Today the first meeting of the Online Education Committee took place, with the presence of high-level representatives from the public and private sectors, with the aim of making education a fundamental pillar for the recovery of tourism.
As online education and access to digital skills are becoming notably necessary for the population, the Online Education Committee was created in the framework of the 112th Executive Council meeting held in Georgia in September 2020.
Its main objective is to provide the Secretary-General and the Executive Council with advice and recommendations on education, as one of the fundamental priorities of UNWTO.
The members of the Committee are the following Member States: Portugal and Greece as European Members; the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as representative of the Middle East; Chile and Brazil from the Americas, Kenya and the Kingdom of Morocco from the African continent, Iran from the South Asia Commission and Korea from the East Asia and the Pacific Commission.
From the private sector, the Committee has the valuable participation of internationally recognized educational entities such as IE University, the Bella Vista Higher Education Institute of Switzerland, the CETT-University of Barcelona, Sommet Education, Les Roches Marbella and the École Ducasse. Renowned international experts such as Megan Epler Wood, CEO of Epler Wood International, Barbara Oakley of Oakland University, and Joan Gaspart, President of HUSA, also played an important role in this session.
At this first meeting, the election of the Chair and Vice Chair of the Online Education Committee was one of the highlights of the program. Upon completion of the online voting procedure, Mohammed Alghamdi, Human Capital Development Advisor to the Ministry of Tourism of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Ana Paula País, Director of Tourism Training for Portugal were finally elected Co-Chairs of the Education Committee in Line after receiving the same number of votes.
The second meeting of the Online Education Committee will be held in Madrid in the framework of the 113th meeting of the Executive Council, on January 17, 2021.
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