On the afternoon of January 7th, 2014, Prof. Eduardo Velez Bustillo, Adviser of International Education for the World Bank, delivered his lecture“Knowledge Economy and Human Capital Development Policy” to the postgraduates from IICE and international students from English-taught Programmes, in Room 723, Yingdong Building, Beijing Normal University.
Prof. Bustillo once acted as East Asia and Pacific Manager of Education Department of the World Bank, Manager of Education Department of Latin America and the Caribbean, Coordinator of Human Development Project of China, Director of Human Development Department of Uganda and Tanzania. Now he is a visiting professor at University of Georgetown and many other universities. His main areas of research include: economy and development sociology, education sociology and the analysis and evaluation of development program.
At first, he introduced the importance of developing knowledge economy and human capital. He thought that knowledge economy is an inevitable trend. To learn and apply knowledge would become the main factor of global competition. Additionally, for a country, the policy of human capital innovation plays a key role in improving competitiveness and development under an international situation. Second, he explained that knowledge economy is such a kind of economy which regards knowledge as a motivation to develop economy and it requires knowledge. At last, he put forward 10 skills for the future workforce: meaning construction, social functions, innovation and adaptability, cross-cultural competitiveness, calculative ability, new media literacy, interdisciplinary research capacity, design thinking, management of cognitive load and virtual writing ability.
After the lecture, a further Q&A session was held between the students and Prof. Bustillo regarding to the World Bank, knowledge economy and human capital development. His enriching and humorous contents were greatly appreciated.