On December 20, 2020, the day of the 10th Anniversary of SUSTech, the inscribed stone of the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI) was unveiled at the SUSTech Convention Center and the exhibition “Our Journey with SUSTech—UNESCO-ICHEI 2015-2020” was held. SUSTech University Council Chairperson Yurong GUO, President Qikun XUE, Director of UNESCO-ICHEI Ming LI, University Council Vice Chairperson Fengliang LI, Vice President Chun LU, heads of SUSTech departments and UNESCO-ICHEI’s partner enterprises attended the ceremony. The unveiling ceremony was hosted by Executive Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI Wei HAN.

Yurong GUO, on behalf of SUSTech, congratulated UNESCO-ICHEI on its relocation and expressed her appreciation for the achievements it has made in the past five years. She pointed out that UNESCO-ICHEI has made outstanding contributions to the cooperation between international universities and SUSTech and other Shenzhen universities. GUO hoped that UNESCO-ICHEI would obtain greater achievements in the future.

President XUE said that the unveiling ceremony is a new starting point for UNESCO-ICHEI on its journey of promoting the internationalization of Shenzhen and serving the Belt and Road Initiative. He expressed his hope that the UNESCO-ICHEI will play a greater role in educational and cultural exchange and communication, and help China’s education and culture go global.

Ming LI extended gratitude to the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government for their all-round support for the establishment and operation of UNESCO-ICHEI, to partner universities, enterprises, and colleagues for their dedication. He said that UNESCO-ICHEI will further help Asian and African developing countries to improve the quality and equity of higher education.

After the ceremony, participants visited the exhibition “Our Journey with SUSTech—UNESCO-ICHEI 2015-2020”.

 UNESCO-ICHEI is a UNESCO Category Ⅱ centre in Shenzhen. Relying on the advantages of Shenzhen’s information and communication technology (ICT) sector and drawing upon China’s experience with the massification of its higher education, UNESCO-ICHEI aims to meet the local demand for quality higher education resources and to support Asian and African countries to improve the quality of higher education and promote educational equity. With the above aims, UNESCO-ICHEI has been carrying out higher education cooperative projects with countries along the Maritime Silk Road. UNESCO-ICHEI also uses the platform of international organizations to contribute to the establishment of a global partnership university network and enrollment of international students for SUSTech.