The theme of the World Education Day (WED) 2017 was "Inheritance, Innovation, Cooperation, and Development". This event took place on September 27-29, 2017 at the Dalian International Convention Center, China. World Education Day (WED) is a gathering platform for educators, researchers, Chinese language and culture lovers, philanthropist, and policymakers. It supposes to create an unprecedented diversified platform where participants could have a comprehensive understanding of the world evolving culture of education and pedagogy. WED 2017 showcased the latest trend of the education industry. Experts from different countries shared their latest skills in transferring education through modern technologies.
On the first day, the topics/materials presented mostly on education related to academic, policy, leadership, collaboration and innovation. However, there were several topics related to UI GreenMetric (green and sustainable campus theme), such as (1) Activities of Campus Sustainability Network in Japan (CAS-Net JAPAN) and (2) Training Project on Regional Rehabilitation for Safer and More Secure Society in Fukushima without Nuclear Energy, both the themes were presented by Prof. Takayuki Nakamura, President, National Institute of Technology, Fukushima College; Executive Director, Campus Sustainability Network in Japan (CAS-Net JAPAN), Japan.
The CAS-Net JAPAN presentation explained that some Japan's top universities have established a network of sustainable campus, similar to the Sustainability University Network (SUN) in Thailand. CAS-Net JAPAN was formed in 2014, consisted of 9 universities: Hokkaido University, Iwate University, Chiba University, Kyoto University, Kyoto University CO-OP, Ritsumeikan University, Naruto University of Education, Ehime University, and Fukushima College. CAS-Net JAPAN has also been actively participating in sustainability association such as AASHE, ISCN, and SUN.
The social dinner program was organized for the "Launching Ceremony & Welcome Reception" as the inauguration of the opening of the 1st World Education Day. The event which started the next morning on September 28, 2017, coinciding with the birthday of Confucius. In this gala dinner, some remarks from the organizing committee invited guests (VIP), Ministry of Higher Education of China, UNESCO, were presented.
Then, it was continued with the screening of Confucius dance, music, while the participants were enjoyed the networking dinner provided.
On the second day, the Opening Ceremony which coincided with the birthday celebrations of Confucius, a traditional Chinese reverence ceremony dedicated to Confucius for his services in the world of education and development of knowledge/technology in Chinese were presented.
Subsequently, in the Keynote Forum session, there were 4 keynote speeches. One of keynote speakers was Prof. Shuji Nakamura from University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, a Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics, 2014. Then, the event was assembled with a High-End Dialogue, in the form of a question and answer session until 13:30 during lunchtime.
The Session after lunch break was a parallel session. In this session, the UI GreenMetric Secretary, Dr. Nyoman Suwartha presented UI GreenMetric updates entitled “The Role of UI GreenMetric World University Rankings as a Supporting Tool for Campus Sustainable Development in Global Universities”.
Presentation of UI GreenMetric received excellent response from audience that it was delivered directly after presentation, during informal talks, lunch and dinner discussions. Some new universities were very enthusiastic and eager to join UI GreenMetric. Participant from the USA (University of West Georgia), Dr. Anne Merrem was pleased to promote UI GreenMetric to her colleagues and related universities.
On the third day of WED 2017, the presentation that relevant to the UI GreenMetric is "Strategies for a Sustainable Campus in Osaka University" presented by Dr. Yukiko Yoshida, President of Yoshida Environmental Design Associates; Visiting Academic Staff, Osaka University; Japan. In her presentation, Dr. Yukiko Yoshida introduced Osaka University's policies in an effort to reduce carbon emissions through energy-saving strategies. Osaka University installed renewable energy technology to realize sustainable campus. Compared to 2010 data, Osaka University's energy consumption in 2015 per floor space decreased by 23.7%. Osaka University achieved several awards as an institution that successfully implemented carbon reduction and saving energy.
Seeing the success of this event and the good response from WED participants, the organizing committee intended to continue this activity on a regular basis and scheduled WED # 2 in 2018, at the same place. Some potential cooperation especially related to UI GreenMetric network hub can be proposed in the near future, and so that open up more possibility to grasp more participants of UI GreenMetric.