An international conference in Beijing

The Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) organised the 30th Annual International Conference on ‘Asia as a Knowledge Sharing Society and Internationalisation of Higher Education’ held in Beijing, hosted by China University of Communications (CUC).

The conference brought together UNESCO representatives from different countries, universities from Singapore, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, USA, South Africa: hundreds of communication and media scholars, journalists, researchers, teachers and practitioners from the Asia-Pacific region met to exchange ideas, perspectives and best practices in communication and media education. For the first time, representatives from Kazakhstan, from the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, participated in the Asian Forum.
Welcoming speeches were made by: Dr Crispin Maslog, President of the AMIC Board of Directors, Ramon R. Tuazon, Secretary General of AMIC, Professor Shahbaz Khan, Director and Representative of the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, and Peixin Cao, Dean of the School of Journalism, Communication University of China. At the plenary session ‘Journalism and Communication Education: Best Practices in Asia’ our delegation consisting of Professor S.H.Barlybaeva, Associate Professors K.N.Mysaeva and A.B.Alzhanova made a presentation on ‘Journalism and Communication Education in Kazakhstan’, which caused a wide resonance among the participants of the Asia-Pacific region and South-East Asia, who learnt for the first time about the specifics of communication development in Central Asia, about journalism education in Kazakhstan.

Within the framework of the Scientific Forum 5 plenary and 13 parallel sections, master classes were held, which gave an opportunity to exchange knowledge, experience, opened new horizons of cooperation in the Asian region. Following the results of the conference AMIC representatives in Kazakhstan signed Memoranda of Cooperation between KazNU named after Al-Farabi and universities of China, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Bangladesh. Participation in international forums expands the horizons of cooperation, opens new opportunities for communication education in Asia in the era of digital globalisation.

Saule BARLYBAEVA,

Ph. faculty of journalism