On November 12, 2016, the First Council Meeting of the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the Auspices of UNESCO (Shenzhen China) (ICHEI) was held at Southern University of Science and Technology. Wu Yihuan, ICHEI Council Chairperson and Vice Mayor of Shenzhen, chaired the meeting. The meeting announced the member list of the First Council, deliberated on the Charter of ICHEI, and listened to ICHEI’s work plan (2016-2018) and a report on establishing Higher Education Innovation Fund.

Meeting scene

Present were Du Yue, Secretary-General of the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO; Chen Yidan, co-founder of Tencent and initiator of Tencent Foundation; Zhang Jihong, Director-General of the Shenzhen Education Bureau; Li Ming, Director of ICHEI and other council members of ICHEI.

Wu Yihuan speaks

Wu announced the member list of the First Council of ICHEI. The First Council has nine members who will guide and supervise the development of ICHEI, she said, expecting the members to make concerted efforts to build a second-class UNESCO institution with Chinese characteristics and Shenzhen level to bring the leading role of higher education into play.

Li Ming delivers a report

At the meeting, Li reported on the formulation of the Charter of ICHEI, ICHEI’s work plan (2016-2018) and the idea of establishing Higher Education Innovation Fund. The Council approved the Charter to take effect upon discussion, offering advice on and raising expectation for the development of ICHEI.

Run by SUSTech under the auspices of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government and UNESCO, approved by UNESCO in 2015 and inaugurated in June 2016, ICHEI will exploit ICTs to implement higher education cooperation programs in Asian and African developing countries.