Welcome Message by President, Asia-Pacific Federation of World Council for Gifted and Talented

As APF President, I would like to extend my heartiest welcome to all of you at the 10th Asia-Pacific Conference on Giftedness, to be held from 14 to 18 July 2008. I am also deeply thankful to all the distinguished professionals, educators, teachers, and students who are going to give insightful lectures and presentations in the various sessions of this Conference.

Under the theme of “Nurturing Talents for the Global Community”, this conference aims to encourage a worldwide community of intelligent, kind-hearted, and broad-minded citizens to be leaders and the salt of the earth, and to educate the gifted as worldwide citizens capable of communication skills, technology literacy, and creative thinking. For the purpose of holistic education, how to provide an adaptive environment is an issue of great importance; there is a hope of raising a practicable solution for providing differential teaching materials and inclusive learning environment for the gifted, and an enriching nurturing environment for teacher education, even though this mission may offer a challenge to the community of gifted education.

It is my belief that Singapore, as a major Asian transportation centre having rich experiences in organising conferences, can provide an inspiring environment for all participants to exchange innovative ideas, recent research and outlook for the future from a global view. Although this is an Asian conference on giftedness, I will be glad and grateful to see participants not only from each and every country / region in Asia but also from almost every corner in the world. Once again, I am extending my warmest invitation to all of you to be part of this exciting and intelligence-stimulating gathering.

Prof Ching-chih Kuo