Date: 26th March, 2024 (Tuesday)
Time: 4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. (GMT+8)
Mode: Online (via ZOOM)
Speaker: Dr. Xiaojun Zhang (Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University)
Chair: Professor Gerard A. Postiglione (The University of Hong Kong)
Abstract
With the fast development of emerging digital and intelligent technologies such as ChatGPT, the Chinese higher education community has realized the urgent need for radical change of its system to meet the new expectations from the society. In recent years there were a lot of reflections from Chinese educators in almost every aspects of education including its aims, curriculum, and pedagogy, which were followed by key initiatives such as interdisciplinary entrepreneurship education, teaching innovation, and university-industry collaboration. I will talk about main projects that conducted by Chinese government and higher education institutions in innovating the education system and share my observation of the innovative practice which I think would be crucial step in exploring the next generation of higher education in the digital and intelligent era. Sino-Foreign Cooperative Universities in particular the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University will be discussed as examples.
About the Speaker
Dr. Xiaojun Zhang got his PhD degree at Xi’an Jiaotong University. He joined Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University as the Deputy Director of Institute of Leadership and Education Advanced Development (ILEAD) in 2013, which was created by him under the support of university leaders. Now Xiaojun is Chief Officer of Education at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and Team Leader of Entrepreneur College (Taicang) Collective Leadership Team. He also takes roles including inaugural Executive Dean of the Academy of Future Education, and Acting Dean of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Hub.
Xiaojun has published more than 100 academic papers and 5 books. His research focus on problems in practice and pay attention to practical implications. Most of his research has been adopted in his training programmes for higher education practitioners. One of his most recent books titled “University Transfarmation: From Teacher Dominated to Student-Centred” published by Tsinghua University Press is a guidebook for education practitioners who want to transform their education. Xiaojun proposed the “diamond model” of teaching innovation in AI era and highlighted ten key directions of teaching innovation in his another recently published book “Future-oriented Teaching Innovation” by Economic and Management Press.
For details see https://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/about/people/leadership/dr-xiaojun-zhang.
Video Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_B-50pUl9g