On October 28, 2013, the Third Meeting among the Heads of the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean National Institutes of Educational Research was held at the National Institute of Education Sciences (NIES). This annual meeting was initiated under the umbrella of the Fourth Trilateral Summit Meeting among the leaders of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in 2011. It aims at exchanging views on issues of common concern of the three parties, strengthening research collaboration, and promoting development in the field of education.
Professor Xu Changfa, Executive President of NIES, and his counterparts Dr. Haruki Ozaki, Director-General of the Japanese National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER) and Dr. Baek Sun-Geun, President of the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), attended the meeting and made opening remarks respectively. Delegates from the three parties reported the management and reform of their institutions, their research priorities, research agendas, as well as research methodology respectively. They also exchanged opinions on issues of common interest such as publication of research articles and sources of research funding.
The three parties deliberated on a potential collaborative research project. NIES proposed a joint survey on such issues as school students’ workload, health status, English learning to inform policymaking in each country. This proposal was welcomed by NIER and KEDI. KEDI further suggested that, as a goal of long-term trilateral cooperation, an education indicator system based on the outcomes of the joint research should be developed in the light of socio-cultural backgrounds and educational environments of the three countries. The three parties finally reached a consensus on the joint research project. Each institution nominated a coordinator to follow up on the trilateral research collaboration.
The meeting concluded with a discussion of related issues about the fourth meeting to be held in Japan next year.
