International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI), University Putra Malaysia, the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and Southern University of Science and Technology co-sponsored the International Higher Education Digital Transformation Conference on February 28, 2023. The conference gathered partner universities within the network of the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE) – an initiative is proposed by UNESCO-ICHEI, global experts, international organizations and other stakeholders to share their practical achievements in empowering digital teaching in various countries, and to discuss global higher education trends and developments.
The conference aimed at introduction of the joint-research projects that designed to facilitate knowledge sharing among the IIOE network, to summarize best practices and case studies from the IIOE pilot projects and make more concrete action plans for the next phase of digital transformation of higher education teaching and learning, as well as to initiate a conversation around emerging trends and visions for the future of education and higher education digital transformation.
Mr. Lin Zhibin, the Chief Expert of IIOE and Chair Professor of the Education University of Hong Kong moderated the opening session where Mr. Ismi Arif Ismail, Vice Chancellor of University Putra Malaysia, Mr. Qin Changwei, Secretary General of the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO, the Director of the Coordination of Priority Africa Mr. Mohamed Elfarnawany and Mr. Lu Chun, Vice President of Southern University of Science and Technology delivered their speeches.
The session on “Knowledge Sharing from Research and Practice on the Digital Transformation of Higher Education” was moderated by Ms. Bi Xiao Han, Assistant Director and Chief of West Asia and Africa Programme Office, UNESCO-ICHEI. The session included presentations on the following topics:
- Digital Transformation Empowers the Future of Higher Education
- Best Practice Sharing on the Empowering Teacher’s Digital Teaching Pilot Projects (West-Asia and Africa cases, and Asia-Pacific cases)
- Remarks from Regional Experts
Ms. Tatiana Murovana, Programme Specialist at the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE) presented at the third conference session aimed at sharing IIOE’s practice for the digital transformation of higher education globally. Her presentation focused on the outputs of the joint project of UNESCO IITE and UNESCO-ICHEI “Digital Transformation of Higher Education in Central Asia” that aims to contribute to enhancing the quality of higher education through the use of digital technologies and educational resources in the Russian-speaking countries including Central Asia.
Mr. Tao Zhan, Director of UNESCO IITE, together with Mr. Han Wei, Executive Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI, and Mr. Li Ming, Chair Professor and Director of UNESCO-ICHEI, took part in the final session by delivering closing speeches and raising expectations for the digital transformation of higher education and the future development of IIOE.
