On the afternoon of July 31st, Vice President Zhang Zhaoming was invited to attend the “China-Thailand Forum(Shandong) for‘Belt and Road’ International Educationon Cooperation and Development”. Under the organization and witness of the Shandong Department of Education, our school was approved as a member by the Thai-Chinese Education Alliance and awarded, the vice president Zhang Zhaoming was hired as a think tank expert of the Thai-Chinese Education Alliance. The person in charge of the International Affairs Office accompanied and participated in the forum.

The launching ceremony of the forum was held simultaneously in Shandong Institute of Commerce and Technology and Siam University of Thailand. Xing Shunfeng, Governor of the Shandong Department of Education, Mr. Somsong Ngamwong, Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Education of Thailand, and other representatives of Shandong universities in Jinan, the Thai Education Chamber of Commerce and universities attended the launching ceremony of the Jinan and Bangkok venues, and the Thai-Chinese Education Alliance Shandong Service Center was established formally. During the event, the two parties introduced the economic and social development status, the advantages of educational resources, and cooperation in the field of education. They proposed to take this forum as an opportunity to establish a normalized exchange mechanism, broaden the two-way study abroad channels, carry out high-level education cooperation, cultivate localized technical talents, set up a Thailand center in Shandong, enrich youth exchanges and other aspects, give full play to their respective advantages, and develop pragmatic and efficient cooperation by building a normalized exchange platform between the two sides to promote the development of education in Shandong and Thailand to a new level. The universities of both sides carried out online publicity and introduction to demonstrate their characteristics and advantages, and express their intention to carry out international exchanges and cooperation.

Due to the needs of pandemic prevention and control, the Thai-Chinese Education Alliance Secretariat commissioned Professor Qian Naiyu,the first batch of think tank experts of the alliance, and Ji Yuehui, Director of the Shandong Service Center of the Thai-Chinese Education Alliance, to award the membership of the Thai-Chinese Education Alliance to our school, andthe appointment letter of think tank experts from the Thai-Chinese Education Alliance to Vice President Zhang Zhaoming.

After the launching ceremony, our school and Siam University of Thailand and other universities conducted one-to-one online negotiations in the branch venues, shared fully exchanged opinions and reached consensus on mutual learning of courses, school system connection, teacher exchanges, and student exchanges. This forum is of great significance to continue to promote the development of our school’s “Belt and Road” initiatives, expand the field of cooperation between our school and Thai universities, and carry out substantive cooperation.

This event is a useful trial of the educational exchange model between Shandong and Thailand during the special period when thepandemic is spreading. The event was sponsored by the Shandong Department of Education, united with the Thai-Chinese Education Alliance and the Asian-International Trade and Investment Association. 127 universities and educational institutions from both sides participated in the event through video connection.