In order to strengthen the common construction and sharing of resources of applied colleges and universities, and deepen the educational exchanges and cooperation towards ASEAN, on June 21, 2024, the Open Cooperation and Development Forum for Application-oriented Universities was held at Nanning University, which was jointly organized by Bugu Alliance of Application-oriented Universities and Neighbor Partners Alliance Among UNN-ASEAN Universities. 150 experts and scholars from 27 colleges and universities in Thailand and Malaysia, 20 colleges and universities and research institutes in China, and 18 enterprises jointly conducted extensive and in-depth discussions on talent cultivation, academic research, educational exchanges, and cooperation.
Cai Zhizhong, Deputy Secretary-general of Nanning Municipal People's Government, Zhao Yufang, Deputy Director of the Department of Education of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Ahmad Phadil Ismail, Consulate General of Malaysia in Nanning, attended the opening ceremony of the forum. The forum's opening ceremony was presided over by Liu Biao, Party Secretary of Nanning University.
At the opening ceremony, Mr. Cai Zhizhong, on behalf of the Municipal People's Government, expressed his sincere welcome to the scholars, leaders, and guests from various countries attending the forum, and warmly congratulated the forum on its successful organization. He pointed out that the Open Cooperation and Development Forum for Application-oriented Universities was held at Nanning University, which is an important initiative of the university to further enhance the level of internationalized school running, and also an outstanding performance of Nanning municipal colleges and universities to actively serve the construction of “The Belt and Road”. He hoped that the scholars and experts attending the forum would deepen their friendship, expand their consensus, and cooperate to promote the high-quality development of applied colleges and universities under the background of “The Belt and Road” making the open cooperation a growth path to release the development potential and write a new chapter of innovative cooperation methods together.
Ms. Zhao Yufang, fully affirmed in her speech the positive contributions made by applied colleges and universities in serving local economic construction, cultivating high-quality applied talents, and supporting industrial development. She pointed out that the development of applied colleges and universities is facing many challenges and put forward three hopes for the development of applied colleges and universities. Firstly, we should insist on the openness of running schools and build a new pattern of win-win cooperation. Applied colleges and universities should strengthen cooperation and exchanges among themselves, realize resource sharing and complement each other's advantages, and jointly improve the quality of education and talent cultivation. Second, we should adhere to the development of characteristics to create a new high ground for talent cultivation. Applied colleges and universities should clearly define their own school positioning, highlight professional characteristics, create advantageous disciplines, and form their own core competitiveness. Third, we should adhere to reform and innovation, and stimulate the new vitality of the development of colleges and universities. Applied colleges and universities should strengthen the construction of an internal governance system, encourage teachers to carry out applied research and basic research, and strive to serve the local economic and social development.
Mr. Ahmad Phadil Ismail, Consulate General of Malaysia in Nanning, highly commended Nanning University for organizing the forum, which provided an opportunity for Chinese and ASEAN educational institutions to meet, exchange, and contribute to ASEAN-China educational cooperation. He said that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China, which is an important milestone, and that the two countries will continue to maintain cooperation in many areas such as mutual visits at all levels and other bilateral cooperation, as well as further deepen cooperation and exchanges and consolidate the foundation of friendship between the two countries through a wide range of educational initiatives.
With the aim of win-win cooperation, Nanning University communicated and negotiated with relevant domestic and foreign colleges and universities, institutes and enterprises, and facilitated a number of educational exchange and cooperation projects that could be landed, and six batches of project signing ceremonies were carried out at the opening ceremony.
On the road to open and cooperative school-running, Nanning University actively seeks partners, jointly builds a cooperation platform, and promotes industry-university-research cooperation and educational exchanges and cooperation. At the opening ceremony, the signing ceremony was held for the projects of “Modern Industy College of Digital Technology” “UNN - PBS MBA Center”and “UNN - Gaoke Education International Education Center” were unveiled.
The forum consisted of a main forum and five parallel sessions. In the main forum, Shen Shaojun, a solution expert from Huawei delivered a keynote report titled “Huawei's ‘One Body, Two Wings’ Helps Accelerate the Cultivation of New-Quality Productivity”. Dr. Gu Yu, President of Wenshan University and Professor Sun Yuhong, President of Shenyang Institute of Science and Technology, respectively gave keynote reports on “Sanqi College of Health's Industry-Education Integration Helps the Development of Local Industries” and “Continuing the Red Gene and Sharpening the Mission of Education”
Dr. Chollada Pongpattanayothin, Vice President of Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University, and Azmawani Binti Abd Rahman, President/CEO of Putra Business School, delivered keynote speeches on behalf of the Neighbor Partners Alliance. Dr. Li Dongxue, President of Nanning University, gave a keynote presentation on “Walking a Miles + Reading a Million Books: Response to University Education in the Age of AI”. 5 parallel sessions were held simultaneously in the afternoon of the same day.
With the mission of “creating excellent education quality and promoting the prosperity and development of the city”, Nanning University takes the construction of a modern industrial college as the carrier and builds the integration and symbiosis system of school-school, school-city, school-enterprise collaborative education. Adhering to the service orientation based on Nanning, serving Guangxi and facing ASEAN, the university initiated the establishment of the Bugu Alliance of Application-oriented Universities and Neighbor Partners Alliance Among UNN-ASEAN Universities and held the Open Cooperation and Development Forum for Application-oriented Universities, which is aimed at working with the like-minded partners in the same direction to help build a strong educational country, accelerate the construction of Chinese-style modernization to make new contributions to applied colleges and universities.
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