On January 25, 2024, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held the Introductory Meeting with Category II centres in Engineering at its headquarters in Paris. Five Category II centres attended the meeting, including Aalborg Centre for Problem-Based Learning in Engineering Science and Sustainability (Aalborg PBL Centre), Denmark, Centre of Excellence for Engineering Innovations, Manufacturing and Technology Transfer -Technology Consultancy Centre (TCC), Ghana, International Competence Centre for Mining-Engineering Education (ICCMEE), Russian Federation, International Centre for Engineering Education (ICEE), China, and International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology (IKCEST), China. YUAN Si, Executive Director of ICEE, WANG Sunyu, Deputy Director and Secretary General of ICEE, QIAO Weifeng, Associate Professor of Research and Assistant to Secretary-General of ICEE, Assistant to Secretary-General XU Lihui and Postdoctoral Fellow FU Jie participated the meeting. 

The meeting aims to network and establish strong communications with the other centres in engineering, identify collaborative efforts/activities for the biennium starting in 2024, and encourage activities and collaborations under the umbrella of the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD), which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly during its 96th plenary meeting of its 77th session held on August 25, 2023, and whose implementation was led by UNESCO.

HU Shaofeng, Director of the Division of Science Policy and Basic Sciences, UNESCO, made the welcome remarks. Ashwini Madanayake, Associate Programme Specialist of Basic Sciences, Research, Innovation and Engineering Section introduced UNESCO’s ongoing work in engineering. Amal Kasry, Chief of Basic Sciences, Research, Innovation and Engineering Section introduced the framework of IDSSD. The category II centres present at the meeting made introductions respectively, and held in-depth discussions on the activities to be organized and potential cooperative projects.

YUAN Si said that ICEE attaches great importance to its collaboration with academia, industrial circles and international organizations, and actively promotes fair and quality engineering education. He introduced the Engineering Report II, online education, engineering capacity building and the revision of international standards, and proposed the cooperative activities with other category II centres. Going forward, ICEE will continue to strengthen cooperation with UNESCO, the category II centres under the auspices of UNESCO, international organizations, universities and industries to help realize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.