Pakistan, China seek to enhance educational exchanges through BRI Forum

ISLAMABAD –  Pakistan and China have expressed their willingness to further enhance educational exchanges with members of the University Alliance of Belt & Road Forum.

Khalil Hashmi, Ambassador of Pakistan to China, and Peter Levai, Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, shared their respective governments’ willingness to move forward on the subject during the University Alliance of Belt & Road Forum at its meeting held at Lanzhou University in Gansu Province has called for digital and green development.

The Forum themed by “International Education Collaboration under the Circumstances of Digital Empowerment, Green Innovation and Shared Development” was inaugurated his week, CEN reported on Thursday.

Nearly 100 experts and scholars from 21 overseas universities and international organizations in 17 countries and regions, as well as 42 Chinese universities gathered in Lanzhou University, besides Secretary-General of the Alliance, to attend the event.

According to Yang Yongping, Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Lanzhou University, since its establishment in 2015, the Alliance has promoted exchanges and cooperation in education, science and technology, and culture among 184 universities from 27 countries and regions along the Belt and Road.

“I hope more high-quality education cooperation platforms and public education products can be built and shared in the Alliance to make the most of the complementary advantages in curricula, faculty, educational information, technology, and infrastructure among the members. They can come forward providing support for building a community with a shared future for mankind,” he remarked.

“Gansu Province, boasting advantageous geographical position in the Belt and Road, will continuously contribute to the Belt and Road development as a new engine for boosting the progress of higher education in Northwest China,” said Zhang Guozhen, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of Gansu Education Department.

Experts and scholars from universities of 11 countries, including the United States, Canada, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, and Egypt, shared their views on topics of the prospects for digital education cooperation and the development of international education cooperation mechanisms.

This year, the sixth sub-alliance i.e. the Medical Sub-Alliance was established on the basis of the five sub-alliances of ecology, art, vocational education, etc.

Additionally, four universities joined the Alliance as new members and signed MoUs with Lanzhou University.