Focusing on “New Opportunities and Prospects for Building an Open and High-Quality Education System”, the 22th China Annual Conference for International Education & Expo (CACIE 2021) was held at Beijing International Convention Center on October 22.
Organized by China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), CACIE has been held annually since 2000. Now it has become a high-level platform for policy consultation, academic & information exchange, exhibition, networking and program development.
Chinese Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng, Permanent Secretary at UK Department for Education Susan Acland-Hood, Singaporean Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing and UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Stefania Giannini addressed the opening ceremony. Liu Limin, president of CEAIE, presided over the ceremony.
Jiao Yang, chair of Fudan University Council, delivered a keynote speech entitled “Promote High-quality Development Through High-level Opening-up and Join Hands for Win-Win Cooperation in Higher Education”, along with other keynote speakers including Zhou Jianping, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of China’s manned space program, Jim McDonald, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom, and Allan E. Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education (IIE) in the United States at the keynote speech session, which was moderated by Wang Yongli, secretary-general of CEAIE.
Jiao pointed out in her speech that we should adhere to opening-up in education and turn the challenges of the era into opportunities and driving forces for development. As the rapid development of science and technology has brought about a revolution in learning, our universities are facing profound changes, but it has also provided strong and lasting momentum for the modernization of higher education. Meanwhile, progress in knowledge changes the mode of education. Only by deepening the opening-up of disciplines, teaching and research, facilitating interdisciplinary integration, fostering interdisciplinary talents who can adapt themselves to future challenges, promoting the application of knowledge through building a pro-innovation community in collaboration with the government agencies and different sectors, and adhering to knowledge sharing and pro-innovation cooperation, can we be able to boost progress in knowledge. Besides, higher education institutions around the world are facing common challenges. Only through closer cooperation and wider sharing can we jointly promote sustainable and resilient post-COVID-19 recovery and meet various global challenges. We should further deepen our understanding of the opening-up of education and play a leading role in facilitating education innovation, serving the economy and society, and promoting exchanges and cooperation to improve global higher education governance.
Jiao said that opening-up is the driving force for high-quality education. Fudan has always been adhering to build a high-quality higher education system with open-mindedness, and it has been committed to fostering talents who serve the people and contribute to the world, building a science and technology innovation mechanism with international influence, and providing social services with a sense of social responsibility to promote high-quality development of our society.
Besides, Fudan will continue to deepen international exchanges and cooperation to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and she advocated that higher education should produce talents able to make contribution to our society, pursue interdisciplinary innovation to provide a driving force for sustainable development around the world, uphold inclusiveness and shared benefits, strive for equality and mutual learning, and stick to win-win cooperation, hoping that we can work together to address global challenges and promote the well-being of mankind, and jointly open a new chapter of global higher education cooperation.
At the 6th meeting of the 7th Council of CEAIE held in Beijing on October 21, Belt & Road Education Committee (BREC), founded in Fudan University, was announced as one of the “Outstanding CAEIE Committees 2020”, together with Committee on Study Abroad Service, Volunteer Committee for Intercultural Education, Commission on Chinese-foreign Cooperation in Education and International Medical Education Committee.
Youngest among the winners, BREC was established in 2019 at Fudan University. As a non-profit organization affiliated to CEAIE, BREC consists of domestic Chinese educational institutes that make distinctive contributions to the exchanges among institutes and agencies in higher education, vocational education and elementary education along the Belt and Road. BREC is committed to promoting international cooperation in Chinese education and to further enhancing its global influence and leadership.
Under the leadership of CEAIE, BREC integrates resources of higher education, vocational education and elementary education at home and abroad to build a platform for education cooperation along the Belt and Road. With efforts to promote information sharing, cultural exchange and education collaboration, BREC aims to boost the development of the Belt and Road Educational Community and further promote international cooperation in education.
