The First “The Belt and Road” China-Thailand Universities Internet & Education Summit Forum was held in Bangkok, Thailand from Dec. 3rd to 4th, 2019. Guided by Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of Thailand, it was co-hosted by the International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology (IKCEST) under the Auspices of UNESCO, Xi’an Jiaotong University and Thai Alumni Association of China’s Universities.

      Mr.PRAKOB RATTANAPAN, Chairman of Education Committee of National Assembly of Thailand, General Vichit Yathip, former Deputy Defense Minister of Thailand and Deputy Commander-in-chief of the Thai army, Mr. Qiu Weigong, Chairman of Amata Group, Dr. Vichit Lolurlert, Chairman of Chine Teachers (Thailand) Association, Ms.Wanna Lorluelert, President of Thai Alumni Association of China’s Universities, and presidents and vice presidents from 20 Thai universities including Chulalongkorn University and Chiang Mai University attended the forum. Zheng Qinghua, Vice President from Xi’an Jiaotong University, and representatives from 18 Chinese universities including Nankai University and Jilin University attended the forum.

      On the forum, Vice President Zheng Qinghua delivered a keynote speech entitled “Cultivate Innovative Talents Through Our Joint Efforts of Connecting & Sharing”. In his speech, Vice President Zheng pointed out that China- Thai friendly relationship can date back to very early days and has laid a very deep cultural foundation. With the advent of the Internet + education era, China and Thailand will expand cooperation in the field of education which will promote the talents cultivating and cultural exchanges between the two countries. He said that educators in China and Thailand shoulder a common mission to promote Internet + education from inter-school cooperation to cooperation among Belt-road countries.

      Vice President Zheng introduced the pioneering work of the IKCEST Silk Road Training Base undertaken by Xi’an Jiaotong University in the Belt and Road international talents cultivating from the aspects of background, effectiveness and goals. The pioneering work is as follows. First, being a pioneer in talents cultivating for Belt-road countries, it has cultivated over 6,000 engineering, science and technology talents. Second, a knowledge service platform has been built that has developed six featured database towards the Belt and Road Initiative with over 3.5 million data, including database for State of the Union Address, history & culture, population & environment, industry & economy, policies & laws, and education & technologies. Third, combined with featured disciplines of Xi’an Jiaotong University, 18 off-line special training programmes has been developed, covering many fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cross-border E-commerce, Chemical Engineering, Medical and so on. What’s more, Going abroad and holding training programmes in abroad universities. IKCEST Silk Road Training Base has successfully held several sessions training programmes in abroad universities, including Novosibirsk State University of Russia, Samarkand State University of Uzbekistan, several Thai universities,etc. In his speech, Vice President Zheng hoped that the cooperation among Xi’an Jiaotong Universities and Chulalongkorn University, Walailak University and other prestigious universities in Thailand will be developed in academic exchanges, high quality MOOC resources sharing, credit transfer and accumulation system and other areas so as to further deepen higher education exchanges and cooperation between China and Thailand.

      On the forum, on behalf of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Vice President Zheng Qinghua signed The Memorandum of Belt-Road Online Education Project Cooperation with Sripatum University and Walailak University. After the forum, Vice President Zheng led the delegation of Chinese universities to visit Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of Thailand, Chulalongkorn University and Amata Group, and staffs of the School of Continuing Education of Xi’an Jiaotong University accompanied.

      In the Joint Press Statement issued by the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand, a consensus that strengthening multi-level and multi-field cooperation in education through partnership schools, special exchanges, academic exchanges and distance learning, so as to promote talents and provide intellectual support for the development of two countries was reached. This forum, hosted by Xi’an Jiaotong University and IKCEST, is a pragmatic measure to promote the work under such a consensus. In the future, Xi’an Jiaotong University and IKCEST will continue to carry out the Belt and Road international talents training, promote the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, provide strong support for the development of Belt-road countries through talents cultivating, and build a bridge connecting people’s heart along Belt-road countries through educational exchanges.