On September 28th, UNESCO-ICHEI and Tribhuvan University, Nepal, co-organized an online signing ceremony for the Smart Classroom project. Both organizations have been partners since December 2020, and have conducted a series of events and activities on digital transformation of higher education at different levels.

Established in 1959, Tribhuvan University is the oldest and first government-funded university in Nepal. It has 30 constituent campuses and over 600 affiliated colleges across the country, making it one of the largest universities in the world. In terms of student population, it has over half a million students, making up more than 80% of the national higher education enrollment. In 2019, Tribhuvan University announced its vision and plan in its 2030 Vision document, planning to adopt ICT-related practices and provide human capital to its Open and Distance Education Centre(ODEC) so as to expand the coverage of beneficiaries from open and distance education.

The Smart Classroom will be hosted byTribhuvan University, and expected to bring new technologies and new teaching pedagogies to teachers and students of one of the world's largest universities. It is donated by Guangzhou Shirui Technology Co., Ltd. (Hereinafter referred to as "seewo"), a well-known Chinese educational technology equipment company. Witnessed by H.E. Dr. Hari Lamsal, Joint Secretary-General of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Nepal, the project was entered into agreement by Prof. Shiva Lal Bhusal, Rector of Tribhuvan University, Mr. DENG Yigang, Director of seewo, and Dr. CHEN Hao, Executive Deputy Director of SUSTech Global of Southern University of Science and Technology, and Prof. LI Ming, Director of UNESCO-ICHEI.

Mr. Hassan Adeel Shehzad, CTO of Smart Classroom and Project Specialist of UNESCO-ICHEI, who is currently on a mission in Indonesia, introduced the overall framework, equipment configuration and training of Smart Classroom.

H.E. Dr. Hari Lamsal, Joint Secretary-General of Nepalese Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, shared at the ceremony that Nepal has listed the universal use of ICT in education in its national plan since 2013. However, due to the limitation of infrastructure, its application and popularization has been slow and still faces huge challenges. The Smart Classroom project is a valuable opportunity for the digital development of higher education in Nepal, and the Nepalese government will strongly support its implementation.

H.E. Dr. Hari Lamsal, Joint Secretary-General of Nepalese Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (L)

Prof. Shiva Lal Bhusal, Rector of Tribhuvan University (R)

Mr. DENG Yigang, Director of seewo expressed the company's strong willingness to contribute to international charity and shoulder social responsibility for quality education. The seewo has rich experience in providing service to over 7million teachers and set up 2.6million technology-supported learning spaces in China. He has confidence the solution of Smart Classroom seewo provide will meet the needs of TU for their innovative practices on teaching and learning.

SUSTech supports the Smart Classroom project with its academic resources on STEM. At the end of the meeting, Dr. CHEN Hao proposed cooperation with TU regarding research collaboration and academic exchange. SUSTech is willing to provide scholarships and opportunities for Nepalese students from TU to study in China.