From September 20 to 21, 2024, the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI) was invited to attend Huawei Connect 2024 with the theme of “Amplify Industrial Digitalization and Intelligence”, and engaged in the Huawei ICT Academy Support Center (IASC) Roundtable Forum. Prof. LI Ming, Secretary General of the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE) Secretariat, Ms. BI Xiaohan, Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI, and Mr. SIT Fung, Chief of the IIOE Management Centre, participated in various activities. Huawei Connect is an industry-wide event aimed at creating an open, collaborative, and shared platform to promote industry development and build a robust ecosystem to drive openness and win-win cooperation.

Group photo of the UNESCO-ICHEI delegation

Ms. BI Xiaohan, Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI delivered a speech at the Huawei IASC Roundtable Forum, focusing on "Upskilling and Reskilling Higher Education Teachers and Leaders with AI Competencies: The Global Initiative of UNESCO-ICHEI." In her speech, Ms. Bi highlighted how AI is transforming the higher education landscape and the need for educators to equip themselves with the knowledge and competencies to engage in the strategic and ethical integration of AI in higher education. The IIOE Micro-certification Project provides a comprehensive support system for institutions to effectively plan for the upskilling and reskilling of the higher education workforce. The project aims to enhance the digital competency and AI literacy of teachers, teaching support staff and leaders to more effectively use AI to improve teaching, management and governance in higher education. IIOE initiates joint projects with IIOE National Centres based on local needs, offering general, localised courses as well as customised solutions.

Meanwhile, the project provides policy guidance and expert advice to support partner institutions in developing or strengthening policies concerning the digital competency recognition and professional development of the higher education workforce. By leveraging the IIOE National Centre localised operation mechanism, the Micro-certification Project will benefit 35,000 African higher education workforce in the next three years.

Ms. BI Xiaohan delivered a speech at the Huawei IASC Roundtable Forum

Ms. BI Xiaohan emphasised that, in the future, UNESCO-ICHEI would focus on technological developments and launch new initiatives through a global network of partners, and sustained collaboration with Huawei in digital and AI competency enhancement for higher education workforce, the development of related policies and initiatives, industry-academia collaboration, and the UNESCO-ICHEI Higher Education Digitalisation Pioneer Case Award, to promote the digital transformation and sustainable development of education.