From December 21 to 23, Li Ming, Council Chairman of South University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTC), attended the 30th Plenary Meeting of the China National Commission for UNESCO, and led a delegation to visit several educational institutions in Beijing as well as the National Education Development Research Center of the Ministry of Education. The delegation was warmly received by the center and reached a lot of cooperation intents with the center. Han Wei, Deputy Director of the Preparatory Office of SUSTC, was involved.

The meeting took place on December 23. Hao Ping, Vice Minister of Education and Chairman of the China National Commission for UNESCO, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Among over 120 attendees were representatives from member entities and cooperative entities such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Li attended the meeting and spoke on behalf of the Category II institutions under UNESCO newly approved this year. As China’s first Category II institution of which the local government applied for the status, the Higher Education Innovation Center in Shenzhen will keep to the purpose and direction of UNESCO, closely integrate Shenzhen’s IT advantage with China’s practical experience in the popularization of higher education, make contributions to the development of higher education in developing countries, the increase in educational opportunities and the improvement of teaching quality with the academic support of SUSTC, and serve the national strategy of “One Belt, One Road”, thus becoming an outlet demonstrating the soft strength of Chinese education.

Prior to the meeting, Li led the delegation to visit the Online Education Office of Tsinghua University and the MOOC Working Group of Peking University, to inquire into the current situation and strategic planning of online education in the universities. Afterwards the delegation visited the Smart Learning Institute and Mobile Learning Laboratory of Beijing Normal University, as well as MyCos, to explore the possibility of cooperation. Also, the delegation visited the National Education Development Research Center of the Ministry of Education, introducing SUSTC’s reform exploration in recent years to Yang Yinfu, Deputy Director of the Center. Both sides undertook to further cement relations and carefully summarize SUSTC’s practical experience.