In recent years, UNESCO has paid close attention to thedigital transformation in the field of education and its important role inensuring educational equity, promoting Education in a post-Covid world, andfuture developments of education. The UNESCO 2022 World Higher EducationConference (WHEC2022) explored ways to reinvent higher education, whichemphasized the key role played by digital technology in the development ofhigher education; the 2022 United Nations Transforming Educational Summithighlighted the keys of "connectivity, content, and capacity" in thedigital revolution of education. It has become a consensus of all stakeholdersto continuously promote the digital transformation of higher education andpromote the development of higher education systems through enhancing teachers'digital competency, institutional development, and online and blended teachingand learning.

The International Centre for Higher Education Innovationunder the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI) has been continuously working inthe field of higher education digital transformation since its establishment.Through projects such as UNESCO-Shenzhen Funds-in-Trust (SFIT), the International Institute of OnlineEducation (IIOE), Smart Classrooms, and series of research on higher educationdigital transformation research,UNESCO-ICHEI focused on teachers' onlineand blended teaching skills, quality assurance systems digital infrastructurein education, research and practice to provide strong support for the digitaldevelopment of universities in developing parts of the world. In 2019,UNESCO-ICHEI joined hands with its 15 partner HEIs and 8 partner enterprises toestablish IIOE as a global initiative. Since its launch, IIOE has witnessed theformation of a global ecosystem combined with universities, enterprises,international organisations and other stakeholders to promote the digitaltransformation of higher education. Over the past three years, IIOE has growninto a network of cooperation, including more than 30 partner institutions andvarious enterprises, and provided online professional development services tomore than 10,000 teachers in 135 countries worldwide.

In this context, UNESCO-ICHEI, University Putra Malaysia(IIOE Rotating Presidency Unit for 2023), UNESCO, Arab League Educational,Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), and Southern University ofScience and Technology (SUSTech) co-hosted theInternational Higher Education Digital Transformation Conferencethemedon "future prospects for higher education digital transformation".The Conference invited IIOE partner higher education institutions (HEIs),global education experts, international organisations and other stakeholders toshare practices and research related to IIOE's mission to empower teacher'sdigital teaching and learning capacities, and discuss future trends intransforming higher education, and jointly envision the way forward of IIOE.

Chaired by Prof. LIM Cher Ping, Chair Professor of theEducation University of Hong Kong and Chief Expert of IIOE, Prof. Ismi ArifIsmail, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Universiti Putra Malaysia (IIOE RotatingPresidency Unit for 2023), Mr. QIN Changwei, Secretary General of NationalCommission of the People's Republic of China for UNESCO, Mr. MohamedElfarnawany, Director of the Coordination of Priority Africa of UNESCO, andProf. LU Chun, Vice President of SUSTech and Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI,delivered speeches respectively to open the conference. Afterward, Ms. BIXiaohan, Assistant Director and Chief of West Asia and Africa Programme Officeof UNESCO-ICHEI, presided over the project outcomes presentation of five IIOEnational centers that participated in the pilot project of "PromotingHigher Education Digital Teaching and Learning", respectively, introducedthe project results, and invited international higher education experts tocomment. The following session led by Ms. LI Fan, Assistant Director ofUNESCO-ICHEI and Chief of the Asia-Pacific Programme Office, introduced aseries of research and project publications jointly released by UNESCO-ICHEIand partner institutions. The outcome documents showcased a panorama of thetrend of global higher education digital transformation. In the closingsession, chaired by Prof. HAN Wei, Executive Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI,Mr. ZHAN Tao, Director of UNESCO IITE, and Prof. LI Ming, Director ofUNESCO-ICHEI, gave closing speeches respectively, putting forward expectationsfor the digital transformation of higher education and the future developmentof IIOE.

