5^th International IFDMYE Conference - SUMMARY OF THE SESSIONS

prepared by Ms Wang Tong, Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), Beijing, China

The conference included 4 sessions:

Criteria for successful exchanges

Youth exchange under the influence of economic globalization and global integration

Information exchange and cooperation between youth in the Internet Era

North-South youth exchange from different cultural backgrounds.

19 participants representing schools, youth organizations or NGOs from China, Belgium, Israel, Germany, Korea, Denmark, Indian and Sweden made presentations during the sessions. They introduced their projects and experience of international youth and school exchanges and the implementation of bilingual teaching, and pointed out the huge impact of the Internet on the mind and behavior of young people by analyzing the investigations. Many speakers, while taking this opportunity to promote their cities, schools, youth organizations and some exchange programmes, have expressed their eagerness for international exchange and cooperation.

Conclusions of the sessions are summarized in the following 4 points:

1. We believe it is very important to conduct exchanges between youth from different economic and cultural backgrounds under the influence of economic globalization.

Ms. He Yanan, Principal of Shanghai No. 3 Girls School and Ms. Anja Arntzen, President of Deutsche Beamten Bund-Jugend NW have made it clear in their presentations that the importance of international exchange attributes to the fact that it enhances the understanding of the young people of other cultures, who will then see the world with open mind and adapt themselves to this competitive diversified world. The young people will, therefore, learn to respect themselves and love others.

2. It becomes an important content of teaching to conduct school exchanges; international school exchanges have further promoted the process of global integration.

Mr. Liang Xuehong from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies made an overall statement of the 4 functions of international education exchange that push forward the global integration, namely, generation of interdisciplinary ideas, enhancing of the complementarity of subjects and courses, provision for training and mentoring for administrative and academic staff to develop global vision and linking young people from different countries and cultural backgrounds.

3. The development of modern technology, especially the Internet has not only created unprecedented convenience for youth exchange, but some negative impacts as well, which are worth the attention of decision makers on youth exchange.

Mr. Huang Wei, Principal of Hangzhou Anjilu Experimental School, Mr. Ni Minjing from Shanghai Fuxing High School and Mr. John Hansen from Odense, Denmark have analyzed the pros and cons of the Internet to young people in their presentations.

Mr. Bernd Seifert from Youth Department, Cologne and Ms. Shi Qiaoling from Tianjin Experimental School have drawn similar conclusions through the analysis on the use of the Internet by local students. They concluded that the Internet is like a double-edge blade, which inspires the youth and enlarges their knowledge, but causes much confusion as well. They called on the decision makers on youth exchange all over the world to strengthen cooperation in order to reduce the possible negative impacts of the modern science and technology.

4. The sharing of experience between the decision makers on youth exchange will be conducive to more effective methods for youth exchange and enhancing the understanding and friendship between youth of different countries.

Mr. Huang Wei, Principal of Hangzhou Anjilu Experimental School, Ms. He Yanan, Principal of Shanghai No. 3 Girls School, Mr. Xu Ming from Anhui University, Mr. Liu Gang, Principal of Wenzhou Foreign Language School, Ms. Kim Chung-hee from Young Astronaut Korea, Ms. Nadine Gerard from Namur, Mr. Manohar Golpelwar from Indian Institute of Youth Affair and Ms. Christina Fisher from Sweden have made introduction to the methods and experience on youth exchange conducted by their schools or organizations. This kind of exchange of information and sharing of experience opened new channels for further cooperation on youth exchange between the participants.

In conclusion, this conference, which provided an opportunity for the decision makers on youth exchange to share their information and experience, has “ignited our souls” and “promoted the consolidation and friendship between the youth of the world”.