ABSTRACT
Speaking at the opening of a high-level Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Beijing in 2001, President Jiang Zemin made the point that ‘education is the foundation for human capacity building, and learning is the basic means by which to improve people’s capability’ (Jiang 2001, p.2). His address was followed by one from the Sultan of Brunei who highlighted the same issue, though he put it a little differently:
I would first like to make the point that there is nothing new about technological change. Nor about the need for human creativity and innovation. The new century, however, puts them in a new dimension. This is, of course, because of the rapid developments taking place in technology. These mean that we have to acquire skills and knowledge continually and quickly.
