Official launch of the 29th ICDE World Conference 2023
The Costa Rican Distance State University (UNED) and ICDE officially launched the upcoming 29th ICDE World Conference 2023 at a press conference on 8 September 2022. The press conference took place at the Costa Rican Convention Centre in San José, which will be the official venue of the conference next year.
The theme of the ICDE World Conference 2023 is: “Joining Hands Together in Peace for the Futures of Education”, and will bring together more than 800 experts in all fields of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning (OFDL) and EdTech providers from all over the World. The conference takes place on 6 - 10 November 2023 in San José, Costa Rica. Find out more and register your interest here.
Summary from the OFFICIAL launch
The official launch included the participations and speeches from Gustavo Segura (Minister of Tourism of Costa Rica), Melvin Chaves (Academic Vice Minister of Education of Costa Rica), Rodrigo Arias (Rector of UNED Costa Rica), Álvaro Rojas (Vice President of the Convention Bureau), and ICDE Secretary General, Torunn Gjelsvik. Watch the recording of the launch here.
Minister Chaves of the Ministry of Public Education highlighted that, with this activity, the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica sees an opportunity to learn about and select the best experiences in the world in open, flexible and distance learning through disruptive technologies to accelerate teaching and learning processes in the region.
UNED’s Rector, Rodrigo Arias, proudly commented that Costa Rica is at the gates of one of the most important academic events in the world related to distance, online and open education, and that having this prestigious event in Costa Rica demonstrates the solid image and consolidated prestige of Costa Rica’s distance education model, led by the UNED for more than 45 years, and the reputation of the country as a democratic and inclusive tourist destination.
The Minister of Tourism stated that it is a source of pride for UNED and Costa Rica to have won the candidacy for the ICDE World Conference 2023, and that this candidacy is undoubtedly the result of the “growing position of Costa Rica as a destination for meeting tourism attended by top-level professionals, with an economic benefit that will contribute to the recovery of the tourism sector and to reach the figures of 2019 in the year 2023”.
Finally, the ICDE Secretary General offered an overview of ICDE and its world impact, emphasising the level of engagement and activities conducted through members and partners. Ms. Gjelsvik also highlighted the benefits of belonging to a global network and how COVID-19 has brought attention to the need of diversifying education quality standards and build resilience through a variety of teaching and learning modes, including open, flexible and distance education.
MEDIA FOOTPRINT FROM THE LAUNCH
The official launch produced significant coverage in Costa Rican and international media, and has signalled the beginning of an intensive work ahead for the following months.
Following are some of the media coverages (in Spanish) following the press conference:
Trece Costa Rica Televisión (TV channel)
Semanario Universidad: Costa Rica será sede de evento mundial sobre Educación a Distancia (Digital newspaper)
La Republica: Costa Rica será la capital mundial de la educación a distancia (Digital newspaper)
Revista Viajes: Costa Rica será la capital mundial de la educación a distancia. Evento se desarrollará del 6 al 10 de noviembre del 2023 (Digital newspaper)
Periódico Mensaje: Costa Rica será la capital mundial de la educación a distancia (Digital newspaper)
