Okayama University Senior Vice President for Global Engagement Strategy and UNESCO Chairholder YOKOI Atsufumi was invited to participate in the UN Transforming Education Pre-Summit 2022, held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris from June 28 to June 30. The Pre-Summit is a precursor to the Transforming Education Summit (TES), which will be held in conjunction with the 77th UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 19, as announced by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last year in his report to the UN General Assembly on 'Our Common Agenda'. The Pre-Summit was held in hybrid format, with nearly 2000 participants from 154 countries gathering for the event, including education ministers and vice-ministers, and young activists, experts and member of civil society representing the UN, international organizations, governments, universities, businesses, and non-profit organizations.

The main purpose of the Pre-Summit was to share progress on evolving discussions on transforming education, to develop the agenda and establish a shared vision for the Summit, and to generate greater momentum in the lead up to September. In order to engage young people in the agenda-setting for the TES and create momentum for transforming education at the national level, the Pre-Summit opened with a Youth Forum on "Global Engagement Day". Additionally, kicking off with a Global Partnership for Education meeting with Ministers of Education, numerous side events were held over the course of the Pre-Summit, including sessions themed according to five different "Action Tracks" to transform education. Each track focused on a specific area to develop education-related goals and targets for the Education 2030 Agenda, with UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 as the unifying principle. In a session focusing on Action Track 2 (learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development) co-hosted by the governments of Japan and Columbia, representatives spoke about promoting resilience and adaptability to an uncertain future, education for sustainable development (ESD), including environmental and climate change education, and skills for employment and entrepreneurship in order to ensure human and planetary well-being and to encourage sustainable development.

While participating in a number of sessions, Senior Vice President Yokoi actively engaged in discussions on global engagement strategies and initiatives and on strengthening cooperation with representatives from around the world, including UNESCO Chairholder Professor Daniel A. Wagner from Penn Graduate School of Education of University of Pennsylvania in the United States, a leading authority in ESD, and UNESCO-Japan Prize on ESD International Jury Chair HRH Princess Abze Djigma from Burkina Faso.

As a university that contributes "from the local to the planetary", Okayama University strives to promote sustainability and wellbeing with its diverse stakeholders.

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Transforming Education Pre-Summit