities really become Super Global?'

    'University World News'  2015.11

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    Article with Jeremy Rappleye entitled, 'Can Japanese Universities really become Super Global?'

  • Article with Jeremy Rappleye entitled 'Nationalism vs. Internationalism'

    University World News  2015.11

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    Article with Jeremy Rappleye entitled 'Nationalism vs. Internationalism'

  • Article with Jeremy Rappleye entitled, 'Asia is Japan's Internationalisation Blindspot'

    'University World News'  2015.11

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    Article with Jeremy Rappleye entitled, 'Asia is Japan's Internationalisation Blindspot'

  • The Abe Statement and the Politics of War Memory in Japan

    Asia Dialogue (online magazine of University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute)  2015.8

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    The Abe Statement and the Politics of War Memory in Japan

  • 外国人教員から見た日本の大学の奇妙なグローバル化 (Japan's Peculiar University Internationalization: the view of foreign professors) Newspaper, magazine

    中央公論  2015.7

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    外国人教員から見た日本の大学の奇妙なグローバル化 (Japan's Peculiar University Internationalization: the view of foreign professors)

  • Britain's Approach to Japan and East Asia (article co-authored with Tim Summers) Newspaper, magazine

    The Diplomat  2015.7

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    Britain's Approach to Japan and East Asia (article co-authored with Tim Summers)

  • 'China and the Future of Democracy in Hong Kong' Newspaper, magazine

    The Guardian (London)  2014.10

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    'China and the Future of Democracy in Hong Kong'

  • China and the Future of Democracy in Hong Kong (letter to the Editor) Newspaper, magazine

    The Guardian  2014.10

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    China and the Future of Democracy in Hong Kong (letter to the Editor)

  • Interviewed by Simon Denyer (Beijing Bureau Chief of The Washington Post) on the politics of education in contemporary Hong Kong. Cited in article: 'Hong Kong Protests Spur Renewed Debate Over Patriotic Education', Washington Post, November 21, 2014.

    The Washington Post  2014.10

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    Interviewed by Simon Denyer (Beijing Bureau Chief of The Washington Post) on the politics of education in contemporary Hong Kong. Cited in article: 'Hong Kong Protests Spur Renewed Debate Over Patriotic Education', Washington Post, November 21, 2014.

  • 'Bully Tactics by Accounting Firms' (Commentary on Hong Kong politics) Newspaper, magazine

    Financial Times (London)  2014.7

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    'Bully Tactics by Accounting Firms' (Commentary on Hong Kong politics)

  • Bully Tactics by Accounting Firms (letter to the Editor) Newspaper, magazine

    The Financial Times  2014.7

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    Bully Tactics by Accounting Firms (letter to the Editor)

  • 'At Cross Purposes on Hong Kong's Autonomy' (a criticism of the British government's policy towards Hong Kong in the context of the 'Occupy Central' campaign) Newspaper, magazine

    The Financial Times (London)  2014.7

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    'At Cross Purposes on Hong Kong's Autonomy' (a criticism of the British government's policy towards Hong Kong in the context of the 'Occupy Central' campaign)

  • China-Taiwan History: No Textbook Answers

    East Asia Forum  2014.3

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    China-Taiwan History: No Textbook Answers

  • This article discusses my reflections on the current state of Sino-Japanese relations, drawing on my experience of living, working and researching in mainland China, Hong Kong and Japan over a 20-year period. It is a contribution to a special issue of the Japanese magazine 'Foreign Affairs' commemorating the 40th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic ties. Newspaper, magazine

    外交  2012.9

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    This article discusses my reflections on the current state of Sino-Japanese relations, drawing on my experience of living, working and researching in mainland China, Hong Kong and Japan over a 20-year period. It is a contribution to a special issue of the Japanese magazine 'Foreign Affairs' commemorating the 40th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic ties.

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Activities contributing to policy formation, academic promotion, etc.

  • 2021.11 - 2022.3   The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) of the UK.

    I wrote a regional report on the state of research on education in East and Southeast Asia, focusing especially on the role of teachers in 'raising learning outcomes'. This was designed to inform discussions within the the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) of the UK, and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on the design of the second stage of a large international research project on the theme of 'Raising Learning Outcomes', focusing especially on enhancing teaching and learning in developing countries.

  • 2019.10 - 2022.3   UNESCO (Mahatma Gandhi Institute / MGIEP).

    I served as Co-Chair of the 'Context' Working Group (WG2) of the 'International Scientific and Evidence-based Educational Assessment', coordinated by UNESCO's Mahatma Gandhi Institute (New Delhi) in connection with UNESCO's 'Futures of Education' agenda.

  • 2016.6 - 2017.11   UNESCO MGIEP (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development).

    I served as a coordinating lead author, together with Dr. Yoko Mochizuki and Prof. Krishna Kumar, of a report commissioned by UNESCO's Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (New Delhi). This report was designed as a survey of the treatment in education policy and school curricula across Asia of concepts related to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 4.7. It was published as 'Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century: the State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia.'

Acceptance of Foreign Researchers, etc.

  • National Taiwan Normal University

    Acceptance period: 2019.1 - 2019.2   (Period):2weeks to less than 1 month

    Nationality:Taiwan, Province of China

    Business entity:On-campus funds

  • National Taiwan Normal University

    Acceptance period: 2019.1 - 2019.2   (Period):2weeks to less than 1 month

    Nationality:Belgium

    Business entity:On-campus funds

  • National Taiwan Normal University

    Acceptance period: 2019.1 - 2019.2   (Period):Less than 2 weeks

    Nationality:Taiwan, Province of China

    Business entity:On-campus funds

  • National Taiwan Normal University

    Acceptance period: 2019.1   (Period):Less than 2 weeks

    Nationality:Taiwan, Province of China

    Business entity:On-campus funds

Travel Abroad

  • 2014.5

    Staying countory name 1:United Kingdom   Staying institution name 1:London School of Economics

    Staying institution name 2:University of Essex

  • 2014.5

    Staying countory name 1:Macao   Staying institution name 1:Polytechnic Institute of Macau

  • 2013.12

    Staying countory name 1:China   Staying institution name 1:Beijing Normal University

  • 2013.6

    Staying countory name 1:Macao   Staying institution name 1:University of Macau

  • 2013.3

    Staying countory name 1:China   Staying institution name 1:Beijing Normal University

  • 2012.9

    Staying countory name 1:United Kingdom   Staying institution name 1:Institute of Education, University of London

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