Welcome to vCIES-2021!

The CIES 2021 Program Chair and Planning Committee welcomes you to the 65th Annual Meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society! The 2021 CIES conference will take place virtually April 25 – May 2, 2021. We anticipate a vibrant engagement of researchers, students, practitioners, and policy makers, in a welcoming and inspiring professional community.

The 2021 conference theme, Social Responsibility within Changing Contexts, focuses our attention on closely examining the work we do and how others in the field experience our work, in a changing environment with a growing variety of actors who may or may not share the same visions for the future. As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, we see rapid changes in political, economic, environmental, cultural, and social spaces. Along with these changes is an increasing variety of actors, including non-state actors who are now more involved. These changes influence education globally and locally. This calls for revisiting the relationships among context, actors, visions, and action, and our own collective social responsibility.

Contextual changes include the global sharing of cultural values, a refinement of neoliberal economic and political agendas, and the acceleration of environmental challenges. In addition, we often recognize a narrowing of the purpose of education toward economic outcomes, particularly as they are framed discursively in policy and practice, and the prioritization of technological innovations over other forms of learning. Alongside and within these changing contextual processes, values, and conditions are new actors in the education and development arena, including corporations, corporate philanthropies, celebrities, and billionaires, and perhaps the emergence of new social movements. What are their agendas and processes? How might we revisit the various visions and agendas of all development and education actors, along with our theories of action? How do we do the work we do? How are lives consequently affected? How does social responsibility – of corporate entities, governments, development organizations, communities, and researchers – interact with these changing contexts, the growing range of actors, and evolving visions and approaches to education globally and locally?

Due to the continuing challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic we will have a 100% virtual conference, including all of the usual activities one expects at CIES meetings. Please check for updates on this website (cies2021.org), and follow us on Twitter and Facebook! 

We have an exciting conference planned, with keynote and plenary panels which will explore conference theme from a variety of perspectives. #FEAS will open the conference with an interactive performance – don’t miss it! Twenty-four sessions and 61 papers will be presented bilingually, involving 27 languages. And you will also enjoy the annual Film Festivalette, networking opportunities, relaxing and rejuvenating activities during coffee breaks, and a virtual art exhibit, along with the usual workshops and presentations. Please encourage your colleagues and friends to attend CIES 2021, to get to know the vibrant organization that CIES is, and to engage with our professional community.

Program Chair
Karen Monkman, DePaul University and University of Pittsburgh

Program Coordinators
Dao Nguyen, University of Pittsburgh
Xi Wang, University of Pittsburgh