From October 29th to 30th, 2020, the third Forum of Higher Education on China-France- Africa French-speaking countries was successfully held in Wuhan University.
A combination of on-line and off-line meeting
More than 60 professors and students from 22 universities attended the forum, the theme of which was college education during the epidemic of COVID-19. In response to the ongoing epidemic, the forum adopted a new form, in which some speeches were conducted by pre-recorded videos during online-meeting.
The participants in the meeting
Aiming at strengthening tripartite corporation and improving international education, the forum discussed challenges and changes that different colleges and nations were facing and shared solutions they had adopted.
The general challenge, as spokesmen mentioned the most, is the lack of face-to-face communication. Other drawbacks include closing of borders, drop of institution funds, interruption of teaching pace, and different WLAN network coverage in different areas which makes it difficult to guarantee learning experience of each student.
These challenges, however, also breed opportunity. For example, online courses reduce the cost of education for some students with financial difficulties and provide more equal opportunities towards higher education for them.
Many effective policies regarding these situations have been put into good use. Apart from taking online classes like most colleges do, Gilles Mailhhot from Université Clermont Auvergne mentioned that they had submitted application for International Joint Laboratory which hopes to reduce unease among students.
Bernadette Briccout, the Distinguished Professor of Paris University, concluded that through this forum, people exchanged policies in various fields including sustainability, research and teaching, international relations and cultural conversation. “Everyone has his own belief, and communication enables us to go beyond deviation with inspirations.” She highlighted that every professor and educator should shoulder the responsibility to join in, “only in this way will we achieve the transcendence.”
Photo by Zhan Chaoyue
Edited by Chen Jiaqi, Wan Qian, Luo Yuanyuan and Hu Sijia
