2025 IIOE Pioneer Award Ceremony Held&nbp;in Singaporse
On 1 September 2025, the "2025 International Institute of Online Education (IIOE) Higher Education Digitalisation Pioneer Case Award" (hereinafter referred to as "the Pioneer Award") ceremony was successfully convened in Singapore. The event was organised by the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (hereinafter referred to as "UNESCO-ICHEI") and sponsored by BGI Group. The Award Ceremony was held at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre in Singapore, IIOE partners from 13 countries and international organisation representatives, 6 enterprise partners received the award at the ceremony, and over 2000 attendees from over 30 countries attended the ceremony.
Centred on the theme "IIOE Ecosystem-driven Promising Practices: Empowering Workforce, Innovation, and Collaboration", the award received submissions in four categories: developing Digital and AI Competencies through IIOE Micro-certification; enabling Localised Digital Empowerment Initiatives through IIOE National Centres; leveraging Smart Classroom Operations for Teaching and Learning Innovation and Excellence, as well as strengthening Global Industry-University Collaboration for Higher Education Digital Empowerment. The Pioneer Award 2025 attracted 95 applications from 29 countries, including 48 higher education institutions and 13 enterprise partners. From these, 22 outstanding cases were selected, representing cutting-edge efforts across the Global South in areas such as teacher empowerment, curriculum innovation, and digital infrastructure enhancement. These practices not only offer practical action models for higher education stakeholders in the global higher education sector, but also offer reference examples and experiences that can be transferred to a broader scene of building, high-quality and equitable higher education.
the Pioneer Award ceremony
Strategic Value: Advancing Global Education Equity and Digital Capacity Building
As an integral part of the IIOE ecosystem, the Pioneer Award is more than an accolade. It is a strategic vehicle for promoting the digital transformation of global education. The 2025 evaluation focused on four key categories: Developing Digital and AI Competencies of the higher education workforce, Enabling Localised Digital Empowerment Initiatives through IIOE National Centres, Leveraging Smart Classroom Operations for Teaching Innovation, and Strengthening Global Industry-University Collaboration. These priorities not only respond to the urgent demands of educational transformation in the digital era but also provide concrete pathways for narrowing the global digital divide and advancing equity and inclusiveness in education.
Throughout this process, IIOE partners have engaged in pragmatic cooperation to explore how to comprehensively strengthen the digital competency and AI capacity of the higher education workforce, and to promote the effective integration of innovations such as artificial intelligence into higher education. Leveraging the Pioneer Award, UNESCO-ICHEI has fully exercised its role as a bridge and platform, mobilising broad participation from universities, enterprises, and government agencies worldwide, facilitating knowledge exchange and mechanism-building, and working jointly to construct a more open, collaborative, and sustainable ecosystem for educational digitalisation.
The significance of the Pioneer Award lies not only in recognising excellence but also in uniting the collective strength of international organisations, HEIs, and enterprises under the coordination of UNESCO-ICHEI to advance the global practice of educational digitalisation. Through the promotion of the outstanding cases and the sharing of experience, UNESCO-ICHEI and its partners are working together to explore pathways for educational development that are both more inclusive and more sustainable.
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List of Award Recipients from Higher Education Institutions and International Organisations ① | List of Award Recipients from Higher Education Institutions and International Organisations ② | List of Award Recipients from Entreprises |
Professor JIN Li, Director of UNESCO-ICHEI and Vice President of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), remarked in his address:
The link between sustainable development and education is becoming increasingly evident. Only through open dialogue and collaborative action can we work together to explore thoughtful and forward-looking solutions.
Ms. XIAO Minfeng, executive dean of the BGI College and special scientist at BGI Research, delivered a speech on behalf of the title sponsor. She noted:
The digital transformation of education isn't just about technology—it's about unlocking human potential.
As a leading institution in the field of life sciences, BGI Group has long been committed to promoting the integration of industry and education as well as the synergetic development of science and public welfare. Through its BGI College, BGI has continuously provided digital infrastructure, teacher training resources, and curricular support for global education, helping universities in developing countries improve the quality of teaching and contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education).
Ms. BI Xiaohan, Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI and host of the ceremony, remarked:
The Pioneer Award aims to recognise the latest development and innovative practices in the data transformation of higher education in a world that is rapidly evolving. These pioneers are not just adapting, they are redefining the educational landscape, making it more inclusive, resilient, and aligned with our sustainable development goals.
At the ceremony, Professor LIM Cher Ping, Chief Expert of IIOE and Chair Professor of Learning Technologies and Innovation at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), introduced the evaluation principles of the award in his capacity as Chair of the Judging Panel and announced the list of winners.
The IIOE ecosystem brings together universities, enterprises, and international organisations worldwide. Operating under the principles of "extensive consultation, joint contribution, shared benefits", it is dedicated to fostering the digital and AI competency building of HEIs in the global south. The Pioneer Award facilitates "concepts" to turn into "practice", capturing "case study" in best practices. This award ceremony is beyond a single event; it's a key accelerator of the multi-sectoral partnership among the IIOE ecosystem. By selecting and awarding the best practices in digital technology empowering higher education, UNESCO-ICHEI "screens, certifies, and disseminates" a series of pathways leading to success. The award further promotes knowledge sharing in the quality and equitable development of higher education in the global south.
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Award winners on stage
Developing Digital and AI Competencies of the higher education workforce: Leading the Future of Education
The IIOE Micro-Certification Project for Higher Education Workforce Digital Competency Building is designed to strengthen the digital literacy and AI application skills of university faculty, equipping them to meet the rapidly evolving demands of technological change.
