On October 21, 2021, with the strong support of the Ministry of Education, the 22nd China International Education Annual Conference hosted by China Education International Exchange Association was successfully held in Beijing International Conference Center. The annual meeting focuses on "cultivating new opportunities, opening up new situations and building an open high-quality education system", discusses the new opportunities and challenges faced by international exchanges and cooperation in education, and plans an innovative path for high-quality development. In addition to the plenary session, this annual conference also includes four seminars on higher education, vocational education, basic education and special education.

Huai Jinpeng, Secretary of the Party Group and Minister of the Ministry of Education, attended the annual meeting and delivered a speech.

Speech by Huai Jinpeng

The plenary meeting was presided over by Liu Limin, President of China Education Association for International Exchanges. Susan Acland hood, Executive Vice Minister of the British Ministry of Education, Chen Zhensheng, Minister of the Singapore Ministry of Education, and Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General of Education of UNESCO delivered online speeches respectively.

Liu Limin presided over the meeting，Speeches by Susan Acland hood, Chen Zhensheng and Stefania Giannini

Zhou Jianping, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of China's manned space engineering, Jim McDonald, Dean of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Jiao Yang, Secretary of the Party Committee of Fudan University, and Allan E. Goodman, President of the American Association for International Education (IIE), delivered keynote speeches respectively.

Keynote speeches by Zhou Jianping, Jim McDonald, Jiao Yang, Allan E. Goodman

Next, Ren Shaobo, Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhejiang University, Lei chaozi, Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Information Technology of the Ministry of Education of China, Matt Burney, Director of the British Culture and Education Association in China, Minister of Culture and Education of the British Embassy, Jeffrey Lehman, Executive Vice President of New York University in Shanghai, Yue Kun, President of Huawei's Global Government Business Department, and other guests made wonderful reports on the high-quality development of international education in the post-epidemic era.

Ren Shaobo, Lei chaozi, Matt Burney, Jeffrey Lehman and Yue Kun made a report

The topic of Chinese-foreign cooperation in higher vocational education was also included in the theme forum of this annual meeting for the first time. The Chinese-foreign cooperative education seminar on higher vocational education organized by Suzhou Centennial College opened at the Beijing International Conference Center, whose theme is “Chinese-foreign cooperative education in higher vocational education and curriculum integration”. Zhang Li, Associate Vice President of Suzhou Centennial College, presided over the seminar.

Associate Vice President Zhang Li presided over the seminar

First of all, Peng Zhenyun, Party Secretary and President of Suzhou Centennial College, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the organizer, Suzhou Centennial College. He said that this seminar focused on the integration of majors and courses in the field of Chinese-foreign cooperation in higher vocational education, solved the core problems and major problems in the training of international talents in the field of vocational education, started the exploration journey of Chinese-foreign cooperation in running higher vocational education in the new era, and sincerely welcome all the guests.

Peng Zhenyun delivered a welcome speech

Subsequently, Alain Roy, Vice-President of International Partnerships Colleges and Institutes, Canada delivered a welcome speech. Alain said that vocational education plays a vital role in Canada's higher education system and shared the three elements of Canadian vocational education success. Finally, he hopes that the vocational education cooperation projects between China and Canada can be more extensive and in-depth.

Alain Roy delivered a welcome speech

Mao Dongmin, Director of Division of Foreign Affairs Supervision and Chinese-foreign Cooperative Education, Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, Ministry of Education, China attended the meeting and delivered a keynote speech. Mao Dongmin mainly introduced the policies of Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools under the current epidemic situation and the work priorities in the next stage, and looked forward to the prospects of Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools in the future.

Mao Dongmin made a keynote speech

Xie Yonghua, President of Nanjing Vocational University of Industry Technology, analyzed in detail the high-quality guarantee system of Chinese-foreign cooperation in higher vocational education, and pointed out its future construction direction.

Xie Yonghua made a keynote speech

Sun Xiaobing, Former Director of Department of Policies and Regulations, Ministry of education, China, made a keynote speech on the theme of policies, laws and development space of Chinese-foreign cooperative vocational schools. He believed that the institutional advantages of the development of Chinese-foreign cooperative vocational schools are gradually emerging and there is great potential for future development.

Sun Xiaobing made a keynote speech

Craig Stephenson, President of Centennial College, gave a keynote speech on the theme of changing lives and communities through vocational and technical education and training after Covid-19 epidemic from the perspective of China and Canada. He believed Covid-19 epidemic has brought about a disruptive impact on Canadian vocational education. Therefore, vocational education should be more closely related to the community, improve the quality of students’ learning experience, and cultivate their lifelong global leadership.

Craig Stephenson made the keynote speech

David Christiansen, President of Waikato Institute of Technology in New Zealand, shared the challenges and opportunities encountered in the reform and internationalization of New Zealand’s vocational education, and looked forward to the future of Chinese-western vocational education cooperation.

David Christiansen made a video special report

Zhuo Meiying, President of Fuzhou Melbourne Polytechnic, shared her practical experience in running a school and shared how Fuzhou Melbourne Polytechnic has continuously innovated and put things in o practice through the methods of reinforcement, integration, cultivation and channels.

Zhuo Meiying gave a special report

Gong Fanghong, President of Wuxi Institute of Technology, combing with the school's own cases, showed how to improve the quality of international talent training in higher vocational colleges in an all-round way from integrating high-quality resources, building an international talent training system and taking students as the center to comprehensively improve the quality of joint training.

Gong Fanghong gave a special report

Dong Lisheng, Vice President of Zhengzhou Railway Vocational & Technical College, described how the school slowly explored, from strengthening top-level design, improving system and mechanism construction, to strengthening capacity-building, increasing investment in school running elements, and then expanding cooperation fields to build an excellent project in international education.

Dong Lisheng gave a special report

Chen Hairong, Vice President of Jinhua Polylechnic, introduced in detail how Waikato Vocational College changed from a teaching paradigm centered on teachers, teaching materials and classrooms to a learning paradigm centered on student development, student learning and learning effects.

Chen Hairong gave a special report

Tian Ning, Director of Great China, English Assessment Department Cambridge University, shared how Linguaskill empowered the high-quality construction of Chinese-foreign cooperation in higher vocational education with the help of artificial intelligence technology.

Tian Ning made a special report

Peng Zhenyun, Zhuo Meiying, Gong Fanghong, Dong Lisheng and Chen Hairong were then invited to participate in the round table with the theme of "higher vocational principals' comments on the" Three Outlooks "-- the strategies, quality and management of Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools". The meeting was chaired by Associate Professor Chen Jian, Head of Vocational Education Division, ILEAD, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.

Chen Jian presided over the round table

Guests

Guests

At present, international exchanges and cooperation in education are facing a new period of development opportunities, and it is urgent to release new vitality for development. This China Annual Conference on International Education provides a good opportunity for global educators to further deepen international educational exchanges and communication, promote practical cooperation between Chinese and foreign universities, and jointly stimulate the momentum of high-quality educational innovation and development.

News/ Photos provided by CIE