1st International Educational Conference, hosted by the Institute of Education, Lahore College for Women University was held at the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club in Lahore on 2nd Nov 2016. The conference addressed the theme of “Building Knowledge Competencies for Sustainable Development in Asia: Achieving the Goals of Life Long Learning”. Vice Chancellor Lahore College for Women University, Prof. Dr.Uzma Quraishi in her inaugural address emphasized that to achieve Sustainable Development, we need to change the way we think and act. This can be made possible through quality education and learning for sustainable development at all levels and in all social contexts.
The conference intended to address the objectives of identifying certain areas of knowledge convergences which are conducive for making United Nation’s identified knowledge competencies work in the Asian context and beyond. It addressed three key areas upholding the cause of UN’s call for an inclusive and equitable quality education for sustainable development.
These themes among others were the topics of the keynote speakers Prof. Dr. Saeeda Shah, University of Leicester, UK, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Memon, Agha Khan University, Pakistan, Prof. Dr. Munawar Sultana Mirza, Leads University, Pakistan and Dr .Naim Syed, Associate Assistant Vice President at University of Connecticut Health and Janet Syed, Merrimack College, USA, Dr. Sazali Bin Yousoff, Director, Institute of Teacher Education Malaysia and Dr. Siti Salina Binti Mustakim, Institute Aminuddin Baki, Ministry of Education, Malaysia. Distinguished guest Mr Kamran Lashari also addressed the youth and encouraged them to explore various facets of life and extend their learning beyond classrooms.
The three day international conference drew a large number of students and faculty countrywide and from across the continents, encouraging detailed deliberations on developing sustainable knowledge competencies of communication, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration for life-long learning and how universities should play their role in policy decisions, and lead the way towards sustainable education.