New spaces and places in education: Technology and innovation in Chinese Higher Education
The ChinaHE network are very excited to bring you the sixth in the annual China and Higher Education Conference series
Flexibly organised in-person at the University of Manchester, in Manchester, UK (13th December 2023) and hybrid (14th December 2023) in collaboration with Lingnan University, Hong Kong (Lingnan University on-site, University of Manchester hybrid via Zoom).
Conference Programme
The full ChinaHE23 conference programme can be found here.
Registration: You can register and book your ticket here.
Conference Theme
During the recent pandemic, closed borders and limited global mobility significantly altered the flow of education around the world. These constraints have led to questions of what constitutes ‘space’ in international higher education and the subsequent increases in distance learning and online education have not only changed the nature of higher education learning environments, but have also sparked a remarkable increase in innovation.
The rising demand for learning and studying at home during COVID-19 saw a dramatic increase in China’s intelligent education hardware market along with online learning provisions such as MOOCs and the platforms “XuetangX”(www.xuetangx.com) and “iCourse International” (www.icourse163.com). This rapid development has continued and more recently with China’s “Smart Education of China initiative”, which explores how ‘smart education’ can be used to create intelligent and more flexible learning environments using ‘smart technologies’ and ‘Chinaooc’ as an integrated online platform for Chinese HE post COVID.
The rapid development in technology and innovation in relation to education in China is attempting to create opportunities for greater access to HE within China, but also more widely. While there have been quality concerns with online higher education in the past, which has led to the banning of foreign online courses in China, China is attempting to fill this gap with its own wide selection of courses and learning opportunities. Technology is not only aecting policies and pedagogies in China but also the experiences of Chinese international students hosted across the world. While online learning has increased, there has also been renewed demand for in-person teaching – but in ways that have been supported and mediated by new technologies.
Technology appears in six out of the ten targets in the fourth Sustainable Development Goal, quality education for all, and is therefore of great interest to all of those working within education. However it is important to not only consider how technology aects education (as input, means of delivery, skill, tool for planning, and providing a social and cultural context), but also to consider the wider conditions, such as access to technology, governance regulation, and teacher preparation. While the appropriate use of technology in education can oer solutions to challenges such as, access; equity and inclusion; quality; technology advancement, many of the solutions proposed may also be detrimental (OECD, 2023).
In this conference we invite participants to reflect on the information above and consider the following questions / topics, including, but not limited to:
- How is Chinese Higher Education contributing to digital/smart spaces?
- What are the policies that are shaping the use of technologies in pedagogies in Chinese Higher Education?
- What are the new and emerging technologies that are being used in Chinese Higher Education?
- What digital technologies (EdTech) are being used/designed in/for education?
- How can digital technologies and cultures interrogate and / or deconstruct the roles of students and / or teachers?
- How is Chinese Higher Education contributing to sustainability and technology (in education)?
- How are new technologies aecting Chinese international students across the world?
- How is technology and innovation supporting Sino-foreign collaboration in higher education?
Conferences Details
This conference is free to attend and will be flexibly organised over 2 days. When registering please indicate whether you want an in-person ticket (which is also suitable for online sessions) or an online only ticket.
Keynote speakers:
- Prof S. Joe Qin (Lingnan University)
- Prof Susan Robertson (University of Cambridge)
- Dr Tang Tang Heng (Nanyang Technological University)
- Dr Kun Dai (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Wednesday 13th December 2023: in-person at University of Manchester, UK (with presentations being streamed online)
Thursday 14th December 2023: hybrid in collaboration with Lingnan University, Hong Kong (Lingnan University on-site, University of Manchester hybrid via Zoom)
The 13th at Manchester will consist of in-person presentations, but these will be accessible via zoom for online attendees, whilst the 14th will be hybrid (Lingnan University on-site, University of Manchester hybrid via Zoom).
We note that while this is a busy time we aim to record as much conference content as possible. Speakers are asked to indicate whether or not we have permission to record their presentations at the time of submission.
The conference dates have been chosen to accommodate attendees who may like to participate in another conference organised by Manchester colleagues: Research with international students conference, on 11-12th December. More details here: https://researchintlstudents.com/research-with- international-students-conference/
Special Issue:
The ChinaHE23 conference is hosting an authors’ workshop linked to a special issue of the Journal of Studies in International Education on:
Rethinking EU-China Higher Education Cooperation in a Dynamic Global Environment
This workshop will be held in the afternoon (UK time) of 14 December 2023.
Further details about the special issue are available here:
China and Higher Education Network 