LitCam will team up with the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2014 to host the first international summit “Challenges in Education and Culture Policy”. This event will bring together politicians and academics to discuss the most important challenges facing education and culture.

The key to developing our societies in a globalised and digitised world is international exchange on the subject of education. Mastering the cultural changes that have emerged in the digital age is a task that can only be accomplished if the political and economic worlds work together.

The summit will focus on two of today’s most pressing issues:

One of the biggest challenges facing education policy is finding a way to integrate people with migrant backgrounds, as well as the growing numbers of refugees. How can the children of migrants be integrated into the educational system? How can existing programmes accommodate these growing numbers? What role does politics play? Do we need to create new and separate literacy programmes for refugees?

International ministers of education and integration will explore this topic. In an introductory speech, Prof. Pasi Sahlberg, Harvard University, former director general of the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation under the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, will provide a status report on education/literacy programmes for migrants and refugees.

The second part of the summit will address cultural and educational policy as a responsibility of both the political and economic spheres. How important are Public Private Partnerships (PPP)? How essential are private companies when it comes to mastering the challenges of the future?

In her keynote, Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner of Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, will present her outlook on cultural and educational policy with regards to funding. A panel discussion will follow, in which politicians and directors of corporate foundations will share their thoughts on the need for private funding in society’s cultural and educational systems.