Exploring Boundaries of Global Citizenship Education Conference

Global Citizenship Education (GCED) is at the cutting edge of 21st century education. Institutions of higher education continue to emphasize the need to create and develop global citizen graduates who will face challenging global issues in the workforce. Values such as diversity, equitable treatment of one another, the ability to handle ambiguity and unfamiliarity, critical thinking and comparative skills, debating and discourse, moral reasoning, intercultural communication skills, concern for the environment, social responsibility, global awareness, and active engagement are all fundamentally important to the future of the world and society.

Within this context, the role of universities and colleges in educating the citizens of tomorrow has dominated discourse for the past couple of decades. Equipped with the values of rights, respect, and responsibility, students gained knowledge and understanding of global concerns while developing the competence, critical thinking, and cooperation skills to meet the challenges of a complex world. GCED was about equipping young people with the knowledge, skills and values to participate as active citizens. This conference invited a global network of students, experts and educators to join us at Swinburne Vietnam in an opportunity to explore new ways to engage as global citizens through education in 2022 and beyond.

GCED had a hands-on link to the ‘Sustainable development goals’ (SDG 16), which aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. In this case, GCED emphasised on target 16.7, ensuring responsive decision-making at many levels.