WISE to host first 2015/16 Learners' Voice Programme session

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The 2015/16 students, who began their journey at the November WISE Summit, will attend the first of two core residential sessions from 4 to 12 January 2016, which are designed to impart a foundational understanding of key concepts and evolving trends in education, as well as knowledge of pressing global education challenges.

WISE, a global initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development (QF), is closely aligned to QF's mission of helping to transform Qatar into a knowledge-based economy, and through its youth-empowerment initiative it brings the voice of young people to the challenge of rethinking education.

Focus of workshops

Specialists from the Yale World Fellows Programme will hold a series of dynamic workshops in leadership and communication skills. The focus on education, leadership, and communication is designed to support the participants as they research and develop a variety of innovative projects throughout the year-long programme. The second residential session of the Learners' Voice Programme will be held in June in Madrid.

The 2015/16 learners were chosen from over 1,300 applications submitted from around the world. Learners' Voice has had a lasting impact on its participants as it has evolved to include residential sessions, online activities and the development of group projects.

A successful story is that of the Orenda Project developed during the 2013/14 Learners' Voice Programme by four students from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (GU-Q) and one student from the UK's University of Warwick.

Access to education

The Orenda Project is based on the concept of co-creation as a way to increase access to education and works directly with target populations to establish schools in a sustainable, community-driven way.

The Learners' Voice Programme was established in 2010 as an initiative of WISE with the intention of engaging the perspectives and creative energies of young people in debates around important education issues and challenges.

This year's learners, aged 18-25, collectively represent 29 countries, and will benefit from the expertise of the WISE team and global education specialists including faculty from Yale University and Babson College. The Learners' Voice Programme is supported by its partners Banco Santander through its Universities Global Division.