NEU Hosts 2023 Forum for Chinese and Foreign University Presidents

In celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the founding of NEU, the 2023 Forum for Chinese and Foreign University Presidents was held at the International Academic Exchange Center of NEU on September 15. Presidents and related representatives from nearly 40 Chinese and foreign university totaling more than 140 people attended the forum. With the theme of "Transformation and Innovation Leading the Future: Challenges and Missions of Higher Education in the New Era", the forum featured dialogues and exchanges to discuss the challenges and missions of university development in the new era, and to look forward to the new mode of university development in the future. Consul Generals or representatives of the Consulate Generals of DPRK, Russia, Japan, the United States, South Korea, Germany, Australia, France and other countries in Shenyang attended the forum.

The opening ceremony of the forum was presided over by Tang Lixin, vice president of NEU and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Mr. Luo Wenbo, Deputy Director of Liaoning Provincial Department of Education, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech to congratulate the NEU on its 100^th anniversary of founding and the successful opening of the 2023 Forum for Chinese and Foreign University Presidents. Luo Wenbo stressed that higher education should find a new position in the logic of national and regional development in the new era, focus on national and regional development needs to create a talent highland, and provide important support for high-level scientific and technological self-reliance. It's the hope that the world's leading universities can jointly run schools in Liaoning Province, strengthen inter-university scientific and technological and cultural exchanges, and deepen the practical cooperation, so as to enhance the human civilization exchanges and mutual learning, and promote sustainable development.

Zhang Xi, President of Jilin University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sergei V. Kharytonchyk, President of Belarusian State Technical University, Li Shucai, President of Shandong University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Jean-Marc Brotto, President of the Université Toulouse III (France), Qin Sizhao, President of Lingnan University (Hong Kong, China), Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (USA) and the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), Dawn Freshwater, President of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, Jia Zhenyuan, President of Dalian University of Technology and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Iain Gillespie, President of the University of Dundee (UK), Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (UK), Vladimir Vasilyev, President of the ITMO University (Russia), Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences., and Feng Xiating, President of NEU and Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering from 10 well-known universities at home and abroad made a report at the Forum for Chinese and Foreign University Presidents. Focusing on the theme of the forum, they elaborated on the mission of Chinese and foreign universities under global change and innovation, as well as the exploration and practice in interdisciplinary fusion and promotion of innovative development of disciplines, respectively.

Representatives of the forum expressed their views on internationalized development and education concepts from different perspectives. While paying attention to the general trend of the development of higher education in the world, they studied the problems faced by the development of their respective schools, and shared how to give full play to their strengths and specialties to cope with the opportunities and challenges, and jointly defined the new paradigm and mission for the development of the university under the mission call of serving the society. They fully demonstrated the sense of responsibility and sense of duty of the higher education administrators, and made positive contributions to the promotion of Sino-foreign exchange and cooperation in higher education.

Thirty-nine high-level universities in the world, including the University of Cambridge (UK), Arizona State University (USA), St. Petersburg University (Russia), Osaka University (Japan), Kyung Hee University (Korea), sent congratulatory videos and letters to congratulate the NEU on the celebration of its 100^th anniversary of founding and the successful conclusion of the 2023 Forum for Chinese and Foreign University Presidents.