The International Baccalaureate (IB) is proud to announce that Director General Olli-Pekka Heinonen was honored with Cognia’s Excellence in Education Award at a conference in Cairo, Egypt, last week.
During the Cognia’s IMPACT International Conference 2024, he accepted Cognia’s award for his impact on international K-12 education and thanked the wider IB community for continuing the organization’s mission of peacebuilding and called for education to remain relevant while continuing to promote student flourishing.
As part of the IB’s continued efforts to support educational development in the region, the Director General delivered a keynote speech at the event. During his remarks, he celebrated the partnership between the IB and Cognia and how it supports the IB’s mission to increase access to education worldwide. The event invited teachers and leaders to discuss strategies and share ideas with peers across Egypt.
The IB and Cognia formed a strategic partnership, formalized through a signed Memorandum of Understanding this year, to optimize the evaluation and the reaccreditation processes of schools seeking to adopt the IB framework.
While in Cairo, Olli-Pekka met with the Minister of Education to explore further collaboration between the Ministry and the IB. He also visited IB schools, met with Egyptian educational leaders, and attended a meeting with the IB Schools in Egypt Association to discuss the successes, opportunities and challenges faced by IB schools in the country.
These discussions aimed to support the continued growth and development of IB education in Egypt. The Director General’s participation at the IMPACT conference reaffirms the IB’s commitment to growing its presence in the region. It follows a recent visit to Oman where Olli-Pekka met with representatives and committed to collaborate with the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
