The first Forum of Higher Education on China-France-Africa French-speaking countries held at WHU

The first Forum of Higher Education on China-France-Africa French-speaking countries held at WHU

 

On October 31, the Forum of Higher Education on China-France-Africa French-speaking countries was held in Old Library, Wuhan University. Sponsored by Wuhan University, the forum attracted presidents, experts and scholars from over 20 universities and research institutions. The Forum aims at strengthening trilateral cooperation, establishing an open and effective international platform, promoting cultural exchanges and technological innovation.

Participants watching the advertising video of the forum

During the opening ceremony, Han Jin, Secretary of Party Committee of Wuhan Universtiy, quoted three proverbs from China, France and Africa respectively to emphasize the necessity of trilateral cooperation during his speech. Apart from the extant achievements in bilateral cooperation, he also addressed, the more important role trilateral cooperation plays in bringing about a brighter future. Li Fei, Vice President of Wuhan University, represented all the participants and read out the joint declaration: Expanding exchanges among students and scholars, building an international research platform together, promoting transnational exchanges of culture and technology, establishing a long-term mechanism for exchanging and holding the forum regularly.

Han Jin delivering a speech at the opening ceremony

The forum was divided into three parts: forum for presidents, forum for researchers and professors and forum for doctors. 16 presidents from trilateral famous universities, such as Université Paris Diderot, Université Hassan 1er (Maroc), and Beijing Foreign Studies University, gave speeches on the subject of personnel training and cultural exchange in the forum for presidents held in the forenoon. The first speaker, Antoine Cazé , Vice President of Université Paris Diderot, pointed out that establishments of international relations couldn’t work without cultural exchange. The respect and comprehension among different cultures was important. Pierre Chapsal, Representative of Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, praised the forum for its practicability and proposed trilateral joint educational training. He also expressed that the healthy competition among China, France and Africa might promote further development. Fan Conglai, Assistant of President of Nanjing University，explained the importance of cultural exchanges with Belt and Road. At last, Bernadette Bricout, professor of Université Paris Diderot, closed the forum for presidents with a summary speech.

Representative of presidents delivering a speech

The forum for researchers and professors held in the afternoon invited many experts and scholars to deliver speeches on the subject of policies on regional exchange and feasibility research. Liu Tiannan, Vice-Professor of University of International Relations, analyzed the current situation, features and dilemma of African immigration to China and proposed several solutions. Segbo Julien A. Gaétan, the Dean of Confucius Institute of Université d’Abomey-Calavi (UAC) Bénin, indicated the role that Confucius Institute has been playing in the interscholastic cooperation. As an alumnus of Wuhan University, he finished his speech all in Chinese.

Representative of researchers and professors delivering a speech

All the participants reached a consensus that higher education is breeding new revolution. Extending and deepening the international cooperation among universities is not only a good opportunity but also a big challenge. “The biggest problem we met in educational cooperation is how to overcome the differences of pedagogical systems”, Guo Huimin, Vice President of University of International Relations, said in an interview after the forum, “We need to take advantage of this superiority and encourage diversification of cooperation.”

All the participants taking a group photo to mark the occasion

At the end of the day, the Forum of Higher Education on China-France-Africa French-speaking countries came to a successful conclusion. Ahmed Nejmeddine, president of Université Hassan 1er (Maroc), said that to ensure the sustainable development, the forum would be held in Morocco in September next year, which is surely to be another fruitful event.

Photo by Liu Wanyi, Cui Wenjing, Liu Qingyun

Edited by Li Minjia & Hu Sijia