Adisai Bodharamik Minister of Education The Honorable Adisai Bodharamik has been Thailand’s Minister of Education since 2003. Previously, he served as Minister of Commerce and in the Prime Minister’s Office, Deputy Leader for two parties, and as Senator of the House of Representatives. Born in 1940, Bodharamik obtained a bachelor’s degree from Chulalongkorn University, a master’s from the University of Hawaii, and a doctoral degree from the University of Maryland, in the field of electrical engineering. Dr. Bodharamik worked in the public sector for 16 years, and 18 years in the private sector, where he co-founded two telecommunications companies. He has lectured in various educational institutions. With many awards and honors to his name, Minister Bodharamik’s dedication to excellence and to social action is apparent through his active involvement in numerous Committees and Associations.

It is indeed a great pleasure for me to learn that UNESCO and the International Bureau of Education (IBE) will jointly organize the Forty-seventh International Conference on Education (ICE) during September 8-11,2004 in Geneva.

We all recognize that the world economy has become increasingly knowledge-based and technology-driven. National development depends on the capacity of human resources and education is the key to human capacity building. Education is an important element to assist people in coping with the new challenges of the contemporary society. Therefore, quality and relevance of education play an important role in education development. Its is timely for UNESCO and IBE to highlight this issue in its Forty-seventh ICE in September, 2004 to enable Member States to share their experiences and best practices in promoting quality of education.

I am confident that many countries have been attempting to enhance their quality of education through different methods. As for Thailand, our core strategies in education development include creating educational opportunities, developing management and learning quality, and raising educational standard and increasing national competitive capability. In the area of education quality improvement, there are four highlighted issues namely: learning reform for knowledge-based livelihood; strengthening capacity of teachers, faculty staff and educational staff; strengthening management system for quality learning; and resources management education.

On the occasion of the Forty-seventh ICE in September, 2004, I would like to express my appreciation to UNESCO and IBE for their joint efforts in organizing this Conference and for their continuous support for the cause of education. I wish the Conference success in all of its deliberations.