facebook
linkedin
twitter
About Us
  • BFSI
  • Energy
  • Infocom
  • Mining
  • Venture
  • Industry
  • Travel
  • Civic
  • Food, Health, Ag
  • Real Estate
  • Responsibility
  • Economy
  • Law & Justice
  • Interview
  • Analysis
Vicky Colbert was awarded the first Yidan Prize for Educational Development by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. (Credit: Jared Wade)

Vicky Colbert Wins Prestigious Yidan Prize for Lifelong Educational Work in Colombia

Posted On December 14, 2017
By : Jared Wade
Comment: Off
Tag: Charles Chen Yidan, Chen Yidan, china, Colombian Education, education, Escuela Nueva, Gloria Morena Zuluaga, hong kong, Ministry of Education, Quindío, Stanford University, Vicky Colbert, Yidan, Yidan Prize, Yidan Prize Foundation

Vicky Colbert of Colombia was awarded the inaugural Yidan Prize for Educational Development earlier this week during a ceremony in Hong Kong.

The $3.9 million USD honor, one of two Yidan Prizes handed out Sunday night during a gala at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, is among the world’s largest and will go toward funding the ongoing work of her Fundación Escuela Nueva organization, which has been advancing rural education in Colombia and at least 16 other countries since 1987.

Photo: Vicky Colbert was awarded the first Yidan Prize for Educational Development by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. (Credit: Jared Wade)

“I want to thank Mr. Charles Yidan, this wonderful Yidan Prize Foundation, and all of you that have accompanied me in this wonderful celebration,” said Colbert on Sunday during her acceptance speech in Hong Kong. “I have no doubt that the initiatives of the Yidan Prize Foundation will be greatly successful and that they will make a significant contribution to the quality of education around the world.”

The award is the flagship effort of the Yidan Prize Foundation, which was formally launched last year by Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist Charles Chen Yidan. The billionaire is best known for being a co-founder of Tencent, the Shenzhen-based holding company now worth half a trillion dollars that he helped build beginning in 1998.

While less of a household name in the West, the company has grown into one of the globe’s largest digitally focused firms. Its tentacles extend into everything from telecommunications, popular Chinese messaging app WeChat, and mobile gaming to physical supermarkets and equity investments in firms including Spotify and Snapchat.

Chen has diverted his attention to philanthropy in recent years, however, and the Yidan Prize Foundation is set up for years to come with an endowment of around $320 million USD.

Charles Chen Yidan, co-founder of Tencent and founder of the Yidan Prize Foundation. (Credit: Jared Wade)

Charles Chen Yidan, co-founder of Tencent and founder of the Yidan Prize Foundation. (Credit: Jared Wade)

“Vicky has done a lot to promote education,” Chen told Finance Colombia during an interview in Hong Kong. “I have been talking to her, and in the process I have come to appreciate her passion in her work in the field of education. She has done a very innovative project — with a very limited amount of resources. She has worked hard. Her student-focused approach has been a very effective innovation.”

He created the prize — and purposefully made it so lucrative — to push for progress and attract more attention to the best ideas about education from around the world. “Pedagogical theory” like the Escuela Nueva philosophy employed by Colbert, as well as scientific research like that conducted by Yidan Prize for Educational Research winner and Stanford University professor Carol Dweck, rarely receives significant mainstream attention. But by attaching such a lofty sum to the award, he hopes it can both fund their ongoing efforts and drive further conversations around these themes.

IN-DEPTH: Exploring the Escuela Nueva Methodology and Pioneering Work of Vicky Colbert

Colbert created the Escuela Nueva methodology in the mid-1970s following her master’s studies in sociology at Stanford University, and it was later adopted as the national policy for rural education in Colombia. It spread to at least 20,000 schools in the Andean nation and would go on to become highly influential in other Latin American countries including Brazil and Guatemala.

