2025 UNESCO-ICHEI IAC Meeting Held
On December 8, 2025, the International Advisory Committee (IAC) Meeting of UNESCO-ICHEI was successfully held at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Conference Centre in Shenzhen, China. The hybrid meeting brought together nearly twenty expert members from UNESCO and other international organizations, higher education institutions (HEIs), enterprises, and think tanks. Participants reviewed the development achievements of the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE) over the past six years and engaged in in-depth discussions on its future strategic planning.
On-site group photo of the participating experts
Mr. TANG Qian, Chairman of the UNESCO-ICHEI International Advisory Committee and former Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO, presided over the meeting.
Mr. TANG Qian, Chairman of the UNESCO-ICHEI International Advisory Committee and former Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO
In his opening address, Mr. JIN Li, Director of UNESCO-ICHEI and Vice President of SUSTech, stated that since its establishment, UNESCO-ICHEI has been committed to promoting the global digital transformation of higher education. Particularly through its flagship project, the IIOE, it provides systematic support for building the digital literacy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) competencies of teaching personnel in developing countries. Over the past six years, IIOE has grown into a global digital education ecosystem connecting over 130 HEIs in 46 countries, 55 international organizations, and 40 industry partners. Its active user has expanded from 4,000 in 2020 to over 24,000 in 2025, with 157 IIOE Micro-certification courses developed and nearly 11,000 individuals trained using the platform. It demonstrated significant global impact and localised vitality. At this juncture, he noted, it is of great significance to invite experts to collectively strategize for its future development.
Mr. JIN Li, Director of UNESCO-ICHEI and Vice President of SUSTech
Ms. BI Xiaohan, Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI, delivered a thematic report titled "International Institute of Online Education (IIOE) 2020–2025: Six-Year Review and Strategic Vision" on behalf of UNESCO-ICHEI. The report systematically explained the development process of IIOE, from platform construction to ecosystem building, and summarized its "partner demand + curriculum guidance"-oriented curriculum construction model, multilingual and localized operational mechanism, and empowering ecosystem of industry-academia-research collaboration. She pointed out that, in the face of challenges such as curriculum supply-demand matching, multilingual quality balance, data-driven operations, and sustainable development models, IIOE will focus on promoting the transformation from "empowering teachers" to "reshaping the educational ecosystem" in the next five years. It will deepen the "AI + industry" curriculum system, strengthen localized certification and the global expert network, and actively explore physical operational pathways to build a long-term sustainable development model.
Ms. BI Xiaohan, Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI
The attending experts highly commended IIOE's achievements over the past six years and provided forward-looking and practical suggestions based on their respective fields of expertise.
Experts including Mr. Shahbaz Khan, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia; Mr. WU Zhong, Director-General of the South-South Cooperation; Mr. ZHAN Tao, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education; Mr. SUN Yanfeng, Director of Institute of Latin American Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations; Consultant for Latin America and the Caribbean of UNESCO-ICHEI; Mr. ZHU Zhiting, Emeritus Professor at East China Normal University, Distinguished Consultant of UNESCO-ICHEI; Mr. WANG Yurong, Researcher at the National High-end Think Tank of Beijing Language and Culture University; International Education Consultant of UNESCO-ICHEI; Mr. ZHAO Jianhua, Deputy Director of Centre for Future Education Research of SUSTech, Senior Expert of UNESCO-ICHEI; and Mr. SHEN Xiaoli, Chief Cultural Officer, Director of the CLOUD Editorial Board of UNESCO-ICHEI, offered suggestions from various dimensions. These included global strategic synergy, data-driven research, regional needs adaptation, future vision planning, policy linkage mechanisms, and brand culture communication. Collectively, they emphasized that IIOE should strengthen systematic development and deepen localized integration to enhance its global influence and sustainability.
Other participants, including Mr. Eric Wu, Chairman of Glorious Melodies Consultancy (GMC) Singapore; International Education Consultant of UNESCO-ICHEI; Ms. CHEW Pei Shen, Board Member of the International Leading Education Association (ILEA); Ms. LAN Haiqing, Executive Director & CEO of Hong Kong Wedon Demos Group, Consultant for Industry-Academy Cooperation in Asia of UNESCO-ICHEI; Ms. XIAO Minfeng, Executive Dean of BGI College, Special Scientist at BGI-Research; Mr. TIAN Guofeng, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of China Association of Trade in Services; Mr. YANG Zhilin, Executive President of China Pocy Group; and Mr. LEUNG Lim Kin, Vice Chairman of the Board, Executive Director, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fujian Province Huayu Education Technology Co. Ltd., shared practical cases and recommendations. Their discussions centered on IIOE's course structure innovation, regional training center establishment, cross-border e-commerce talent cultivation, vocational education and training (TVET) alignment, and university-industry cooperation models. They jointly recommended that IIOE further strengthen alignment with industry demands and promote the linkage between course certification and employment to build a sustainable development model.
In his concluding remarks, Mr. TANG Qian noted that UNESCO-ICHEI has achieved remarkable practical results over the past six years, forming a replicable and scalable "IIOE model." He stated that the future should continue to focus on teaching personnel development as the core, deepen university-enterprise cooperation and regional collaboration, and strengthen theoretical summarization and discourse system construction, contributing more "Chinese wisdom and Shenzhen solutions" to the global digital transformation of higher education.
On behalf of UNESCO-ICHEI, Professor. LI Ming, Founding Director of UNESCO-ICHEI and Secretary-General of the IIOE Secretariat, expressed gratitude to the experts for their insightful and practical suggestions. He stated that UNESCO-ICHEI would carefully study and incorporate these suggestions into its 2026 work plan and medium-to-long-term strategy. UNESCO-ICHEI will remain focused on AI-empowered education, deepening efforts in course development, certification promotion, and ecosystem cooperation to propel IIOE towards a new stage of higher-quality and more sustainable development.
Professor LI Ming, Founding Director of UNESCO-ICHEI & Secretary-General of the IIOE Secretariat
The successful convening of this meeting has provided important guidance for IIOE's future development. UNESCO-ICHEI will continue to leverage the UNESCO platform and Shenzhen's digital industry advantages, joining hands with global partners to jointly promote inclusive, equitable, and high-quality digital higher education, making greater contributions to achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4).
