Sunday, October 27^th saw the sun shine brightly for the Third Session of the First Governing Board Meeting of the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHEI), held at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). The meeting was chaired by Wang Lixin, Deputy Mayor of Shenzhen Municipal Government & Chair of ICHEI’s Governing Board.

Mr. Firmin Edouard Matoko, Assistant Director-General of the Africa Department of UNESCO, Mr. QIN Changwei, Secretary General of the National Commission of China for UNESCO, Mr. TANG Qian, former Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO, Mr. CHEN Yidan, Core Founder of Tencent and Founder of the Tencent Charity Foundation, Mr. Freddy Boey, Senior Vice President of National University of Singapore, Mr. ZHANG Jihong, Director of the Shenzhen Education Bureau, Mr. CHEN Shiyi, President of SUSTech, Mr. LI Ming, Director of ICHEI, participated in the meeting. Also present at the meeting were Mr. Mohamed Djelid, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Strategic Planning of UNESCO, Mr. DU Yue, Director of the Division for Cooperation, Intersectoral Follow-Up and Partnership of the Africa Department of UNESCO, and all the staff of ICHEI.

The meeting discussed the ICHEI’s work for 2018 and plans for 2019. They also reviewed its 2019 budget and heard the report on how it was going to implement the Shenzhen fund project.

Prof. Li Ming spoke to the 2018 work report and the 2019 work plan. He said that under the guidance of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, the leadership of the Shenzhen Municipal Government and with SUSTech’s support, ICHEI had has been actively engaging itself in the field of higher education under the framework of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Education 2030), the UNESCO 2012 Paris OER Declaration, Qingdao Declaration, and Shenzhen Declaration.

The ICHEI has carried out fruitful work in the global higher education field. Prof. Li Ming was comprehensive in his reporting of the ICHEI’s progress, including aspects from Shenzhen Trust Fund, holding international conferences, ICT competence training, higher education informatization research, MOOC resource development, smart classroom projects, and international cooperation and exchanges.

Subsequently, Prof. HAN Wei, Deputy Director of ICHEI, was invited the council to review the 2019 budget. Prof. Zhao Jianhua reported on the progress of UNESCO-Shenzhen Funds-in-Trust Project.

The members of the Board of Directors reviewed and discussed the above report and fully affirmed the achievements of ICHEI in one stage and made recommendations and opinions. Mr. Matoko recommended that ICHEI expand the project countries under the UNESCO-Shenzhen Funds-in-Trust to more countries and make greater contribution to achieve the SDG4. Mr. Tang Qian suggested that the future work of the ICHEI should be sustainable on the existing basis. He cited the example of continued promotion and support for the establishment of a quality assurance system for higher education in Africa to create a complete education system. Mr. Qin Changwei proposed that the ICHEI should embody the consensus reached by General Secretary Xi Jinping and UNESCO Director General Ms. Audrey Azoulay. In heading down this path, ICHEI could work towards the outcome of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum and start deploying the next step.

Mr. Chen Yidan advised that ICHEI should consider diversifying their funding sources to achieve sustainable and healthy development. Prof. Freddy Boey suggested that ICHEI should adopt a more comprehensive and systematic way to assess the effectiveness of its work. Mr. Zhang Jihong suggested that the Innovation Center integrate SUSTech’s strength, thus increasing investment and support for the development of the MOOC curriculum. Prof. Chen Shiyi suggested that the ICHEI further expand cooperation with universities and colleges around the world, as well as actively serving the international student’s enrollment work of SUSTech.

Mr. Wang Lixin closed the meeting and fully affirmed the 2018 achievements of the Innovation Center in 2018. He said that the Shenzhen Municipal Government would increase its support for the ICHEI. On behalf of the Board of Directors, he put forward three expectations for the Center for Higher Education Innovation.

First, make new progress in serving the Belt and Road Initiative, by fully relying on the advantages of Shenzhen’s information and communication technology industry. By working together, they could set up a “springboard” for international cooperation in higher education between China and foreign countries. Developing countries in the Asia-Pacific and Africa could improve the quality of their higher education and promote educational equity.

Second, he hoped ICHEI could be an active player in the process of building Shenzhen into a modern, international, and innovative city, seize the opportunity of building the Great Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, and better facilitate Chinese enterprises in going global.

The third is to strengthen the internal rules and regulations further. ICHEI should improve internal personnel management mechanisms, finances, along with other rules and regulations. They should also set clear performance targets to ensure that the work of ICHEI is well-regulated, disciplined, and targeted.