Joint initiative launched to promote education, cultural heritage

An initiative on jointly promoting education development and cultural heritage protection was launched in Beijing on Friday, aiming to enhance the cooperation in education and culture sectors among China, African countries, and the UNESCO.

Action Initiatives on Collaborative Efforts for Education and Cultural Heritage Protection by China and Africa, along with other cooperative projects of educational and cultural exchanges between China and African countries were announced during a high-level dialogue.

A sideline of the 2024 FOCAC Summit, which concluded on Friday, the dialogue gathered ministers from African countries, presidents of Chinese and African higher education institutes, as well as experts and scholars to share experiences and seek collaboration in the fields of education and cultural heritage protection.

Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang hailed the significant achievements made through China-Africa cooperation in education and cultural heritage protection.

Ding, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China will strengthen digital education cooperation with African countries, sharing high-quality digital education resources to support the education modernization of Africa.

The country will provide training for 40,000 African teachers over the next three years to help improve teaching capabilities in African countries, Ding said.

Additionally, China-Africa Universities 100 Cooperation Plan will be further advanced to deepen partnerships between higher education institutions, he added.

Huai Jinpeng, China's Education Minister, said the country is willing to work together with Africa and UNESCO to carry out measures in sharing digital learning, empowering vocational education, and building teacher capacity.

To achieve that, China will collaborate with African countries to establish a center integrating the education of Chinese language and vocational skills, a teacher education center, as well as a digital education regional cooperation center, according to the ministry.

Educational cooperation has promoted the economic and social development of Africa, with students from 53 African countries studying in China, Huai said. More than half of them are studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), Agriculture, and Medicine, he added.

Stefania Giannini, assistant director general for education of UNESCO, said strengthening STEM education is essential, especially for African countries. The UNESCO Category-1 institute for STEM studies established in Shanghai will play a vital role in expanding stem education with a special focus on Africa, she said.

Muganga Didas Kayihura, vice-chancellor of the University of Rwanda, said the university has been cooperating with Chinese higher education institutes to cultivate talent in fields such as agriculture, science and technology, and artificial intelligence.

Many of the graduates have engaged in the front line of various industries in Rwanda, and the educational exchanges of students and professionals are expected to expand in the future, he said.

Jin Li, director of UNESCO International Center for Higher Education Innovation, said efforts have been made to enhance the digital skills of university administrators and educators in African countries.

"Many of these nations are undergoing rapid transformations in higher education, there is a strong demand for both hardware and the development of knowledge systems," he said.

Jin, also the vice-president of Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, said the university established smart classrooms in 17 African countries to facilitate the digital education of more than 20,000 students and teachers.

"We collaborate with advanced Chinese companies, including Huawei and BYD, to convert their donated resources into hardware equipment for smart classrooms in African countries," Jin said.

The university is also working with national education departments in the Africa to support the trial of smart classroom systems in leading institutions, he added.

Many African countries still face challenges in the use of smart devices, with a transition underway from traditional phones to smart phones. Deeper collaboration between Chinese companies and African educational institutions will be seen in the future wave of digitalization across the continent, Jin said.