In this first event in our series examining how UWCSEA might rise to the challenge of the decades to come, our global community engaged in an exploration of the need for an evolution, and perhaps even revolution, of learning to meet the needs of humanity and the planet in the 21st century.
We need a revolution in how and what humans learn." Tom Fletcher CMG, Project Director, Towards Global Learning Goals
Webinar recording: Navigating learning in the 21st century
Pre-event student perspective
As a precursor and important lens for any discussion on learning, UWCSEA students from Grade 11 and 12 shared their ideas on what a future education might look like, and what might be important for them. This 30 minute exploration set the scene for the keynote speakers who followed.
Student provocation
Student panel discussion
Speakers
Tom Fletcher CMG
A foreign policy adviser to three Prime Ministers and UK Ambassador to Lebanon, Tom has just taken up a new role as Principal of Hertford College, Oxford University. Prior to this, he was a Visiting Professor at New York University, and chair of the International Advisory Council of the Creative Industries Federation, promoting Britain’s most dynamic and magnetic sector overseas. In 2018 he founded The Foundation for Opportunity, which supports good people doing good things in public life, including through a pioneering project on the future of learning. He was a Board Member of the Dubai Future Academy, and an Advisor to the Global Business Coalition for Education and the Emirates Diplomatic Academy. His book on the future of statecraft, The Naked Diplomat: Power and Politics in the Digital Age (Harper Collins) has been launched in over 25 countries and has become the bestselling book on diplomacy by a British writer.
He recently led on a report for the UN on what skills the next generation need to thrive in the 21st century, as well as a review of the future of the United Nation for the UN Secretary General.
Key resources
Towards Global Learning Goals - an unaffiliated network of educators, technologists, business people, diplomats, advocacy specialists and parents with no agenda other than the need for rapid change so as to create greater equality of opportunity for young people to develop the skills needed to thrive in a new economy.
Final Report: Be Kind, Be Curious, Be Brave. A survival guide to the 21st century (March 2019)
Report 3: From Ferment to Fusion (May 2018)
Report 2: Kindling the Flame (December 2017)
Report 1: The World Needs Global Learning Goal (September 2017)
Dr Parag Khanna
Parag Khanna is a leading global strategy advisor, world traveler, and best-selling author. He is Founder and Managing Partner of FutureMap, a data and scenario based strategic advisory firm. Parag's newest book is The Future is Asian: Commerce, Conflict & Culture in the 21st Century (2019). He is author of a trilogy of books on the future of world order beginning with The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order (2008), followed by How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance (2011), and concluding with Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization (2016). He is also the author of Technocracy in America: Rise of the Info-State (2017) and co-author of Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization (2012).
Parag was named one of Esquire’s “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century,” and featured in WIRED magazine’s “Smart List.” He holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, and Bachelors and Masters degrees from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has traveled to nearly 150 countries and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
He is a parent in the UWCSEA East community.
Key Resources
Our Connected Global Civilization - podcast discussion on Inside Ideas with Marc Buckley (November 2020)
On Global Connectivity - TED podcast interview with Chris Anderson (September 2019)
Why Asia is the centre of the world (again) - TEDxGateway (December 2018)
How megacities are changing the world - TED2016 (February 2016)
Panelist
Dr Musimbi Kanyoro
Dr Musimbi Kanyoro currently serves as Chair of the Board of United World Colleges (UWC) International. She is also a Board member of CARE International and UN Global Compact, where she doubles as the Senior Gender advisor on the #TargetGenderEquality Project. Musimbi has recently moved off the World Bank Gender Advisory Board and previously has served on Boards of UN entities, international NGOs and academic institutions. She is the immediate past President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women , a public philanthropic foundation with offices in San Francisco, New York and London and funds activities in 175 countries. Prior to that, she spent six years managing a US$30 million grant making portfolio the David and Lucille Packard Foundation based in the Silicon Valley, USA. David Packard is one of the two founders of Hewlett Packard (HP) Company.
Before moving to the USA, Musimbi spent 20 years in Geneva, Switzerland leading international NGOs. She made history as the first non-white CEO of the World YWCA in its 150-year-history. She transformed the organisation, bringing it to the agendas of the 21 century which included focus on innovation of young women, embracing technology, and attention to health and environment.
Dr Kanyoro received her Ph.D in Linguistics from the University of Texas in Austin and was a visiting scholar in Hebrew studies at Harvard University. She has a Theological doctorate; Doctor of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary.
Musimbi Kanyoro is the recipient of numerous awards over the years including:
- In 2015, recognition as one of the 21 Women Leaders for the 21st Century by Women’s E-News.
- In 2016, Forbes magazine named her one of the 10 power brands working for gender equality.
- In 2017, named on the list of 40 over 40 Women who are re-inventing, disrupting and making an impact.
- In 2018, Apolitical honored her on their list of the 100 most influential people in gender policy.
- In 2019, Musimbi Kanyoro was listed as one of the nine people who fought for the planet alongside Bill Gates, Ban Ki-moon and Michael Bloomberg.
In 2019, Musimbi voluntarily terminated her term of service as president and CEO at the Global Fund for Women in order to move back to her country Kenya. She is now based in Nairobi, engaging both locally and internationally mostly in education, gender and climate change activities.
Key resources
To solve the world's biggest problems, invest in women and girls - TEDWomen2017 (November 2017)
Chair of the UWC International Board - appointed 1 January 2019
Event Host
Anita Kapoor '89
Anita Kapoor is a presenter, emcee, facilitator, and a personal transformation specialist for events, galas, discussions, panels and inclusivity awareness circles.
She is the creator and host of a Covid19 #stayhome self series Beyond Chaos which aired once a week on Instagram Live during lockdown in Singapore, 2020, and shareyourvoice.world a platform for collected audio stories from across the world within lockdown and beyond to be heard and shared.
Her 2019 client roster includes TED, Asia's 50 Best Bars and Talks, Michelin Guide Singapore, Singapore International Film Festival, Women in Tech, Viacom, Singapore Tourism Board, Lazada, Patek Philippe, Samsung, Credit Suisse and Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative.
2020 has seen her work with UOB and PSA on to be released voiceover projects, with Linkaja Indonesia to coach employees digitally on women's empowerment for Kartini Day, with Shopify to coach employees on ‘finding our voice and speaking our truth’ during their month-long unity festival Shopify Together, with Samsung on their current Female Gamechangers video series, and as a personality with Lancome in the activation around their 2020 Genifique serum Live Your Strength campaign, end August to end September 2020.
Her work with associations and advocacy includes women, elders, mental health and LGBTQI+ sectors through AWARE, Mental Health Film Festival, Habitat for Humanity and Pink Dot. She is a two time TED speaker - TEDx Women and TEDx Procter & Gamble - and she was the in-patient subject and narrator for social documentary ‘Nursinghomes.sg’ which explored the state of elder care in Singapore.
Anita was born in Mumbai and has lived in Singapore since she was 7. The Lion City is home.