More than 100 experts, scholars and officials from education authorities, organizations, and universities joined a forum in Beijing on Nov. 13, 2020, to pool wisdom for international education in a post-pandemic world.

The two-day Integrate to Innovate International Education Forum covered a range of activities, including keynote speeches, panel discussions, and research report releases centering on topics of basic education reform, online education, studying abroad during and after the pandemic, and new choices in international education.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide, bringing new challenges and opportunities to education, said Pan Jun, vice president and CEO of Beijing Fazheng Industry Group, a multi-business organization, which has established a global school network providing comprehensive coverage of K-12 education.

She noted in her opening remarks that cultivating engaged global citizens committed to addressing global challenges and capable of dealing with the uncertainties of the future has become the new mission of education.

"China is also adapting to the changing times and accelerating the education internationalization process," Pan stressed.

In June 2020, China's Ministry of Education (MoE) published a new opinion piece on accelerating and expanding the opening-up of Chinac's education sector, saying that China will continue to support study abroad, strengthen the branding of "Study in China" and eliminate barriers to enable reform in Chinese-foreign cooperation in the running of schools. 

Education is an important part of people-to-people exchanges and dynamic China-U.K. relationships, John Edwards, British trade commissioner for China, said in his remarks, noting that despite all the current difficulties resulting from COVID-19, the two sides must continue to work together to address the challenges. 

In the roundtable discussion session, Wang Yan, former dean of School of International Education of China Foreign Affairs University, Wang Guangfa, chairman of Fazheng Group and principal of Beijing Royal School, Cen Jianjun, former minister-counselor at the Embassy of P.R.C. in the U.S., and Heng Xiaojun, former minister-counselor at the Embassy of P.R.C. in Canada, shed insights on the cultivation of global talents and the reform of international education.

Apart from several rounds of keynote speeches and panel discussions, Miao Lu, the co-founder and secretary-general of Center for China and Globalization, released the 2020 Blue Book on International Schools in China, the content of which includes analysis of the current policies, development scale, teaching resources, and student body of international schools, and suggestions for the future development of the schools.

Since 2016, the Integrate to Innovate International Education Forum has been held annually. Covering a range of activities including keynote speeches, roundtable discussions, report releases, education exhibitions, and school visits, the forum provides a communication platform for education authorities, practitioners, domestic and foreign educational institutions and colleges, and families choosing international education.

The fifth forum is sponsored by Fazheng Group, co-organized by the Forum for World Education, and supported by the Department for International Trade (DIT) of the British Embassy in Beijing and the British Chamber of Commerce in China.

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