Posted on 27 August 2025
Te Kuratini Tuwhera o Aotearoa Open Polytechnic of New Zealand and Te Kunenga Ki Pūrehuroa Massey University will co-host the conference in Wellington at the Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre, from 10 to 13 November, at which hundreds of international and domestic delegates are expected.
Open Polytechnic Executive Director of Learning Design and Development, and current ICDE President Dr Mark Nichols, says each keynote will bring a unique perspective to the conference and exciting conference program. They include:
- Dr Paul J. LeBlanc, Leader of Matter and Space, an AI and Education startup and previous President of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), an online mega-university. Dr LeBlanc is recognised as one of USA’s most innovative educators. Under his 20-year leadership as former President of SNHU, the university grew from 2,800 to over 250,000 students to become the largest non-profit online higher education provider in the USA.
- Professor Puleng LenkaBula, Vice Chancellor of the University of South Africa (UNISA). Professor LenkaBula has won multiple international and national teaching awards and now leads South Africa’s largest university by enrolment (370,000 students per year).
- Professor Danny Liu, Professor of Educational Technologies in the DVC Education Portfolio at the University of Sydney. Professor Liu is known internationally for his work on Generative Artificial Intelligence in higher education, and is the developer of Cogniti, an AI application widely used by students.
- Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou, Tūhourangi), is a Professor at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, and CEO of Ngā Āhuatanga O Te Kai Ltd, The Kai Research Institute. Professor Smith is an internationally renowned and highly awarded researcher, scholar and writer known for her work on Decolonising Methodologies, Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wahine and Māori Education.
- Dr Faryal Khan, Programme Specialist leading Transformative Education at the UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok and the Office for UN Coordination for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCO Bangkok). Dr Khan brings an international perspective on education reform.
Open Polytechnic, New Zealand’s specialist provider of online and distance learning is a long-standing institutional member of ICDE. The last time an ICDE conference was held in New Zealand was in 1950.
Dr Nichols, says, “ICDE’s roots go back to 1938, and it has been generously hosted by the Norwegian government since 1988. It has members from over 90 countries, including the world’s largest open and distance learning institutions – some with millions of enrolments each year.”
Image: Dr Mark Nichols, Torrun Gjelsvik and Professor Giselle Byrnes
“ICDE is committed to advancing inclusive, scalable, and sustainable education and it is a pleasure to be able to bring members from this global movement to Wellington in November.”
“Our focus tends to be at the level of policy as well as practice, motivated by the need to improve access to education.”
Te Kunenga Ki Pūrehuroa Massey University Provost Professor Giselle Byrnes, who leads the university’s education and research portfolios says, “The ICDE World Conference is always an incredible opportunity to connect with and learn from international leaders from a wide range of countries.
“The conference is expected to bring together hundreds of international leaders and practitioners in the global field of open, scalable and accessible learning to Aotearoa New Zealand. We’re very excited.”
The theme for the 2025 ICDE World Conference is ‘Ako: Exchanging ideas for inclusive, scalable and sustainable education,’ and will focus on exploring four areas: accessibility and resilience, context and quality, indigeneity, and innovation and openness.
“We will be exploring together at the conference how the Māori concept of ako, or how a teacher and student can learn from each other, can transform global education through inclusive practices, innovative technologies and community engagement,” says Professor Byrnes.
November’s conference will offer an inspiring lineup of pre-conference events.
ICDE Secretary General Torunn Gjelsvik says, “The pre-conference programme on Monday 10 November offers an incredible opportunity for engagement, collaboration and meaningful dialogue with ICDE’s global network. Even before the main conference begins, participants can connect with thought leaders, educators and policymakers, contributing to advancing inclusive, scalable and sustainable education on a global scale.”
Registration for the conference is open and includes a day rate, and early bird rates for full registration apply until 19 September.
To register and find out more about the 30th ICDE World Conference, visit: www.icdeworldconference2025.com/