The 2021 Asian Deans’ Forum was held as a special video conference on December 6. With the theme of “Engineering Education and International Exchanges under COVID-19”, the forum brought together the deans of engineering schools and management experts from seven universities in Asia and Australia to discuss the innovative development of engineering education under COVID-19, aimming to promote the advancements in engineering technology and society, and eventually to address major global challenges. The forum was hosted by Tsinghua University and jointly undertaken by the School of Environment, Office of Academic Planning and Development, and International Center for Engineering Education. It was chaired by Prof. He Kebin, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Vice Chairman of Tsinghua University Engineering Discipline Joint Conference, Dean of the Institute for Carbon Neutrality, Tsinghua University.
Welcome Remarks by He kebin
He Kebin extended a warm welcome to the deans and guests from home and abroad at the forum. He pointed out that COVID -19, as a public health crisis, has posed serious challenges to human beings in that it changed our way of life and work, including the traditional offline engineering education and international exchange. 2021 Asian Deans’ Forum serves as a platform for experts and scholars in engineering education to discuss how to adapt to the unusual era, how to draw a blueprint for the future, and how to work together for sustainable development and a better planet. He also introduced the history and status quo of engineering education in Tsinghua University.
Keynote Speech by Qiao Weifeng
Qiao Weifeng, Assistant Secretary General of the UNESCO International Center for Engineering Education, and Assistant Researcher of the Institute of Education, delivered a keynote speech. As mentioned by Qiao, the UNESCO Engineering Report released in March 2021 has, for the first time, pointed out the close relation between engineering education and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the context of health and education crisis caused by COVID-19 and increasingly severe climate change. Engineering innovation, engineering education and capacity building become critical to achieving the SDGs. It is possible that engineering education become a new paradigm for sustainable development. Therefore, the deans should work hand in hand to address major uncertainties and embrace a better future for all.
Invited speeches by Tim Kwang Ting CHENG, Aaron Voon-Yew Thean, and Byoungho Lee (from left to right)
During invited speeches, Professor Tim Kwang Ting CHENG, Dean of the School of Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, introduced the practice of hybrid teaching methods, including virtual lab, virtual teaching environment, virtual student exchange, virtual internship, virtual job fair, etc. Professor Aaron Voon-Yew Thean, Dean of the School of Engineering, National University of Singapore, emphasized that we should be more visionary, inclusive, and flexible in dealing with the unpredictability, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of the “unknown unknowns” in society. Professor Wen-Chang CHEN, Dean of the School of Engineering of NTU, shared the teaching guidelines, visiting student program, online course program, exchange student program, summer program, and industrial cooperation under COVID-19 at NTU. Professor Byoungho Lee, Dean of the School of Engineering, Seoul National University, presented information about the school and shared their experience of blended teaching during the pandemic.
Invited speeches by Takao Someya, Stephen Foster, and Xiaoxiao Wang (from left to right)
Professor Takao Someya, Dean of the School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Japan, said that they attach great importance to offline teaching, and therefore blend online and offline teaching methods to maximize teaching effect. For example, they allow students to use campus facilities for extracurricular activities, and encourage them to participate in creative engineering projects and remote internship or practice. Professor Stephen Foster, Dean of the School of Engineering at the University of New South Wales, Australia (UNSW Sydney), believes that COVID-19 has permanently changed our ways of teaching and accelerated teaching innovations. In the future, teaching on campus will be more engaging and with more emphasis on practical experience, which means students will take more learning responsibilities. Dr. Wang Xiaoxiao, Director of the Online Education Center of Tsinghua University, shared the university’s educational innovations in blending online and offline teaching during COVID-19. By using intelligent teaching tools such as Rain Classroom, Xuetang Online Platform for MOOC, and web conferencing systems, the university managed to carry out large-scale interactive online teaching, while ensuring teaching quality through real-time interaction, data collection, and real-time feedback.
On the afternoon of December 6, a working meeting of the Asian Deans’ Forum was held to discuss the preparations for Rising Star Women in Engineering and proposals for future cooperation. Professor Zhao Haiyan, Vice Dean of Department of Mechanics, and Associate Professor Lu Xi from School of Environment, took part in the discussion.
Attendees of the forum
Initiated by the University of Tokyo in 2016, the Asian Deans’ Forum has been successfully held for six sessions so far, with seven member institutions including the University of Tokyo, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, National University of Singapore, Seoul National University, Tsinghua University, and UNSW Sydney.
