Delegation led by Shi Youqi Attends the 21st Asian University Presidents Forum in Thailand

From November 26 to 29, Shi Youqi, Secretary of the Party Committee of GDUFS, led a delegation to Thailand to attend the 21st Asian University Presidents Forum (AUPF). The forum was hosted by Siam University (SU), and representatives from 17 Asian institutions held in-depth discussions on the theme of Higher Education Design in a Changing Environment. Khun Chadchart Sittipunt, Mayor of Bangkok, Pornchai Mongkhonvanit, President of Siam University (the founding university of AUPF), and Khunying Sumonta Promboo, former President of Srinakharinwirot University (SWU), attended the forum.

Launching ceremony of AUPF

At the opening ceremony, Shi Youqi was invited to make a keynote speech on behalf of the secretariat unit of the forum entitled The Evolution of Education in the AI Era: Opportunities, Challenges and Strategies. He expressed his pleasure to meet with everyone in beautiful Bangkok to discuss the development plan and cooperation vision for higher education in Asia. Since its inception in 2002, AUPF has stayed true to the oriental aspiration that education is the foundation of society and actively discussed and promoted major issues on the reform and development of higher education in Asia under the principles of voluntary, equality, friendship, and learning. It has become a useful platform for open and cooperative education. He pointed out that with the release of ChatGPT, there was a worldwide boom in generative AI. In the AI era, people’s production, life, learning, and communication methods are undergoing great changes, and education is also affected by it and faces subversive changes. While bringing opportunities and challenges, AI will empower the development of education, and promote the reform of higher education. In the face of opportunities and challenges, education decision-makers, administrators, and practitioners should be more aware of the advantages and disadvantages of AI, take the initiative to adapt and seek change, turn the challenges of AI into opportunities for educational transformation and development, and accelerate the integrated development of AI plus education. As one of the founding universities of AUPF, GDUFS will join hands with other members to explore a new chapter in the internationalization of education in the AI era and jointly promote international cooperation in Asian education to a new level.

Shi Youqi is giving a speech at the opening ceremony

During the forum, representatives of participants shared and discussed topics such as higher education curriculum and learning design, higher education technology and digital design, higher education research and innovation design, and student activities and sustainable development design. At the standing committee meeting, each permanent member discussed the efficiency of hosting and the construction of ideas of the forum in the next three years and determined that the 2024 forum will be hosted by Dongseo University (DSU), and the 2025 forum will be hosted by GDUFS. During the forum, DSU and Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) signed cooperation agreements with GDUFS.

Signing a cooperation agreement with Dongseo University

During the visit to Thailand, Shi Youqi and his delegation also visited the Panyapiwat Institute of Management (PIM). Sompop Manarungsan, President of PIM, Somrote Komolavanij, Vice President of PIM, Pak Thaldumrong, Dean of Center Chinese Graduate Student of PIM, and others attended the meeting. During the meeting, Sompop and Shi Youqi shared the development of PIM and GDUFS respectively, reviewed the current cooperation between PIM and GDUFS, and expressed his hope to make new progress in the talent training of minority languages and other majors, the application for the Chinese and Business Confucius Institute, university-industry cooperation, and academic and scientific research cooperation based on the current cooperation. At the meeting, Sompop and Shi Youqi renewed the agreement between the PIM and GDUFS.

Renewing the cooperation agreement with Panyapiwat Institute of Management

Chen Yanhui, director of the Publicity Division and Development and Planning Division, and Zhou Peng, director of the Office of International Exchange and Cooperation accompanied Shi Youqi during the visit.