Paper: Building a Better Lasso: The Belated Case for a Goal Three Metrics Task Force
Affiliation: University of Hong Kong, China
Bursary Awarded: 2013
It was only through the UKFIET Bursary that I was able to attend the 2013 conference. At the time, I was a PhD student who had recently completed a report for the Conference of Commonwealth Ministers (CCEM) on progress in the Commonwealth on Education for All. Our report largely skipped EFA Goal Three, which dealt with lifelong learning and skills. UKFIET 2013 offered an excellent platform to share my own insights into how a future skills goal could be measured, from the perspective of someone tasked with finding internationally comparable indicators. Specifically, NORRAG’s presence at UKFIET provided an excellent opportunity for me to share these insights and receive feedback from the most notable scholars and professionals in the field. I was able to present to a standing-room only audience. These insights have gone directly into our 2015 edition of the CCEM report.
The UKFIET bursary offered a bridge between my PhD studies and my current professional development. My university provided funds for only one conference. I had already used these funds a year earlier, pursuing the more esoteric issues of my thesis. There would be no more funds available for conference travel until I took my current position, a three year gap. Even with the bursary, the trip was just barely affordable when lodging was factored in. The bursary made my attendance at UKFIET possible. With it, UKFIET brought me into discussions and developed networks that helped me secure my current employment at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. It was a relatively small sum that went a very long way for someone in my position at that point in my career.
I was, in some ways, a non-traditional bursary candidate. There are many other scholars who have little or no access to conference funding. They were and are in an even more disadvantaged position than I was in. For them, the walls for having their ideas heard and being part of a larger conversation are even higher. For those of us committed to offering genuinely equitable education, I can think of few other ways for the privileged to help the the under-privileged in their own ranks as directly as supporting a programme like the UKFIET bursary. To earlier donors, I thank you. To prospective donors, I encourage you to contribute.
In 2013 Trey presented his paper Building a Better Lasso: The Belated Case for a Goal Three Metrics Task Force
