On January 14-18, 2024, the Asian Engineering Deans’ Workshop and Global Engineering Deans Council Industry Forum was held in Shenzhen, China. The conference was co-sponsored by the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), the Global Engineering Deans Council, the Singapore Academy of Engineering and the International Centre for Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO (ICEE). 

At the invitation of Prof. XU Zhenghe, Chair of the conference, Dean of the College of Engineering of SUSTech, Member of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), KANG Jincheng, Strategic Expert of International Cooperation of ICEE and Distinguished Vice Chairperson of China High-tech Industrialization Association, Assistant to Secretary-General of ICEE XU Lihui and SHEN Ye participated in the conference.

On the morning of January 17, the forum arranged a session of Deans’ Dialogue: East Meets West and Global South, in which KANG Jincheng delivered a speech. He said this dialogue came just in time. At present, the global development of new technologies, new formats, new industries and new models has been seriously hindered amid extremely unstable global geopolitics and severely affected exchanges and communication among countries. It has become an important mission of the international engineering education community to cultivate a new generation of inter-disciplinary engineering and technical talents and craftsmen who adapt to new situation and changes in the world. Developed countries have the obligation and responsibility to work together to boost the training of engineering and technical talents in developing countries, especially the training of female engineering talents and craftsmen in African countries, so as to bridge the wide economic divide and digital divide between developing countries in the South and developed countries in the North. KANG Jincheng said that the event has given full play to the important role of non-governmental science and technology diplomacy.

According to the participating experts including Hans Hoyer, Secretary-General of the Global Engineering Deans Council and Prof. Nomcebo Mthombeni from Durban University of Technology, South Africa, expressed the hope of the African people that other countries would contribute to the cultivation of engineering and technical talents in Africa. Other deans at the conference also expressed their hope to continue to hold activities and meetings for the training of engineering and technical talents in developing countries, especially in African countries, so as to create conditions for promoting exchanges and mutual trust among small and medium-sized enterprises in various countries as well as the international mobility of engineering and technical talents.

Group Photo of the Global Engineering Deans Council Industry Forum

Themed “Developing the Next Generation of Engineering Innovators, Experts and Leaders”, the 2024 Global Engineering Deans Council Industry Forum brought together more than 40 experts and scholars in the field of engineering education, as well as industrial entrepreneurs and executives. They explored the development trend of engineering education in the context of AI, and had wide-ranging, in-depth and multi-dimensional discussions and dialogues on how to improve engineering education and innovate teaching modes in the situation that features complex and turbulent geopolitics and high and new technologies are emerging, so as to cultivate a new generation of talents with new knowledge and skills for the whole world, especially for developing countries.