On January 8, 2022, 2021 International Advisory Committee Meeting of UNESCO-ICHEI was held at the Southern University of Science and Technology in a combined online and offline format. The meeting was chaired by Professor Freddy Boey, Deputy President for Innovation Enterprise of National University of Singapore, President of the International Advisory Committee of International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (hereinafter referred to as "ICHEI"). The conference focused on topics related to the digital transformation of higher education and systematically discussed theoretical concepts, key areas and practical points to support of global stakeholders' joint effort in that.

The experts present at this meeting are: TANG Qian, former Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO; Shahbaz Khan, director of UNESCO Beijing Office; ZHAN Tao, Director of UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE); QIN Changwei, Secretary General of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO; YANG Xinbin, Chairman of Board and President of Shenzhen Polytechnic; WANG Libing, Chief of Section for Educational Innovation and Skills Development, UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education; Michaela Martin, Programme Specialist of the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP); LIM Cher Ping, Chief Expert of IIOE at UNESCO-ICHEI, Chair Professor of Learning Technologies and Innovation at the Education University of Hong Kong; Waqar Mahmood, Director of AI-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS), University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (Pakistan); ZHAO Jianhua, Associate Director of the Center for Future Education Research of SUSTech, Senior Expert of UNESCO-ICHEI as well as representatives from ICHEI cooperation information-based enterprises.

Also present at this meeting are LI Ming, Director of ICHEI, HAN Wei, Executive Deputy Director of ICHEI, and WANG Guobin, Deputy Director of ICHEI. At the meeting, CHENG Jiangang, Director of Institute of Higher Education Digital Transformation of ICHEI, and HAN Xibin, Consultant of Education Technology of ICHEI, Chief Director, Professor of Institute of Education (IOE) Tsinghua University and all colleagues from ICHEI, gave special reports respectively.

CHENG Jiangang, Director of Institute of Higher Education Digital Transformation of UNESCO-ICHEI, gave a report on "Preliminary Research on Higher Education Digital Transformation". CHENG Jiangang proposed that social change, policy support, industrial transformation and technological evolution have made the digitalization of education inevitable. He constructed an analytical framework in terms of scenarios, inputs, processes and outputs of higher education digital transformation and analyzed the challenges of research selection. Based on macro-level reflections on the higher education digital transformation, the presentation further introduces the proceeding UNESCO-ICHEI project on systemic reforms of digital teaching in the hope of integrating top-down research and bottom-up empirical practices.

CHENG Jiangang giving a report

HAN Xibin, Consultant of Education Technology of ICHEI, Chief Director, Professor of Institute of Education (IOE) Tsinghua University, gave a report on "Research and Practice of Systematically Promoting Reforms of Digital Teaching and Learning". This presentation is based on the systemic reform theory and develops from the joint research project of UNESCO-ICHEI and the Institute of Education at Tsinghua University (ICHEI-Tsinghua Joint Research Project). The ICHEI-Tsinghua Joint Research Project consists of three handbooks, a research report and a technical platform. Specifically, the Research Report on the Digital Transformation of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education aims to provide a systematic review of the topic's theories, actions, cases, and advantageous conditions. The set of three handbooks systemically embodies relevant theories and practices, and it also offers competency frameworks, indicators and evaluation tools, and operational guidance for practical work. The EITT platform is dedicated to building a thematic database for specific users with real-time resources.

HAN Xibin giving a report

Afterwards, the expert members discussed two topics revolving around "Preliminary Research on Higher Education Digital Transformation" and "Research and Practice of Systematically Promoting Reforms of Digital Teaching and Learning", and made valuable suggestions on the future development planning and implementation of ICHEI.

Experts give their opinions

TANG Qian said that digital transformation of higher education is a very important topic, and ICHEI has formed a comprehensive research system using its own specialties. He suggested that ICHEI should pay attention to the implementation and application of the research system, focus on the pilot stage between research and production, test the rationality and practicability, and further reflect the value of the system.

