At a forum held at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, educators and officials from both China and other countries urged international collaboration in education and multidisciplinary research to meet UN sustainable development goals.
The university’s Paris Elite Institute of Technology, National Graduate College for Elite Engineers, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press are co-organizing the first-ever International Education Forum on Sustainable Development Goals in 2024. It is centered around the theme of “interdisciplinary integration, and the cultivation of internationally outstanding engineers.”
Vice president of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Xu Xuemin stated that multidisciplinary and cross-cultural integration are becoming more and more common in higher education due to the constant advancements in artificial intelligence and other technologies. She claimed that Shanghai Jiao Tong University has consistently adhered to its motto of being “comprehensive, innovative, and international” and has included international collaboration to include sustainable development goals into its curriculum.
She went on to say that the institution wanted to work with additional nations, including France, in fields including foreign education, engineering, and medical talent cultivation, since this year is the 60th anniversary of China and France’s diplomatic connections.
According to Chen Wei, deputy director of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges at the Ministry of Education, there is a great need for highly skilled personnel because the Chinese government has announced intentions to create “new quality productivity forces.”
“The development of new quality productivity forces needs top creative talent cultivated through higher education,” he stated. “We hope our universities can deepen their cooperation with their counterparts around the world, to make joint contributions to the sustainability of the whole world and the development of international community with a shared future by cultivating more creative talent with international vision.”
The development of the first Sino-US joint venture university in China was recounted by Yu Lizhong, chancellor emeritus of Shanghai New York University. She also emphasized the significance of developing a multi-cultural integration mechanism and investigating new avenues for training innovative talent in the information age in order to create a global innovation highland and talent center.
The head of research at the United Nations University Institute in Macau, Serge Stinckwich, discussed the dangers that artificial intelligence poses to society in areas including employment, academics, education, compliance, and the environment. He also emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary research in AI.
One of the recipients of the Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award the previous year, Frédéric Toumazet, the French dean of Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s SJTU Paris Elite Institute of Technology, noted that increased ties between higher education establishments and business sectors are contributing to the trend of university education becoming more professional.
In order to demonstrate how colleges may provide students with the scientific and technical knowledge as well as the leadership, membership, and social responsibility qualities demanded by industry, he used SJTU Paris Elite Institute of Technology as an example. He emphasized the need of “steering training as an individual asset in a collective context,” calling for efforts to incorporate many facets of professionalism and link with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
An agreement to develop textbooks for cooperation in engineering education between China and France was signed during the forum by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, SJTU Paris Elite Institute of Technology, the International Elite Engineering School of East China University of Science and Technology, the Sino-French Engineer School of Nanjing University of Science and Technology, and the Paris Curie Engineering School of Beijing University of Chemical Technology.