The methodology, which is predicated on student-focused learning and teamwork as opposed to teacher lectures, has been widely praised and supported by the World Bank. Other global organizations, including the United Nations, Clinton Foundation, and World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), have recognized Colbert for her work with Escuela Nueva, which in recent years has spread to Vietnam, Zambia, and other locations. Educators in the United States and China have also shown great interest in adopting the methodology, according to Colbert.

She has seen firsthand the major progress that Colombia has had in rural education since Escuela Nueva supplanted the traditional methods used in the small, multi-grade classrooms dotting the country’s mountains and jungles in the 1970s. “Teachers did not have specific training to handle several grades simultaneously,” said Colbert. “It was like a failed business: no results. [But] what started as a constraint became an opportunity for challenging massively the conventional teacher-centric model.”

Vicky Colbert speaking with one of the young students at the Escuela Nueva school Sede Cabaña in rural Colombia, where kids from first through fifth grade all share a single classroom. (Credit: Jared Wade)

Vicky Colbert speaking with one of the young students at the Escuela Nueva school Sede Cabaña in rural Colombia, where kids from first through fifth grade all share a single classroom. (Credit: Jared Wade)

Colbert and Dweck both announced during the summit that they would use the funding from the prize on their work and even begin to collaborate together in an effort to expand their impact and help build a community around the Yidan Prize.

The Escuela Nueva pioneer stresses, however, that the money is not a cure all. It will help as an investment into the foundation’s future, but she is now challenging both public officials in Colombia and other like-minded international organizations to help build on this award with further project funding.

Chen, speaking on Monday in Hong Kong, where his foundation held a summit of teachers and educators from around the world in concert with the award ceremony, noted that he created to prize to “pay tribute to revolutionary achievements.” But, just as vitally, he said he wants the Yidan Prize to be ”forward-looking” as a means to kickstart subsequent work. “We aspire to promote ingenious ideas and share outstanding outcomes so they may be applied on a larger international scale, creating the greatest global impact,” said Chen.

In addition to the gala ceremony to formally award Colbert and Dweck with their Yidan Prize, the educational summit featured speakers including Cherie Blair, former U.K. first lady and Asian University of Woman Chancellor; Martin Lau, president of Tencent Holdings; Ahmed El Eissa, education minister of Saudi Arabia; and Jaime Saavedra, head of the education global practice at the World Bank Group and former education minister of Peru.

Throughout the Yidan Prize Summit, those mentioned and dozens of others continued to praise Colbert for her remarkable achievements. “Vicky Colbert, founder of Colombia’s Fundación Escuela Nueva, pioneered a groundbreaking new educational model that reformed rural schools in Latin America,” said Chen. “Her conscientious work at the frontline of education reveals deep insight on how to enter the kingdom of knowledge.”

DON'T MISS OUT: The only English-language Colombia news that's strictly business, markets, & investment!
Join global executives & investors by subscribing to our FREE weekly updates
I agree to have my personal information transferred to MailChimp ( more information ) DISCLAIMER: Protección de Datos Personales Artículo 15 de la Constitución Política de Colombia, ley 1581 de 2012 y decreto 1377 de 2013.
We will never spam you or share your email address ¡Nunca Jamás!

Share the news!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • WhatsApp
  • LinkedIn
  • Skype

Related

Share your thoughts:

comments

About the Author
Jared Wade is editor in chief of Finance Colombia. He is a Bogotá-based journalist with 15 years of experience covering topics including business, financial services, Latin America, and sports. Email him at jared.wade(at) financecolombia.com or follow him on Twitter at @Jared_Wade.
  • google-share
Previous Story

Escuela Nueva Has Transformed Rural Education in Colombia and Now Founder Vicky Colbert Is Expanding Her Methodology Across the Globe

Next Story

Amgen Foundation Accepting Scholarship Applications for Colombian Science Students to Study in Japan

