Keynote speakers
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Prof John Chi-Kin LEE
President, The Education University of Hong Kong
Bio:
Professor John Lee Chi-Kin, President and Chair Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, joined The Education University of Hong Kong (the then Hong Kong Institute of Education) in 2010. He was Vice President (Academic) from 2010 to 2019, and Vice President (Academic) and Provost from 2019 to 2023. Professor Lee was previously Dean of Education and a Professor at the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He was also the Director of the Centre for University and School Partnership and served as a Fellow of United College and Morningside College at CUHK. Professor Lee was a recipient of The Vice-Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Award 1999 at CUHK. Before that, he worked as a secondary school teacher and as a Lecturer in the Sir Robert Black College of Education.
Abstracts:
“Professional and Vocational Education: Building Education Futures”
This presentation explores how Professional and Vocational Education (PVE) serves as a transformative bridge connecting learning with purpose, innovation, and societal impact. As the global landscape undergoes rapid technological and economic shifts driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Sustainable Development Goals, PVE must evolve beyond traditional skill-training models to equip learners with the competence, values, and adaptability needed for lifelong success.
The presentation outlines five interconnected themes essential to contemporary PVE: (1)Lifelong Learning, which develops agency and reflective practice across the lifespan; (2)Talent Development, integrating technical skills with ethical and creative capabilities; (3)Social Mobility, expanding equitable pathways through inclusive, high-value vocational education; (4)Micro-Credentials, leveraging flexible, stackable credentials and digital systems for personalized learning; and (5)Industry-University-Research Cooperation, fostering collaborative innovation that addresses both educational and societal challenges.
Drawing on contemporary research and institutional alignment with strategic objectives, the keynote demonstrates how these five dimensions create an integrated ecosystem that transforms PVE into a catalyst for leadership, organizational renewal, and sustainable development. By anchoring education in moral character, practical application, and the integration of knowledge with action, this framework positions PVE as essential infrastructure for building resilient, inclusive, and future-ready societies.
Professor Stephan ABELE
Professor; Chair of Vocational Education, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Bio:
Stephan Abele is Professor of Vocational Education at Technische Universität Dresden, Germany. Holding a diploma in Mechanical Engineering and teacher training for vocational schools, he received both his doctorate and habilitation in Vocational Education, each recognized with academic awards. His research focuses on vocational teacher education, vocational teaching and learning, and technology-based assessment of vocational competences, with a strong emphasis on empirical-quantitative, hypothesis-testing methods. Professor Abele has secured about €3 million in third-party funding and authored around 80 publications, many of them peer-reviewed. His international experience includes research stays at ETS (Princeton), Maastricht University, the University of Luxembourg, and the University of Melbourne. For the OECD, he chaired the expert group that developed the competence assessment framework for automotive vocational training in PISA-VET and continues to serve on its international expert panel. His current projects explore digital, simulation-based assessments in final examinations in vocational education as well as enrolment, dropout, and knowledge development in vocational teacher education.
Abstracts:
“Closing the Skills Gap: Task-Centered Learning and Digital Simulations in Vocational Education”
The purpose of vocational education is to equip learners with the competences (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) needed to perform occupational tasks at a high level of quality. Such competences enable individuals to secure employment, adapt to technological, societal, and ecological change, and lead a decent life. However, evidence shows that many learners fail to acquire these competences, resulting in a persistent skills-labour mismatch with far-reaching consequences for labour markets, social participation, and lifelong learning. Rapidly changing demands in occupational fields, driven by digital transformation, demographic shifts, and the ecological transition, further intensify this challenge.
In this keynote, I will examine why vocational education often falls short of its goals and explore ways to close this gap. Drawing on theory and empirical evidence from research on learning and instruction, I will argue that task-centered learning supported by digital simulations for fostering and assessing vocational competences can significantly strengthen competence development in vocational education. This approach has the potential to enhance employability, reduce the skills-labour mismatch, and better align vocational education with the evolving demands of work and society, offering valuable implications for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
At the same time, I will highlight challenges in implementing this approach, discuss how digital simulations might help to address them, and point to future directions for research on task-centered learning in vocational education.
Professor Stephen BILLETT
Professor of Adult and Vocational Education, Griffith University, Australia
Bio:
Dr Stephen Billett is Professor of Adult and Vocational Education at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. After a career in clothing manufacturing, he was a vocational educator, teacher educator, professional educator and policy work in Queensland. Since 1992, he has researched and published widely in fields of learning for occupations, vocational education, workplace learning, work, higher education and conceptual accounts of learning for occupational purposes. He was a Fulbright scholar (1999), National Teaching Fellow (2009-11), ARC Future Fellow (2011-16) recipient of honorary doctorates from Jyvaskala University, Finland (2013), University of Geneva (2020) and University West, Sweden (2024), elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia (2015), research fellow at Oxford University (2019-22), adjunct professor at University of Stavanger, Norway (2019-23) and University Vast, Sweden (2019-2023). His current projects focus on: the standing of vocational education, integration of work experiences to promote employability, alignments between learning and innovations at work, resilience in healthcare workers, worklife learning, continuing education and training, developing adaptability through internships in Singaporean post-secondary educational institutions, wisdom in practice and widening access to mature ages students. He is the founding and editor in chief of the journal Vocations and Learning, and the Professional and practice-based learning book series.
