The Education Support Program would like to invite you to attend the OSI Education Conference 2005. It will be held in Budapest starting on the evening of June 30th through July 2nd with participants returning home on July 3rd. The title of the conference is Education and Open Society: A Critical Look at New Perspectives and Demands. In addition, on June 30th, a choice of training workshops will be offered. Those participating in the training will be expected to arrive to Budapest on June 29th.

Over the last few years the OSI general education network has extended, transformed and adapted to different environments and changes. A number of Soros Foundations have spun off their education programs, an Education Policy Center network has emerged, and links have been forged with a wider circle of educators and education institutions within and outside the region. The education field more generally is renowned for having many networks which are loosely connected. To respond to these developments and to suggestions made at the 2004 OSI Education Coordinators' Meeting, ESP has decided to organize this year's event as an OSI Education Conference. The conference will involve a wider range of participants, it will be more outward looking but still be relevant to work in the region.

The aim of the conference will be to improve cooperation among OSI and partner education networks through addressing the four objectives of the conference which are:

It is expected that participants from about 30 countries will be present at the conference including colleagues from Soros Foundations and other OSI programs, representatives from the OSI related network of NGOs and policy centers, and members of the wider OSI education network and its partners. Participants will come from Central and Southern Europe, Russia, Caucasus, Central Asia, Mongolia and other countries where OSI is active.

The conference program, selection of speakers and themes for discussion are being organized with the help of the Conference Planning Committee: Lena Lenskaya; Elmina Kazimzade; Virginija Budiene; Zifa Auezova; Natalia Shablya; Suzana Gerzina; and Jana Huttova.

The program is still in preparation but we plan to have a balance of international and regional speakers giving talks on globalization, decentralization, role and contribution of civil society, future scenarios for education, human rights, and education and the individual. There will also be a range of opportunities for nominees to participate in groups, panels and at plenary sessions. The conference will commence with dinner on Thursday June 30th and the formal sessions will be given on July 1st and 2nd ending with a cruise and dinner on the Danube. Participants will depart on Sunday July 3rd

We are still contacting speakers but already Martin Carnoy (Stanford University); Barry McGaw (OECD); John Abbot (21st Century Learning Initiative); Felisa Tibbitts (Human Rights Education Association) and Iveta Silova (Baku State University) have agreed to take part.

The program will, in addition, include a number of parallel presentations or panels at which participants will be the speakers. Participants are therefore invited to prepare papers relevant to one of the following themes: the role of civil society in influencing national/regional policy making; the role of international networks in influencing global trends and agendas in education; monitoring equity in education; fighting corruption in education; and how responsive are education systems and/or schools in meeting needs of the 21st century.

Further information about talks and panels can be found on the conference web site. As there will only be a maximum of 6 parallel presentations or panels, we will need to select papers from those which are submitted. Assuming the papers fit the themes noted above, the choice will be made on "first-come-first-served" basis.

In addition, on June 30th we are offering an opportunity to attend one of the training workshops. The workshops are offered primarily to members of the Soros Foundations who are involved in plans to spin off their education programs and to representatives of NGOs and policy centers. These optional parallel training workshops will be on:

The conference will be held in the Helia Hotel, Budapest, and accommodation and conference related meals for all participants will be paid by the OSI Education Support Program (ESP) through its Budapest and Ljubljana offices. As you will appreciate, we wanted to offer a good hotel with excellent facilities. To operate within a budget, we are asking you to share twin rooms. If you wish, you may select someone appropriate to share with via the registration form.

Participants are responsible for covering their travel and visa costs. Transfers from and to the airport / railway station will be arranged and paid for by ESP.

A computerized registration system for both the conference and pre-conference training workshops is available at

Please use your unique invitation code that you received to log into the system and register.

The web site also contains all the up-to-date conference related materials (agenda, welcome letter, conference papers, etc.). The site will be updated regularly so please look at it from time to time. If you can attend the conference please register through the conference web site as soon as possible and in any case by the April 29th 2005 at the latest. Some visas take a considerable time to process so, if you require one, it is particularly important for you to register quickly.

If you wish to take part in one of the pre-conference training workshops, please indicate this on the web site. The workshops are primarily offered to

Each training session will accommodate up to 25 participants. Registration for the training will be done on a "first come first served" basis. The registration for the training will be closed after each session reaches 25 participants. The training will commence at 9:30am on June 30, 2005 and finish at 5pm.

If you have other questions regarding conference logistics please contact Katalin Geher at kgeher@osi.hu / tel: +36-1-235 6142.

Please address any questions regarding the content of the conference to Walter Beveridge, the Conference Director, at wbev@easynet.co.uk

We look forward to seeing you and hope that you will be able to participate in what will be a very interesting and valuable event.