CRI News: From November 21 to 22, the 2020 International Forum on Higher Education, co-hosted by China Association of Higher Education and Zhengzhou University, supported by Henan Provincial People's Government, was held in Zhengzhou. More than one hundred Chinese and foreign experts and scholars discussed the way to advance the modernization of higher education on the theme of "Accelerating Modernization of University Governance Systems and Capacity Building".

Conference Venue (Photo by Zhang Deqi)

Speech by Zhong Denghua, member of Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister of Education P.R.C (Photo by Zheng Deqi)

Making a report by Du Yubo, President of China Association of Higher Education (Photo by Zhang Deqi)

To realize the modernization of higher education, it is necessary to promote the modernization of governance systems and capacity building in higher education. It is also an important part of promoting the modernization of the governance system and capacity of the country. How can higher education develop with high quality in the post-pandemic era?

Combined with the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, Vice Minister of Education, Zhong Denghua pointed out that, first of all, we should deeply understand the achievements in the higher education development and further strengthen the confidence of higher education system. In a short period of time, the world's largest higher education system has been built in China, which strongly supports China's rapid economic development and social long-term stability. This has made the people's position more prominent, meanwhile, the ability and level of serving the country have been significantly enhanced, and the governance capability has been continuously improved. The development of higher education must adhere to its roots in China, must integrate with China and abroad, and must strengthen the institutional confidence of socialist higher education with Chinese characteristics. Second, we should focus on the construction of a strong education country, enhance the ability and level of service to construct a new development pattern, and build a high-quality development system of higher education in the new era. Zhong Denghua believes that to build a high-quality development system for higher education in new times, six key points must be grasped. First, we should be clear about the direction and target. Second, the fundamental driving force of reform and innovation should be demonstrated. Third, we must stay problem-oriented, and fourth, we must adhere to goal-orientation. Fifth, we should adhere to the concept of system, and sixth, strengthen the governance system and governance capacity modernization.

Zhong Denghua stressed that peace and development are the major theme of the times, and the concept of “a Community of Shared Future for Mankind” is deeply rooted in the hearts of people. The Chinese government will, as always, support exchanges and cooperation in higher education in various countries.

This annual international conference marks the beginning of the 20th anniversary and opens a new chapter in Henan, fully reflecting the concern and trust to Henan from the Ministry of Education and the China Association of Higher Education. Jiang Ling, a member of the Standing Committee of the Henan Provincial Committee and Minister of Publicity Department of Henan Province, said that, in order to promote modernization of university governance, we must build a more scientific education system, an academic governance, and an administrative management system. We must cultivate high-quality teaching staffs form a dual-track parallel education model of professional college and residential college, and collect a wider range resources. He said, "I hope that experts at the conference give advice and suggestions for higher education in Henan. Henan colleges and universities can seize the opportunity to further change their concepts, make clear measures, and strive to promote the high-quality development of higher education. "

To realize the high-quality development of higher education in China under the new development situation, Du Yubo, president of the China Association of Higher Education, holds that the education sector should make efforts from six aspects. First, we should strengthen morality education, consolidate the concept of student-centered learning, respect the law of personnel training, and build a talent training system to meet the needs of the current situation. Second, by optimizing the regional layout structure, we should adjust the professional structure of disciplines, and build a classified school system. We can optimize the educational layout structure to meet the needs of the new development pattern. Third, we should improve the ability of innovative services to meet the needs of the new development pattern, strive to be the main force for high-quality development of the service economy, strengthen basic research, occupy the commanding heights to accelerate the core technology, and play a more important role in meeting the needs of the national talents and innovation. Fourth, we should pay attention to the concept innovation, think before act, combine the force of destruction and construction, combine with force of construction to promote innovation, comprehensive development and coordinated implementation, to form a new development pattern for meeting the needs of the educational evaluation mechanism. Fifth, we should adhere to the overall leadership of the party, grasp the direction of running a school, improve the ideological and political work system, implement the moral education, improve the internal governance structure, gather joint efforts in running schools, and improve the university governance structure that meets the needs of the new development pattern. Sixth, we should insist on taking root in China and integrating Chinese and foreign countries to "jointly solving problems", insist on selective "inviting in", organized "going out", and targeted "deep participation", insist on open sharing and win-win cooperation, create a new development pattern and open up a situation of open cooperation that meets the needs of the new development pattern.

As a co-organizer, this forum also provides an opportunity for Zhengzhou University to accelerate its transformation and development into a research university. Song Zhenghui, secretary of the CPC Committee of Zhengzhou University, stated that Zhengzhou University will develop its own characteristics and comparative advantages based on the land of China ; updating the school-running philosophy and making the university governance rooted in Chinese culture, traditions and values; giving full play to the advantages of the system and carrying out the president responsibility system under the leadership of the party committee; systematic thinking, building a scientific academic and administrative organizational structure; innovating the governance systems, and building a "double cycle" system for the development of higher education in our country.

This conference is chaired by Lin Huiqing, the former Vice Minister of Education P.R.C, Vice President of China Association of Higher Education. More than 1200 participants including Ren Youqun, director of the Department of Teachers, Ministry of Education P.R.C, Lei chaozi, director of the Department of Science and Technology, Wang Qiming, deputy director of the Department of Higher Education, and heads of the International division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , China Association of Higher Education, Chinese Society for Technical and Vocational education, and China Education Association for International Exchange, Zheng Bangshan, director of Education Department of Henan Province; Yin Hongbin, Deputy Secretary General of Henan provincial government and secretaries of the CPC Committee and presidents from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Tianjin University, Zhejiang University, Nanjing University, Beijing Normal University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Wuhan University, Zhongshan University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Beihang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, China Agricultural University, Southeast University, University of Science and Technology of China, Xiamen University, Zhengzhou University attended the conference. Among them, 114 guests from 27 countries and regions, including the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Canada and Australia, were included.

This forum held three parallel forums for the first time, namely "University Presidents Forum", "Scholars Forum" and "Doctoral Candidates Forum". Over 1.55 million people watched the forum online.(By Weiwei Li, Haijun Ma)