Southwestern University President Burger traveled to Athens, Greece, where he delivered the closing keynote address at The Fulbright Education Forum, Redesigning Educational Systems: From Theory to Praxis, on April 27. The Forum was organized by Fulbright Foundation in collaboration with the American Community Schools of Athens and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. It was part of the organization’s  70-year celebration of education and cultural exchanges between Greece and the United States.

President Burger’s presentation followed a panel discussion on “Preparing Youth to Become Effective Thinkers and Ethical Global Citizens.” His expertise in this area is highly sought after, and his book, The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking, has been translated into over a dozen languages.

“It was a delight to share the importance of having practices of effective thinking intentionally incorporated in our courses,” said President Burger. “Content comes and quickly goes, but practices of the mind to think, create, and connect not only last a lifetime, but truly uplift one’s life. The international audience readily agreed and were intrigued to learn how we accomplish this educational feat at Southwestern through our Paideia curriculum.”

Mariza Kapsabeli / Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center Credit: Mariza Kapsabeli/ Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

The Education Forum provided an opportunity for academic leaders, educators, business leaders, and political leaders to come together for two days of critical discussion about the type of learners the world needs today. They discussed whether academic institutions are preparing students for the challenges of our rapidly changing world. The Forum highlighted the importance of developing educational systems that enable students to become thoughtful, productive, responsible, civic-minded global citizens, ready to contribute proactively to societies in transformation.

About The Fulbright Program

The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 to fund “the promotion of international good will through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture, and science.” The prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the largest U.S. exchange program offering opportunities for students and young professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide.

It aims to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills and offers research, study, and teaching opportunities in over 140 countries to recent graduates and graduate students. Southwestern University is proud to have produced 17 Fulbright scholars in the last 18 years.

For more information about the Fulbright Education Forum, visit their website.