Pattaya City, Thailand – 22–24 July 2025 – The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) successfully convened the Centre Directors Meeting (CDM) 2025 at the Amari Pattaya Hotel. The meeting brought together more than 80 delegates, including SEAMEO Centre Directors, official representatives, Associate and Affiliate Member representatives, long-standing partners, one invited institution and networkers to foster collaboration, address regional education issues, and chart strategic directions for the coming year.
The three-day Centre Directors’ meeting, jointly organized by the SEAMEO Secretariat and hosted at the scenic beachfront city of Pattaya, featured a full schedule of strategic discussions, special sessions, and networking events under the central theme of enhancing cooperation and leadership among education institutions in Southeast Asia.
Dr. Sri Wulandari Danoebroto, SEAQiM’s Director, attended onsite to participate in collaboration, strategic dialogue, and progress review across SEAMEO’s education, science, and culture initiatives.
The highlight of day one was the Inception Workshop for the Southeast Asia School Leadership Hub, held in Ballroom II. This pre-conference workshop was attended by representatives from 19 SEAMEO Centres in the Education Cluster, including SEAQIL, SEAQIM, and SEAQIS, as well as partners like Global School Leaders (GSL). The workshop began a collaborative regional effort to establish a leadership hub to improve school management and instructional leadership across Southeast Asia.
SEAMES Director Datuk Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim opened the workshop. She emphasized the importance of developing strong school leaders in Southeast Asia and encouraged all participants to contribute actively to the academy’s design. The GSL Executive Director led the closing session, sharing the action plan and appreciating all contributions.
Facilitated by the Global School Leaders team, the workshop focused on the co-development of the academy’s 2024–2027 roadmap, incorporating input from regional leaders to refine the academy’s content, structure, delivery model, and implementation strategy.
Special Sessions and Networking on the second day began with Gender Mainstreaming at SEAMEO, which underscored the importance of gender equity and inclusive education across SEAMEO initiatives. Then, Inter-Centre Collaboration on AI allowed SEAMEO Centres to exchange ideas on integrating Artificial Intelligence to support education innovations and operations. Later in the day, the SEAMEO CDM 2025 Networking Session gathered Centre Directors, partners, and invited institutions to explore new alliances and share best practices in education and development.
The CDM concluded in a Plenary Session that summarized updates on SEAMEO programmes and accomplishments, centre progress and partnership opportunities, and presentations of working papers and agenda items submitted by various Centres.
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