		Mr. Ismi ArifIsmail AssociateProfessor, Deputy Vice Chancellor ofUniversiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) (IIOE Rotating Presidency Unit for 2023) UPM is on the way and ready for ICT driven innovations inhigher education. Digital development involves integration of ArtificialIntelligence, automation, mixed realities learning, analytics, and the internetof things. In this regard, UPM has initiated the hybrid classroom, MOOCs andmicro credentials that could be shared with global partners.
		Mr. QIN Changwei Secretary General, National Commission of the People'sRepublic of China for UNESCO Asan important outcome of the digital transformation of education, theInternational Institute of Online Education (IIOE) is increasingly becoming an importantforce in promoting educational transformation and promoting co-construction andsharing of high-quality educational resources around the world. IIOE hasprovided strong support to improve the digital literacy of the higher educationworkforce in developing countries.
		Mr. MohamedElfarnawany, Director of the Coordination of PriorityAfrica, UNESCO UNESCOCategory II Centres such as UNESCO-ICHEI are important partners of UNESCO inthe implementation of the operational strategy for Priority Africa. In today'sworld, information and communication technology impact almost every aspect ofeducation, and digital transition was particularly accelerated during thepandemic and played a vital role in transforming the quality of highereducation.
		Mr. LU Chun, Chair Professor, Vice President of SUSTech, DeputyDirector of UNESCO-ICHEI Overthe past few years, SUSTech has been deeply involved in the InternationalInstitute of Online Education (IIOE) project. The teacher development resourcesfrom SUSTech and other partners have been serving thousands of teachers fromall over the world.

With the continuous advancement of digitaltransformation, pedagogical methods in classrooms and certification systems ofteachers' capacity in higher education are also undergoing all-round changes.In the second session of the conference, Prof. ZHU Zhiting from East ChinaNormal University, also a reputable scholar of educational technology,delivered a keynote speech titledDigitalTransformation in Higher Education: Insights and Suggestionsto shareinnovative ideas in developing digital higher education. The speech alsoproposed actionable recommendations, including enhancing the educationalleadership of digital transformation and building a global platform forcollaborations.

Representatives from five IIOE National Centres in Egypt,Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Mongolia shared experiences from pilot projectswhich focused on teachers' digital skills in higher education.

In Egypt, IIOE Egypt National Centre, under theleadership of Ain Shams University, has established a network covering 23colleges and universities across the country, and has supported professionaldevelopment in teachers' digital teaching from local institutions. The Ministryof Higher Education and Scientific Research of Egypt, Egypt Supreme Council ofUniversities, the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation ofEgypt, and a number of Egyptian universities explored how to create a morefavorable policy environment for the digitalisation of Egypt's higher educationsystem and release a policy report.

In Malaysia, the IIOE Malaysia National Centre led byUniversiti Putra Malaysia carried out the "Digital EducatorMicro-credential" project, which has developed a series ofmicro-credential courses closely related to the educational application ofartificial intelligence and HyFlex Learning, and enhanced a group of teachers'digital competencies in their teaching. The IIOE National Centers in Kenya,Nigeria, and Mongolia have also carried out activities such as teacherdevelopment for digital pedagogy, policy dialogues, curriculum reform anddevelopment, and the construction of teacher professional developmentcommunities for local universities according to their respective nationalcontexts.

The pilot project has promoted innovative teachingpractices, promoted policy discussions and changes of approaches in highereducation digital transformation at the university and even the national level,and contributed best practices of digital teaching with distinctive localcharacteristics. A total of more than 900 teachers have benefited from theprojects. The IIOE National Centres have established interdisciplinary andcross-institutional teacher professional development communities, and sharedexperiences, resources and practices across borders via the IIOE platform.Although the themes of each pilot project are different, approaches such as thelocalisation and scaling-up of teacher professional development, certificationof teacher professional development, and the evaluation of the effect ofdigital teaching innovation reflected the common efforts of all countriesinvolved.

Commenting on the pilot projects in various countries, Mr. Peter J. Wells,Head of Educationof UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa, suggested that employers'acceptance of digital learning is an urgent issue. Today's rapid changes in thejob market are challenging the status of traditional qualifications, and highereducation systems need transformation that recognises this trend. Accreditationof digital learning and professional development is therefore essential toconnect higher education to the job market and facilitate cross-border academicmobility.

The organic combination of practice and research hasalways been the strategy of UNESCO-ICHEI and IIOE. On IIOE's 3-yearanniversary, UNESCO-ICHEI and global partners jointly reviewed the developmentof IIOE, absorbed various opinions, and published theCo-constructing a global ecosystem for higher education digitaltransformation——International Institute of Online Education Developmental Report.Mr. LIM Cher Ping introduced the series of achievements IIOE has made inbuilding a higher education digital transformation ecosystem through theprofessional development of higher education teachers, the construction ofsmart classrooms and the IIOE platform, the quality assurance mechanism ofblended learning, the expansion of partner networks, and the construction ofIIOE national centers over the past three years.

