On themorning of October 10, 2022, a delegation from the International Centre forHigher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI) paid avisit to the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC). During the visit, asymposium was held and attended by HAN Wei, Executive Deputy Director ofUNESCO-ICHEI, chiefs of offices of UNESCO-ICHEI, YING Xiong, Secretary of the Party Committee ofUNNC, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chair of Board, Zhejiang Wanli Education Group, other UNNC leaders and relevant staff members.

At the symposium, SecretaryYING delivered an opening speech, extending a warm welcome to the visit ofthe UNESCO-ICHEI delegation. Then, Sam SHEN, Vice Provost and Deputy Party Secretary of UNNC,Thomas Murphy, Chief Finance and Planning Officer of UNNC, and WU Tao, Vice Provost for China Beacons Institute, Dean of Faculty of Scienceand Engineering, presented to the delegation UNNC’s unique advantages,digital transformation projects, and research and quality assurance systemsrespectively. Following the presentations, Executive Deputy Director HAN andher colleagues introduced in detail what UNESCO-ICHEI has achieved in recentyears, including its growing partnership network in higher education digitaltransformation, research on diversified education, contributions to morefrequent international higher education exchanges, as well as ongoing projectslike the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE), IIOE NationalCentre Pilot Projects on digital teaching and learning, Smart Classroom, and UNESCO-Shenzhen Funds-in-Trust (SFIT).

YING noted that UNESCO-ICHEI has initiated a number offruitful international exchanges and cooperation in higher education digitaltransformation. UNNC is willing to join hands with UNESCO-ICHEI to promote thedevelopment of global higher education through a wider and more systematicinternational collaboration in faculty competence training and otherrelated areas, he said.

Appreciating UNNC’s support, HAN expressed herexpectations that UNNC would share its high-quality education resources anddigital transformation experience in the IIOE partnership network, and be partof UNESCO-ICHEI’s endeavor to usher in a new model of world higher educationdigital transformation via the South-North-South Cooperation.