2025.2.6-7

The 13th SEAMEO-University of Tsukuba Symposium on Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in the Age of AI and Data Science

　The 13th SEAMEO-University of Tsukuba Symposium was held on February 6 and 7, 2025. This was the second time the symposium was held in a hybrid format, following last year's event. More than 80 people, including the center directors of the 26 regional centers of SEAMEO, faculty members and students from SEA-Teacher partner schools, domestic and international educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, and Indonesian researchers, gathered at the Tokyo campus of University of Tsukuba to share their knowledge. Simultaneous interpretation was provided to online participants in several languages including Japanese, Indonesian, and Thai.

　Under the theme “Transforming Education to Problem-Based Learning in the Era of AI and Data Sciences,” supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the opening ceremony featured Dr Jun Ikeda, Vice President of Global Affairs of University of Tsukuba, His Excellency Juan Edgardo 'Sonny' Angara, Secretary of Education, Philippines and SEAMEO Council President, Datuk Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim, Director of SEAMEO Secretariat, and Mr. Koji Kitayama, Director, International Affairs Division, Minister's Secretariat of MEXT. Five panel sessions and two breakout sessions were held on the theme. In the special session of the multi-cultural co-curricular SEA-Teacher Program (Pilot batch 4), faculty members and students from partner institutions contributed to a lively discussion on the attractiveness and challenges of educational training under a multicultural environment.

　The contributors from University of Tsukuba are Dr Masami Isoda, Director of CRICED, Dr Nakao Nomura, Regional Director for Southeast Asia and Taiwan, Dr Hiromi Mochiyama of the Department of Systems and Information Sciences, who leads the PBL program at the University of Tsukuba Malaysia campus (UTMy) as speakers, and Ms Nao Ishihara of the Bureau of Global Initiatives as a facilitator. Dr Ryosuke Ohniwa from the Institue of Medicine introduced the JV campus, and introduction of the UTMy through actual students’ voice was shown during the break session. At the closing ceremony, Datuk Dr Habibah, Director of SEAMEO, confirmed that common issues in promoting problem-based learning (PBL) in education in the age of AI and data science were shared as the outcome of the conference, and Director Isoda of CRICED expressed his gratitude for the long-lasting collaboration between SEAMEO and University of Tsukuba and to all participants.

　The number of pre-registered participants was 13,874 from 80 countries, and more than 25,000 people (11,374 on Day 1, 5,580 on Day 2, and 14,000 on Facebook) viewed the live streaming on YouTube and Facebook. The event was a great success.

＜Related video＞

• Short video： https://youtu.be/39wSWWnRViM
• Day 1： https://www.youtube.com/live/qpixbnEN10Y?feature=shared
• Day 2： https://www.youtube.com/live/n0mEb07Ti1Y?feature=shared
• SEA-Teacher Special Session： https://www.youtube.com/live/csFRU7vnWz4

Group photo of on-site participants

(From left) Vice President Dr Jun Ikeda of University of Tsukuba, Director Datuk Dr Habibah of SEAMEO Secretariat, and Director Kitayama of MEXT greet participants at the opening ceremony

Prof. Mochiyama and Prof. Isoda of UTMy (From left), Q&A session among panelists

Active engagement of participants during the main session

Lively discussion during the breakout session

Panelists of the multicultural co-curricular SEA-Teacher Program session with the SEAMEO Secretariat