[Scholar News] President Zhang Pingwen Attends and Speaks at the Plenary Session of the 2025 World Digital Education Conference

Wuhan University News Network (Reporter: Zhao Jifan) On May 15, the plenary session of the 2025 World Digital Education Conference, jointly organized by the Ministry of Education, the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, and the People’s Government of Hubei Province, was successfully held. Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng attended the conference, while Vice Minister Wu Yan presided over it. Academician Zhang Pingwen, President of Wuhan University, was invited to attend and delivered a keynote speech, sharing the university’s exploration and practices in digital intelligence education.

In his speech titled “Reshaping the Talent Cultivation System in Higher Education through Digital Intelligence Education”, Zhang Pingwen emphasized that countries around the world are vigorously developing digital education, and Chinese universities should also actively explore new standards and pathways to build a new foundational logic and educational ecosystem. In terms of educational philosophy, the focus should shift from mere “knowledge transmission” to “capacity building”; in terms of organizational structure, the focus should shift from “segmentation and isolation” to “emerging interdisciplinarity”; in teaching approaches, from “teacher-centered instruction” to “self-directed exploration”; and in assessment and evaluation, from “score-centeredness” to “comprehensive and diversified evaluation.” As a pioneer in implementing China’s national strategy for education digitalization, Wuhan University has carried out a series of practical explorations following the approach of “focusing on talent cultivation and systematically advancing digital intelligence education; using intelligent evaluation as a guide to drive innovative educational reform; and building a smart campus as a foundation to create an integrated digital intelligence ecosystem.” For example, Wuhan University has strengthened holistic design, innovated educational concepts, optimized academic programs and upgraded curricula, empowered teaching with digital-intelligent tools and strengthened practice platforms, and emphasized capacity building by promoting multi-dimensional assessment, which have yielded notable results. He stressed that education is a great endeavor for shaping people, and higher education should take a forward-looking approach in “cultivating people for the future and those who will lead the future.” Wuhan University is ready to join hands with colleagues around the world to deepen cooperation and advance together in fulfilling the mission and responsibility of education in the digital era.

It is reported that during the plenary session, Chinese experts and university representatives focused on the digital transformation of basic and higher education, sharing cutting-edge achievements and innovative practices in China’s digital education. They proposed the establishment of a Global Alliance for the Development of Quality Education to promote high-speed and secure interconnectivity among countries’ educational, scientific, and cultural systems, and to advance the global sharing and cooperation of digital education networks and resources. The conference also, for the first time, featured a high-level dialogue on digital education, with in-depth discussions on topics such as teaching models in the era of intelligence, talent cultivation, educational equity, and technology ethics.

(Photos provided by: 2025 World Digital Education Conference Organizing Committee; Edited by: Xiao Shan)