Abstracts:
“Lifelong Learning for Evolving Skills and Workforce Needs: Purposes of Professional and Vocational Education and localised engagements”
In the current era, there are five key purposes for Professional and Vocational Education (PVE) to secure the social, economic and environment needs of the communities it serves. These are: i) engaging young people with VET; ii) assisting them identify occupations to which they are suited; iii) preparing them for occupations; iv) continuing education across working life to meet changing needs and goals; and v) aligning workplace innovations with workers’ learning. To realise these purposes requires: i) being responsive to the communities served by those systems and ii) play a role in bring about change in those communities through supporting innovations, extending existing economic activities, and building capacities at the local level. Given the scope of these roles, VET, perhaps for more than any other educational sector, requires effective localised social, administrative, and educational infrastructures to achieve such outcomes. Social infrastructure includes partnerships that support work placements, work experiences, employment opportunities and articulate local enterprises’ requirements. Administrative infrastructure includes the intentional organisation and enactment of vocational educational provisions and their certification. Educational infrastructure includes the provision and alignment of expertise and resources to achieve these outcomes, including those of teachers and the ability to extend their efforts beyond the educational institution. These forms of local infrastructure are proposed as being essential for achieving five contemporary purposes of PVE. In making this case, presentation draws on the findings from a three-decade long program of research in VET provisions in countries with both developed and developing economies.
Professor Sarojni CHOY
Professor of the School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University, Australia
Bio:
Professor Sarojni Choy is a distinguished academic with expertise in workforce development and vocational and continuing education and training policy and practice. She has strong leadership in research, teaching, management, industry engagement, and policy at national, state, and international levels. Her research interests include workplace learning, practice-based learning, continuing education and training, and the integration of learning across various contexts.
Prof. Choy's evidence-based work explores how adults acquire skills and knowledge for productive work, with significant implications for enhancing learning and workforce sustainability in emerging economies. She has collaborated with various industry partners to bridge the gap between academic research and its practical applications. These collaborations have been instrumental in ensuring that her research has a tangible impact on improving educational outcomes and supporting workforce development. Her extensive publication record highlights her contributions to these fields, showcasing her commitment to advancing educational practices and supporting professional growth.
Abstracts:
“Partnerships for supporting integration of learning in educational institutions and workplaces”
There are increasing demands from both, students and employers for vocational education and training to appropriately prepare graduates – fully skilled and ready to contribute to high levels of productivity. Such demands underscore the importance of incorporating authentic learning experiences within workplaces as a fundamental feature of the curriculum designed to prepare graduates for transition into employment. Expectations associated with such a curriculum requires methodical approaches to integrate learning in educational institutions and workplaces - regardless of the variations in national systems of education and training.
This presentation outlines the context and promise of VET, emphasising the integration of learning across diverse sites. It elucidates the concept of integration and posits that while learners are the main actors for integration, pedagogical affordances are contingent upon effective partnerships. Various models of partnership are listed, with a focus on five premises and practices that underpin partnerships for work-integrated learning. The presentation concludes with a summary of the fundamentals of VET – Industry partnerships.
Professor, Faculty of Humanities and Health Sciences, Curtin University Malaysia, Malaysia
Professor Beena GIRIDHARAN
Bio:
Professor Beena Giridharan is a higher degree by research supervisor at the Faculty of Humanities and Health Sciences at Curtin University Malaysia after completing tenure as the Dean for Learning and Teaching at Curtin Malaysia, and a five- year tenure (2016-2021) as Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor at Curtin University, Malaysia. She attained a doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics and Education from Curtin University, Western Australia. She has a first class Masters’ degree in English Language and Literature, and a first class Bachelor’s Degree in Science. Her research and academic interests include: vocabulary acquisition in ESL, educational administration and leadership; higher education practices, transnational education (TNE) multi-disciplinary micro-credentialing in higher education ( MdMc) and, and social and cultural studies. As a member of an OLT (Office of Learning and Teaching, Australia) funded project entitled ‘Learning without Borders’ she has investigated leadership roles in Trans-National Education (TNE) and internationalization of the curriculum. Beena Giridharan is a Fellow of the Curtin Academy, a prestigious active, honorary network of exceptional leaders committed to and passionate about the collaboration and dissemination of teaching excellence at Curtin University. Beena Giridharan is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) since 2006. Beena Giridharan won the 2006 Carrick Australian Award for Excellence and Innovation in University Teaching, and the 2006 Curtin University, Australia, Excellence in Teaching and Innovation award, and was a visiting professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA between 2007- 2008. She is a recognized global leader in higher education and is appointed as Country Director (Malaysia) for International Higher Education Teaching and Learning (HETL- USA). Dr Giridharan is an associate editor for the IAFOR Journal of Education, and Journal of Literature and Librarianship, USA, and an editorial board member of the Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education. Her publications include a book on Microcredentials, Introducing Multidisciplinary Micro-credentialing: Rethinking Learning and Development for Higher Education and Industry, Emerald Publishing: London( 2023), a book on Vocabulary Acquisition Patterns in Adult Tertiary (ESL) Learners (2013), an international handbook on Transnational Education: Leadership in transnational education and internationalization of curriculum (2012), several book chapters, publications in journals, and refereed conferences. She is often invited as keynote speaker and plenary speaker at a number of higher education conferences regionally, and internationally.