The digital transformation of institutions and thedigital development of teachers' abilities have become a common requirement foruniversities worldwide. In order to effectively carry out higher educationdigital innovation practices that are in line with the development needs ofeach country in different regions, UNESCO-ICHEI has collaborated with theInstitute of Education of Tsinghua University, UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCOIITE), UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America andthe Caribbean (UNESCO-IESALC), ALECSO, and Tashkent University of InformationTechnologies (Uzbekistan) in a series of global and regional higher educationdigital transformation research and capacity-building projects. These projectsprovide a solid foundation for understanding the trends, needs, and bestpractices of digital transformation in higher education in different regionsand proposing effective measures. The research reports from differentinstitutions and regions comprehensively demonstrate the shared vision andlocalized needs of universities worldwide for digital transformation andprovide important support for IIOE's future development through the operationof IIOE National Centers and the implementation of certified teacherdevelopment programs.

Scholars and experts shared research outcomes

Mr. ZHAN Tao, Director of UNESCO IITE, stated that overthe past three years, UNESCO-ICHEI has achieved significant results in projectssuch as IIOE together with its global partners, breaking the boundaries betweenonline and offline learning and having had a growing impact on digital transformationin education. He encouraged representatives from all parties participating inthe conference to continue to collaborate, explore new digital developmentmodels, and continue to drive the future development of higher education,constantly pushing beyond and breaking boundaries.

Prof. LI Ming, Director of UNESCO-ICHEI, concluded that:

Building on theoretical research, the five IIOE nationalcenters have undertaken distinctive practices in digital transformation ofhigher education, starting with empowering teachers with digital skills, takinginto account the development level and needs of their respective nationalhigher education systems. These practices have translated theory into practice,yielding rich experience and achievements. Universiti Putra Malaysia's"Digital Educator Micro-credential" project demonstrates thatmicro-credentials are an important form and pathway for universities andteachers to achieve digital transformation. UNESCO-ICHEI also plans to jointlydevelop and practice IIOE-certified training with IIOE global partners on theIIOE platform in 2023, and explore the establishment of an IIOEmicro-credential mechanism with partner HEIs worldwide.

Since 2022, UNESCO-ICHEI has successively released andpublished a series of research reports on the digital transformation of highereducation teaching and learning, including theResearch Report on Digital Transformation of Higher Education Teachingand Learning, Handbook of Teaching Competencies Development in HigherEducation, Handbook of Vocational Teacher Professional Development in theDigital Age, Handbook of Educational Reform through Blended Learning. Thesetheoretical research achievements are based on the experience and summary ofUNESCO-ICHEI's years of practical experience and summary, and will furtherguide the digital transformation practices of IIOE and global partners.

The digital development of higher education needs torespond to the localized and personalized needs of each country. The IIOENational Centers have effectively established links between local universitiesand the IIOE, and by implementing a locally-led expert-guided model, they havehelped more universities and teachers actively participate in internationaltraining programs that combine local and international elements, and benefitfrom them. UNESCO-ICHEI will further leverage the upgraded IIOE 2.0 platform tofacilitate stakeholders in global higher education digital transformation toexchange experiences, collaborate for development, and promote the digitaltransformation of higher education.

The Smart Classroom project promoted by UNESCO-ICHEI incooperation with enterprises such as Weidong Cloud Education, GuangzhouCreateview Science Education Technology Co. Ltd., and Seewo has beenimplemented in more than 10 countries, and has played an active role in thedigital teacher training of partner universities and countries. UNESCO-ICHEIplans to continue to promote the implementation of more than 20 smartclassrooms in partner universities to better support various partners incarrying out teacher digital capability development training.

In the past three years, in the face of numerouschallenges in higher education sector, countries worldwide have respondedpositively at policy, institutional and individual levels. This conference hasgathered global wisdom, based on research and summarized experience to chartthe way for the future. As IIOE is reaching a milestone, it opened a newchapter for UNESCO-ICHEI and global partners to promote the digital transformationof higher education through certified teacher development programs and othermodels.

The conference was held with both online and on-siteparticipants, inviting around 150 on-site attendees from the higher educationsector, including experts and scholars, higher education institutions,representatives from the enterprise's circle, UNESCO system partners, and otherstakeholders. Over 1,000 participants from more than 50 countries and regionsjoined the conference online and watched the live broadcast.