Welcome to the Paris Conference on Education (PCE2025), held as a part of IAFOR’s European Conference Series and hosted at the Sorbonne University in 2025.

For centuries, France and its capital, Paris, have been a global intellectual and cultural centre and crossroads, impacting ideas, trends, theories, and practices, in all fields both in and the academy and the wider society. It remains the world’s most influential arbiter of taste, not only in food and wine, but also in fashion and style. This incredibly beautiful city, with its monumental buildings and sweeping designs, has been a literal and metaphorical stage for literal and metaphorical battles of ideas, of systems, of religions, and of countries that have themselves had enormous global ramifications, for good and for bad. The theories and the practices debated and implemented here, and the reforms and revolutions of Paris, have influenced and ignited those around the world.

This storied heritage attracts students and academics from around the world to its leading educational and research institutions, museums, and collections, and while Paris draws on its imposing traditions and cultural heritage, it is a place and space of constant renewal and innovation.

Through its geographically central but open and exposed position, Paris has hosted meetings between nations, cultures, and disciplines for more than two millennia; its historical and cultural richness is a result of these meetings. It is within this intellectual tradition, space, and place that we situate our own event here, in line with the IAFOR mission of ‘encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating intercultural awareness and promoting international exchange’.

We look forward to welcoming you (back) to Paris!