To promote in-depth mutual understanding through reviewing our experience and practice in digital higher education and to promote extensive cooperation between universities from the two countries, the China-Malaysia Online Education Dialogue 2022 was held virtually on August 2. Co-hosted by Global MOOC and Online Education Alliance, Universiti Malaya, Asian Universities Alliance and XuetangX, this event focused on digital higher education through two sub-themes "Accelerating International Cooperation through Digital Higher Education" and "Visions for Digital Higher Education Development."
Li Jing (Director of Division of Curriculum Management, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China), Wan Zuhainis Saad (Director, Academic Excellence Division, Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia), Yang Bin (Vice President & Provost, Tsinghua University, and Convenor of Executive Committee, Global MOOC and Online Education Alliance), and Yatimah Alias (Deputy Vice Chancellor of Academic & International, Universiti Malaya) delivered opening speeches for this event. Enoch Wong, the Assistant Secretary-General of Global MOOC and Online Education Alliance, served as the moderator of the event.
"The exchange and cooperation in education between China and Malaysia has not only a natural and solid basis, but also a broad prospect and future. Today's event has great significance for higher education across Asia." According to Li Jing, we should continue promoting the practice and innovation of MOOCs and online education to improve the quality of education, implement the digital strategy to innovate the form of higher education, and advance openness and cooperation in online education to ensure equality in education. She looked forward to furthering cooperation between the two countries that promotes the construction and sharing of high-quality educational resources and contributes wisdom to a human community with a shared future.
Wan Zuhainis Saad put forward three strategies for the digitalization of higher education: first, strengthen the construction of online platforms and strive to break the time and space limitations; secondly, integrate social teaching activities to create a good educational atmosphere in the virtual community; third, carry out efficient management and supervision of online teaching activities to ensure the quality of education. Technological advances continue to shape higher education, she said, adding that the digitalization of higher education has great potential to help a wider group of people access educational opportunities, reduce the cost of education, and facilitate the sharing of educational resources.
Yang Bin stressed that higher education institutions should not only make full use of technology-enabled teaching, promote the continuous integration of information technology and higher education, and improve the quality of education, but also strive to build more open, integrative, and resilient universities with a view to long-term development and the challenges of our time. "We should remain true to our original aspiration to educate people and advance social progress." According to Yang, to push ahead with higher education in the digital age, we need to pay equal attention to "teaching" and "learning" and pursue humanism, with knowledge and literacy, value creation, and capacity building emphasized. At present, the digitalization of higher education helps us bridge the knowledge gap, promote education equity worldwide, and contribute to the common development of all people and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Yatimah Alias introduced the strategy and practice of online education at Universiti Malaya. She said Universiti Malaya was committed to democratizing higher education and providing a better learning environment and resources for students so that the wider population could benefit from higher education. In the future, Universiti Malaya will continue to build a more open and diverse online learning environment to drive more people to participate in the trend of online learning and lifelong learning.
Zhang Dan, Vice Dean, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Wang Cheng, Director, Academic Affairs Office, Xiamen University, Zahiruddin Fitri Abu Hassan, e-Learning Section Head, Academic Development & Enhancement Centre (ADEC), Universiti Malaya, Farrah Dina Yusop, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya, Nurbiha A. Shukor, Chair, Malaysian Public Universities Council of e-Learning Heads (MEIPTA) and Senior Lecturer, School of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia), Deng Tao (Associate Dean, Undergraduate School, Beijing Jiaotong University) delivered keynote speeches on the two sub-themes.
After the keynote speeches, participants also discussed topics such as quality assurance in digital education, cultural issues in international cooperation, expansion of teaching content, and online education for undergraduate students. Participants agreed that the dialogue was a great success. They look forward to the cooperation between the universities of the two countries in online education without borders, and jointly envisage and create a bright future for higher education in the digital era.
Finally, Zhang Chuanjie, Secretary, Asian Universities Alliance (AUA), and Wang Xiaoxiao, Secretary-General, Global MOOC and Online Education Alliance, delivered closing remarks for the Dialogue.
Zhang Chuanjie said that AUA commits to promoting cooperation, innovation, and cultural exchanges in higher education across Asia and jointly addressing the challenges that we are facing. As an important topic in the alliance's activities, online education has become an indispensable and powerful tool in higher education under the new normal. He pointed out that we should continue to use and develop digital technology to provide a more inclusive education for society, and to promote the co-creation and sharing of quality educational resources within and between schools, across disciplines, and among different countries.
Wang Xiaoxiao expressed heartfelt thanks to all the participants. In the post-pandemic era, she stressed, higher education institutions need to integrate the efforts we have made during the pandemic crisis for lasting innovation, promote openness and resilience in higher education systems, and work more broadly across sectors to address common global challenges. "We indeed hope this dialogue is the first step to deepen mutual understanding and paves the way for future online education cooperation in the fields of joint teaching, capacity building, knowledge sharing, and achieving the SDGs," said Wang.
Editor: Guo Lili