This year's award-winning practices illustrate the programme's transformative impact in diverse ways. Some universities have pioneered innovative models by embedding AI into disciplinary teaching, opening new pathways for the development of future-oriented education. Others have paid particular attention to equity and inclusiveness, ensuring that disadvantaged groups and women educators are empowered and that educational opportunities are extended more broadly. Still others have secured policy endorsement and industry partnerships, creating favourable conditions for the long-term implementation of the Micro-Certification and its integration into national education strategies.
For instance, through a multi-stage cascading training and localised curriculum, the Mongolian University of Science and Technology successfully translated three international AI courses into Mongolian. These were rolled out across 38 higher education institutions nationwide, reaching 1,892 educators. Among them, 520 obtained AI Micro-Certification, effectively boosting participation among teachers in rural and resource-scarce regions. The Indonesia Cyber Education Institute (ICE-I) has closely integrated MOOC platforms with national education strategies to deliver massive open online courses and Micro-Certification training. To date, 420 teachers have completed training, 191 have obtained micro-certification, and over 7,000 course registrations have been facilitated.
Taken together, these explorations demonstrate that the IIOE Micro-Certification has become a vital instrument for UNESCO-ICHEI in enhancing the digital competencies of the higher education workforce worldwide, advancing educational equity, and fostering meaningful international cooperation. With the visibility and momentum generated through the Pioneer Award, the programme is steadily emerging as a cornerstone of lifelong learning and cross-regional exchange, injecting sustained energy into the development of education for the future.
As a cornerstone of the IIOE ecosystem, National Centres are critical to localising the IIOE programme. By establishing regional hubs, National Centres transform global expertise into localised projects, training, and courses that meet local needs. This work boosts the digital skills of faculty, promotes the digital transformation of universities, and integrates these outcomes into national higher education strategies.
The IIOE National Centres demonstrate a great example of collaboration in the Global South. On one hand, these centres amplify the collective efforts of their cooperative networks, establishing regular collaboration mechanisms for teacher training, curriculum development, and policy dialogue at a national level. On the other hand, through close cooperation with educational authorities and industry partners, the project's outcomes gain policy endorsement and sustainable support.
For example, the IIOE Egypt National Centre integrated micro-certification training into the national teacher professional development system and aligned it with the national strategy through policy coordination. The IIOE Zambia National Centre, in collaboration with companies like Huawei, introduced AI courses and industry certifications into university classrooms. These examples demonstrate that National Centres have become accelerators for digital transformation in education. They help countries forge a systematic path from teacher empowerment to policy alignment, providing a solid foundation for achieving equitable and inclusive development in education.
Smart Classroom: Innovating Teaching
The smart classroom is one of UNESCO-ICHEI's key practices for driving digital transformation in education and a major assessment area for the Pioneer Award. By providing integrated digital infrastructure, smart classrooms help universities improve teaching quality and innovate even with limited resources.
For example, the Southern University of Science and Technology, along with UNESCO-ICHEI and its corporate partners, donated smart classrooms to universities in developing countries to help them improve their fundamental facilities. In another case, South China Normal University uses AI-based assessments and classroom data analysis to turn smart classrooms into a new engine for teacher professional development. These examples show that the smart classroom has evolved from a single-point construction to a systematic application, providing strong support for the inclusiveness and sustainable development of higher education.
By recognising these efforts with the Pioneer Award, UNESCO-ICHEI is further promoting the spread and replication of smart classroom experiences in Global South countries, making the smart classroom an important platform for cross-regional sharing, improving teaching quality, and fostering educational equity.
Multilateral Collaboration: Key Role of Enterprise Engagement
Another highlight of the Pioneer Award lies in its emphasis on the strategic value of multilateral cooperation. UNESCO-ICHEI has combined the technological strengths of enterprises with the educational mission of universities through initiatives such as smart classrooms, joint curricula, and training programmes, thereby creating a model of deep integration among industry, academia, and research. Companies such as Alibaba Cloud, Baidu PaddlePaddle and ERNIE, GuangZhou Dazzleview Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Wedon Education Technology Co. Limited, and WisdomGarden Ltd. have served as technical supporters and strategic partners, continuously contributing innovative resources to the digital transformation of education.
For instance, Xiamen University, Baidu PaddlePaddle, and ERNIE jointly established an Artificial Intelligence Education Innovation Centre, integrating curriculum development with industry practice and exploring a talent training model that connects classroom learning, practical application, and entrepreneurship. Alibaba Cloud, leveraging the IIOE platform, launched micro-certification courses in key areas such as generative AI and data visualisation, enabling teachers from Africa, Asia, and Latin America to improve their digital literacy and teaching capacities. GuangZhou Dazzleview Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., meanwhile, helped build an interactive smart classroom at Makerere University in Uganda, significantly enhancing both teaching conditions and student learning experiences.
Through the Pioneer Award, UNESCO-ICHEI has not only recognised these collaborative efforts but also advanced the establishment of long-term cooperation mechanisms among enterprises, universities, and international organisations. The positive cycle of "technological empowerment, talent development, and educational innovation" generated by such partnerships is gradually shaping a new global ecosystem for educational digitalisation.
Looking ahead, UNESCO-ICHEI will remain committed to a teacher-centred approach, using platforms as bridges and cooperation as a driving force. It will continue to strengthen the IIOE ecosystem, expand the reach of multilateral collaboration and cross-regional exchange, and contribute fresh insights and resources to the innovative transformation of global higher education. As this year's award has demonstrated, digitalisation is not only a technological advancement but also a new opportunity to achieve equity and quality in education.
On this new journey, the Pioneer Award will continue to serve as both a guide and a bridge, unlocking fresh momentum for global education digitalisation and fostering a future that is more open, collaborative, and sustainable.
