The Global Education and Skills Forum, organized by the Government of Dubai kicked off today in Dubai. The forum is jointly organized by UNESCO, the Commonwealth Business Council, the UAE Government and GEMS Education. The forum gathered a lineup of powerful speakers including former US president Bill Clinton and former British prime minister Tony Blair along with a group of world leaders, education experts, CEOs, researchers, multi-lateral agencies and NGOs from 46 countries, to discuss issues related to the slogan of the forum “ Meeting Challenges in Education & Skills – Governments & Private Sector working together to achieve results.” The two-day event will discuss the role that private and public sectors partnership can play in bringing educational transformation in order to create a skilled workforce fit for the future among the youth of the GCC. It will also explore how governments and the private sector can work together in constructive partnerships to jump-start much-needed efforts that will place education first. It will provide an open forum to explore how to create real, sustainable and scalable change at global and local levels. A particular focus will be on how to develop an enabling environment for effective partnerships, including a regulatory framework that ensures access, quality, relevance and equity. The aim of the forum is to expose the role of public and private partnerships in education and introduce policymakers to lessons from international evidence . It will also ignite and incubate exciting new partnerships. Attendance to the event will provide unparalleled networking opportunities, bringing together participants from many countries, including leaders from business, government, international organisations and civil society. In the session of Education reform – Public-Private-Partnerships-for-Education (PPPE), Panelists will talk about how can PPPE & other reform models contribute to specific strategic objectives such as expanding access, increasing relevance, improving efficiency, and improving effectiveness? Other sessions will cover PPPE at work: Learning from experience, Focus on Skills: workforce development for employment and global competitiveness, Private education: its role in a knowledge society, Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives in education – do they really work? and The global education crisis: new systems, models and solutions