Related Posts

0

Ireland’s Tánaiste Visits Colombia To Strengthen Bilateral Ties

Posted On April 6, 2022
, By Loren Moss
0

Spy Scandal Deepens, Colombian Colonel Targeted By Russian Spymaster

Posted On April 6, 2022
, By Loren Moss
Massimo Canovi
0

TMF Group’s Massimo Canovi Explains Why Colombia Is World’s Fourth Most Complicated Country For International Business

Posted On September 28, 2021
, By Loren Moss




Search

RECENT

POPULAR

COMMENTS

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants today reveals Leonor Espinosa of Leo, Bogotá, as the 2022 winner of The World’s Best Female Chef Award, sponsored by Nude Glass

Colombian Leonor Espinosa Named "World's Best Female Chef"

Posted On May 18, 2022
Grand Bahamas photo © Loren Moss

Bahamas Seeks Air Connectivity With Colombia

Posted On May 18, 2022
Roberto Kriete, avianca's main shareholder and chairman of the Board of Directors.

Shareholders Of Viva, Avianca & Gol Announce The Creation Of Abra Group To Dominate South American Skies

Posted On May 11, 2022
Colombia’s attorney general charged Russian national Sergein Vagin and six other people

Alleged Russian Spy Charged…With Running A Gambling Mafia

Posted On April 12, 2022

Viva Launches Nonstop Routes To Buenos Aires, Argentina From Medellín & Bogotá, Colombia

Posted On April 12, 2022

Romanian Cybercriminal Mihai Ionut Paunescu Captured In Colombia

Posted On June 29, 2021
Photo montage courtesy EPM

EPM’s Board of Directors Resign En Masse, Creating Crisis For Mayor Daniel Quintero

Posted On August 17, 2020

Court Blocks Colombia’s $370 Million USD Emergency Loan To Bankrupt Avianca Airlines

Posted On September 12, 2020

Deadly Riots & Protests Against Police Brutality Break Out Across Colombia

Posted On September 10, 2020

AVIANCA IS BANKRUPT

Posted On May 10, 2020

[…] damn what she said. She and...

Posted On April 4, 2022

[…] by short sellers seeking to...

Posted On March 22, 2022

[…] no longer travel freely...

Posted On March 8, 2022

[…] Duque’s administration will...

Posted On March 8, 2022

[…] See also: 13 Police Injured In...

Posted On March 3, 2022

Watch This!

Consider Advertising With Us

Click here to visit Expat Group's English site

Subscribe Free

don't forget to include "http://"
* = required field
Your Background / Function








unsubscribe from list

RECENT

POPULAR

COMMENTS

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants today reveals Leonor Espinosa of Leo, Bogotá, as the 2022 winner of The World’s Best Female Chef Award, sponsored by Nude Glass

Colombian Leonor Espinosa Named "World's Best Female Chef"

Posted On May 18, 2022
Grand Bahamas photo © Loren Moss

Bahamas Seeks Air Connectivity With Colombia

Posted On May 18, 2022
Roberto Kriete, avianca's main shareholder and chairman of the Board of Directors.

Shareholders Of Viva, Avianca & Gol Announce The Creation Of Abra Group To Dominate South American Skies

Posted On May 11, 2022

Romanian Cybercriminal Mihai Ionut Paunescu Captured In Colombia

Posted On June 29, 2021
Photo montage courtesy EPM

EPM’s Board of Directors Resign En Masse, Creating Crisis For Mayor Daniel Quintero

Posted On August 17, 2020

Deadly Riots & Protests Against Police Brutality Break Out Across Colombia

Posted On September 10, 2020

[…] damn what she said. She and...

Posted On April 4, 2022

[…] by short sellers seeking to...

Posted On March 22, 2022

[…] no longer travel freely...

Posted On March 8, 2022

Watch This!

Contact Us (Click the image):

Pages

  • About Us
  • Colombia Events, Conferences, Festivals and Important Dates
  • Contact Us
  • main
  • Media Partnerships
  • Privacy Policy
  • Search Results
  • Whatsapp test page
Copyright 2014-2020 Finance Colombia All Rights Reserved. We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.
Posting....
WhatsApp us
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.