Their Highnesses co-sponsor WISE inaugural ceremony

His Highness the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani and Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser, the chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) have co-sponsored the opening ceremony of the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) earlier Tuesday at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).

The function was attended by a number of Their Excellencies Sheikhs, ministers and a number of those interested in the education sector locally and internationally. Her Highness participated during the opening ceremony in a seminar on education where she pointed out that education has become a must and a major tool for the cherished change to create a society capable of meeting challenges we face noting that we have to work together to develop our education mechanism.

WISE conference is an adequate opportunity for collective participation to raise awareness of the value of education and relief of other old and traditional channels and to find and get help of more innovative means and ways instead, said Her Highness adding that there is a bigger percentage of youth who should be exploited and be given a qualitative education to get involved in the labour market in future.

At the end of the ceremony, His Highness the Emir handed over the first Laureate of the WISE Prize for Education for this year to Fadel Hassan Abid in recognition to his contributions to the education field.

The participants attending the third World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) will discuss and explore challenges in the field of education all over the world. The first panel discussion will be under this year’s summit theme  Changing Societies, Changing Education including Her Highness, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation; Dr Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York; Naledi Pandor, MP, Minister of Science and Technology, South Africa; and Professor Jeffrey D Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute; Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, Columbia University.

The theme Changing Societies, Changing Education looks at our fast-changing world and the role education plays in strategies to promote sustainable social, political and economic development.

The summit will be a highly interactive event with access to streamed sessions, continuous online coverage and social networking. The third wise brings together 1,300 decision makers and practitioners from education and other sectors to seek innovative solutions to today s educational challenges. The Prize aims to place education on the same level as other disciplines such as medicine, the sciences, economics and the arts. It recognizes an individual or a team for an outstanding, world-class contribution to education.

In addition, the WISE Haiti Task Force, established at the WISE 2010 Summit, aims to help the Haitian authorities implement innovative solutions to restoring the country s education system, will meet during the summit today to discuss the workshop and follow up on some of its outcomes. This year also, the WISE Awards which showcase and promote high-impact educational projects from around the world. Eighteen best practices have been recognised to date, and these real-world initiatives are steadily becoming a global community of educational innovators.

Innovation in Education: Lessons from Pioneers around the World, the first international reference guide to best practices in the field, will be launched on the second day of the summit. In addition through its Learners Voice programme, WISE has invited 30 selected students from a diverse range of countries to this year’s Summit. This will be a significant step in making learners active members of the growing WISE community.