The Oceania Comparative and International Education Society, (OCIES, previously ANZCIES) is a non-profit organisation for developing and establishing connections between educators, researchers and diverse education stakeholders both within the region and beyond.
OCIES has been an inclusive, expanding space for over 50 years to share work in education. OCIES is one of 40 societies from around the world which represent the UNESCO-affiliated World Congress of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES).
The OCIES leadership and members share and pursue several aims. These are:
OCIES supports an active space for new and emerging researchers of OCIES (NERO), promoting connections, relationships and useful workshops/seminars.
OCIES members aim to foster excellence in comparative and international education within and beyond our region by organising an annual conference and publishing a flagship journal the International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives. All OCIES Executive and General Committee positions are voluntary and open to nomination for all members, with quarterly meetings to manage and support the Society.
The purpose of OCIES is to increase the rigor of research in comparative and international education and to assist in communicating and developing results with members, policy makers and the public.
Founded in 1973, the Australian Comparative Education Society (ACES) was established initially as a national society of scholars. As membership grew with more scholars coming from neighbouring New Zealand, ACES was renamed the Australian and New Zealand Comparative and International Education Society (ANZCIES) in 1983. ANZCIES has become an independent policy and research society comprised of members from the Asia-Pacific region who promote the scholarly study of education in all its forms. Current membership is represented by over eleven countries within the region, including Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Japan, China (PRC), China (ROC), Hong Kong, Bangladesh, India, and South Africa.
The society encourages comparative research in the areas of global, regional, national, local and community policies, processes, and practices, and the socio-cultural contexts in which education occurs. ANZCIES (OCIES, since 2015) holds an annual conference (usually in late Nov/early Dec) and publishes International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives.
Click here for a link to the paper by Eve Coxon and Juliana McLaughlin From ANZCIES to OCIES: Reinvigorating Comparative and International Education in Oceania on the World Voices Nexus website.
Click here for an overview of OCIES/ANZCIES conference history