Abstracts:
“Shaping Professional and Vocational Skills & Knowledge for a Sustainable Future”
Technological advancements and the global aspiration to transition to a more sustainable economy is paving the way for increased investments in upskilling, re-skilling, and knowledge gains, for enabling a diverse and dynamic employee base. The World Economic Forum reports that over the next five years, 22% of today’s global jobs are bound to change rapidly with the labour market shifting and demanding significant skills with over 60% of employees requiring upskilling by 2030. How are universities and higher education institutions, including Vocational and Educational Training (VET) Institutions preparing for this shift? The rise of artificial intelligence, social media and digital online tools have invariably transformed student engagement and learning spaces. University and higher education institutions must innovate or risk becoming irrelevant. Rethinking higher education through innovative solutions such as multi-disciplinary micro-credentialing and stackable modular learning may offer the opportunity for flexible upskilling and a competitive future workforce.
Professor Jin YANG
East China Normal University, Shanghai
Bio:
Prof YANG Jin has developed his career as both a civil servant and a researcher in the education system of China. He has worked progressively in different branches of the Ministry of Education of China, as Director of Division of Teaching and Learning Support of Department of Vocational and Adult Education, Deputy Director-General of Department of Basic Education, and then as Director-General and Research Professor of the Central Institute for Vocational and Technical Education (CIVTE). He was appointed as a member of the 10th session of the National Inspectorate of Education of China, and elected as Vice President of both the Chinese Adult Education Association and the Chinese Society for Technical and Vocational Education.
He obtained substantial international experience in three successive positions as senior programme specialist in UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), Minister Counsellor for Education in the Embassy of China to France, and then Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of China to UNESCO.
He holds a B.Sc degree in mechanical engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University in China, an M.Ed degree in comparative education and a PhD in economics of education from the University of Manchester in the U.K., and an honorary doctorate of education from the University of Bolton in the U.K.
Industry 4.0 has become one of the hotly discussed topics among scholars and practitioners around the world. This speech will highlight the essence of Industry 4.0, analyze and discuss the impact of Industry 4.0 on the labor market, internal labor organization of enterprises and workers' skills, clarify some misunderstandings about Industry 4.0 in society, and explore how to cultivate human resources that meet the needs of Industry 4.0 through the development of competence-based basic education, the transformation of pedagogy of vocational and higher education, as well as the establishment of learning organizations.
Abstracts:
“The nature of industry 4.0 and it's demand for a competent labour force”
Professor of Education at the School of Education, University of Waikato, New Zealand
Professor Joyce Hwee-Ling KOH
Bio:
Joyce is currently a Professor at the School of Education of the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Prior to joining academia, Joyce held professional and consulting positions in adult education and learning design. As a teacher educator at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore from 2008 - 2018, Joyce has successfully collaborated with Singapore schools and teachers to develop research and professional development programmes by infusing technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) with design thinking. From 2018 to 2024, she led research-informed teacher professional development programmes for educational technology at the University of Otago’s Higher Education Development Centre in New Zealand. Joyce is an active and well-cited researcher with more than 80 research publications in the form of peer-reviewed articles, academic books, and academic book chapters for topics such as TPACK, educational technology in higher education, and design thinking. She currently serves as a Senior Associate Editor of the Asia-Pacific Educational Researcher.
The academic rigour of awarding degrees through ‘stacking’ micro-credentials has been a subject of intense debate in higher education. Designed as small and independent learning units targeted at the achievement of specific competencies, micro-credentials can be accumulated in the form of digital badges and ‘stacked’ together as formal qualifications. This kind of stackable learning through micro-credentials has been controversial in higher education because of how it potentially disrupts the credit-based and time-driven structures of traditional degrees through a more flexible, self-regulated, and possibly cost-effective pathway for upskilling. However, there may be a need to consider synergies between micro-credentials and traditional degrees. While employers tend to use degree completion as a benchmark of theoretical preparation, they are also making use of micro-credentials to determine applicants’ industry-relevant skills and commitment to continual upskilling in recent years. Micro-credentials can potentially have a strategic role for enhancing the industry relevance of higher education programmes and the quality of student experiences. This presentation therefore examines the concept of stackable learning with micro-credentials and how this learning approach can be integrated more deeply within higher education programmes. It also discusses the critical implementation considerations for micro-credentialing and what this could mean for future higher education pedagogical practices.
Abstracts:
“Stackable Learning through Micro-credentials – Approaches and Implementation Considerations for Higher Education”