YANG Xinbin noted that the two topics are high and far-reaching and have certain practicality and guidance, forming a complete methodological system from both theoretical and practical levels. He hoped to fully combine the project with the digital teaching practice of vocational education in Shenzhen Polytechnic, and to take Shenzhen Polytechnic as the first experimenter of the project landing.

Shahbaz Khan indicated that now is a critical time to explore and study the digital transformation of higher education in depth, UNESCO attaches great importance to the sustainable development of education, the role of technology in education and socio-economic stability. He hoped that ICHEI will devote more attention to Asia Pacific and Africa, integrate the ideas and practices of various countries and regions into a comprehensive policy system framework, promote the widespread use of technology, policy dialogue and knowledge transformation, strengthen cooperation with universities, and enhance digital empowerment of teachers.

ZHAN Tao suggested the next step of the "ICHEI-Tsinghua Joint Research Project", which is to select key themes for future innovation and development of higher education, and to combine practical and theoretical innovation. He also proposed three directions for expansion: first, research on projects and situations in Africa, second, future systemic macro-institutional changes in higher education, and third, I-STEM as an entry point for research.

QIN Changwei expressed that the research directions considered in the two topics were very comprehensive and suggested that ICHEI should combine the research with the current online course research and projects conducted by IIOE, pay attention to the construction of competency systems and modules, and emphasize teamwork and support for digital transformation in order to achieve deeper expansion of research modules.

WANG Libing said that the "ICHEI-Tsinghua Joint Research Project" demonstrated the deep understanding of digital transformation of higher education and the further improvement of knowledge production capability of ICHEI. He also suggested that on the basis of knowledge production, ICHEI should pay more attention to the output and implementation of products, strengthen the operability of research and the convenience of implementation, continue to strengthen cooperation and strive to maximize results. ICHEI should also focus on the integration and synthesis of transformation and improve the impact of blend education on teachers' competence.

Michaela Martin suggested that "micro-credential" could be considered to provide advice on curriculum design, policy systems, and certification measures to enhance the accessibility and flexibility of higher education at the systemic level, promote the realization of lifelong education, and further strengthen the effectiveness of education.

LIM Cher Ping made three recommendations, one is to localize the research results for inclusion through IIOE and national centers, the second one is that it is necessary to ensure the next step is evidence-based, and the third one is that the research should focus on addressing quality gaps between and within universities and exploring their solutions to improve educational equity.

Waqar Mahmood said that the two topics provide an in-depth consideration of all aspects of education, and that the ICHEI-Tsinghua Joint Research Project also creates an opportunity for all parties to work together to explore education further development directions. He suggested combining the current work of the ICHEI-Tsinghua Joint Research Project and the ICHEI, such as using the national center as a basis to support its practice and implementation, and integrating the research on educational transformation and change into policy formulation.

Zhao Jianhua said that the cooperation between national and universities and the organic connection of their work priorities are the key points and difficulties in conducting research on digital transformation of higher education, and suggested that ICHEI should pay more attention to the team work of the subsequent work.

Freddy Boey delivering summary

After the discussion, Freddy Boey summarized the experts' opinions. He congratulated the current progress of the research work, and pointed out that the digital transformation of higher education should pay attention to the "last mile" issue, and it is crucial to overcome the challenges in technology and enhance the ability to grasp the whole factor. He said that in-depth cooperation with science and technology companies is an effective path to crack this problem. ICHEI should explore this proposition, break the "last mile" of digital transformation of higher education, and effectively improve the benefits of digital transformation of higher education for students.

At the end of the meeting, Li Ming, director of ICHEI, expressed his gratitude to the experts for their comments. He said that they had expressed professional and constructive opinions, and ICHEI had already started the work of selecting experimental universities in Asia Pacific and Africa for the landing of the research, combining with flagship projects and with national centers, and building an evaluation mechanism to systematically assess the effectiveness of research results in terms of theoretical research and practical testing. The experts' opinions will be fully integrated into the future development of ICHEI.