Chinese-Foreign University Presidents Forum Successfully Held

Organized by the Ministry of Education of China the Chinese-Foreign University Presidents Forum was successfully held in Beijing from 21 July to 31 July. As secretariat of the Forum National Academy of Education Administration took active part in planning, preparing and organizing the Forum.

81 Presidents of the leading universities in China and 17 Presidents and scholars from countries of USA, England, France, Germany and Japan attended the Forum. The Government gave great importance to the Forum. Vice Premier Li Lanqing showed concerns to progress of the Forum and granted a meeting with part of Chinese and foreign presidents. Madame Chen Zhili, Minister of the Ministry of Education of China attended the opening and closing sessions, and delivered speeches.

During the Forum 17 Presidents or Presidents Emeritus or Vice Presidents and renowned scholars from Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Minnesota, Boston College, University of Texas System, University of Columbia, University of California, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Michigan, State University of New York at Baffola, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of Norttingham, University of Tokyo, Ecole Normale Superieure de Paris, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and RETH Aachen University, and 6 Presidents from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Lan Zhou University, Xi’an Jiaotong University and the University of Science and Technology of China made presentations on various issues in higher education and university management, including strategic policies for higher education, economic development and universities, faculty development and quality assurance in teaching and learning, quality, evaluation and accreditation in higher education, strategies for university resource acquisition and management, etc.

After sessions of presentations Chinese university presidents had focus group discussions with their foreign counterparts to deepen their exchange of views and ideas.

As follow-up activity Chinese university presidents are divided into five groups to continue in-depth research on 5 different topics relating to higher education and university management. Expected outcomes should be reached by the end of this year.