In the afternoon of May 23, 2015, witnessed by the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education Hao Ping, the Deputy Mayor of Shenzhen City Wu Yihuan and the Secretary General for Education Assistant of UNESCO Tang Qian signed the Trust Fund Framework Agreement on behalf of both parties. The Secretary General of Plenary Session of UNESCO Du Yue, the Party Committee Sectary of SUSTC and the director of leading team for preparation of Category-II attended the signing ceremony.

According to the agreement, the municipal government of Shenzhen will support work of UNESCO, and implement the higher education program in Asia and Africa implemented by both parties. This is the specific outcome of deepened cooperation after the Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding signed by Shenzhen City and UNESCO, and the active undertaking and choice for Shenzhen’s serving the “OBOR” strategy.

Hao Ping congratulated on successful signing of the agreement. He said that, the Ministry of Education supported Shenzhen City to establish Category-II Education Institute of UNESCO, and Shenzhen City and SUSTC were welcomed to contribute to education of China going global. 

Wu Yihuan introduced achievements and challenges of innovative-driven development implemented by Shenzhen City in recent years at the signing ceremony, ideas and measures to be adopted for advancing leap-forward development of higher education, and expanded all-round communication and cooperation with UNESCO to boost construction of modern and internationalized in Shenzhen. 

Tang Qian appreciated the development of Shenzhen, and supported Shenzhen to apply for Category-II education institute of UNESCO and hold international conferences.

Li Ming thanked support on SUSTC’s applying for Category-II Institute of UNESCO by UNESCO, the Ministry of Education and Shenzhen City. He said that, SUSTC would prepare and adopt various measures to satisfy conditions of the higher education innovation center of UNESCO, and would not disappoint those concerning us.

According to the Cooperative Memorandum of Understanding and the Framework Agreement of Trust Fund, supported by SUSTC, Shenzhen will establish the Higher Education Innovation Center of UNESCO. The Center will become an international platform in intelligence leading for education reform and development, absorb the best practice of the first-class universities of developed countries in Asia-Pacific Countries, exhibit the successful practice of leap-forward development of higher education in China, yield advantages of information technology industry of Shenzhen City, support the development of higher education in Africa and Asia countries, and promote fairness and improve quality. The Center will gather world’s famous experts in education to propose suggestions based on situations of higher education in Shenzhen, facilitate citizens of Shenzhen to acquire the frontier education information and research outcome, and boost construction of modern and internationalized in Shenzhen.