An international forum on education opened in Beijing Wednesday with about 640 experts from home and abroad taking part.

The four-day forum, jointly sponsored by the Beijing Normal University and the Australian Royal Melbourne Institute of Scienceand Technology, will focus on four main topics, cross-culture learning, the relationship between new technology, new economy andfuture ways of learning, reading and writing in the digital era and education for the progress of society and individual development.

Zhong Binglin, president of the Beijing Normal University said learning is a major driving force for the civilized development ofhuman beings. Without learning, today's society would not exist, and the future would be bleak for human beings.

In the information era, knowledge is becoming more important because globalization will bring many cultural clashes which will require an enlightened attitude to resolve. Education can be broadened by pooling the knowledge of many, he added.

( Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2002)