Timor-Leste conference: Finding Pathways in Education

A two-day public affairs conference in Timor-Leste entitled Finding Pathways in Education to be held on Monday 13 and Tuesday 14 July. It is hosted by Victoria University in co-operation with the National University of Timor Loro Sa’e (UNTL) in Dili, Timor-Leste.

The Conference will address how students access appropriate courses and careers, and how Timor-Leste as a country is finding a way to readdress the skill gaps.

The conference will examine good practice in Timor-Leste drawing on what is working well. It will also review what is happening in other countries, in relation to finding educational pathways, and opportunities for lifelong learning whilst eliminating roadblocks in education from the perspective of the Timor-Leste community.

The conference will cover a number of different fields of endeavour including:

• agriculture and rural livelihoods
• health and wellbeing
• law and justice
• infrastructure and national systems
• economics and financial inclusion
• teacher education and human resource development
• information and communications.

Program

Conference location

The two-day conference will be held at CNE, in Dili Timor-Leste. Please note this is a new location for 2015.

Major objectives

The four hoped-for outcomes emerging from the conference are:

• for educators, students, administrators and others concerned with education and training in Timor-Leste to engage with the contemporary educational dialogue, particularly around access and equity issues, in keeping with the Timorese Constitution
• for special interest groups (SIG) to propose recommendations to be discussed and debated in the conference and eventually sent to the two universities, the Timorese government and civil society organizations.
• that the conference recommendations will inform the emerging policy discussion on curriculum, teaching methods, information about educational opportunities and selection processes for courses in Timor-Leste and formulation of policies for lifelong learning
• the production of an open access VU-UNTL publication of conference presentations (non refereed, pdf documents).

Cost & registration process

Registrations for the conference are being accepted online for international attendees. Local attendees will register in person at the conference in Dili, Timor-Leste.

You can also package your registration fee with the academic interdisciplinary conference  Timor-Leste: the Local, the Regional and the Global . This conference will be held in Dili on Thursday 9 and Friday 10 July and is organised by the Timor-Leste Studies Association.

International attendees registration

Timor-Leste attendees registration

The Victoria University Timor-Leste alliance

Victoria University has a long history of engagement with Timor-Leste through a number of current and former staff and council members.

There are a significant number of VU graduates from Timor-Leste, many of whom have returned home to positions of influence, including:

• current and former government ministers
• UN staff
• an environmental campaigner and internationally renowned singer-songwriter.

Many of these links with Timor-Leste are based upon very long standing relationships particularly with the Honorable Mrs Jean McLean and Dr Helen Hill. Dr Hill produced an abridged history of VU's involvement with Timor-Leste from 1998-2014.