“The Future Roadmap of Higher Education: International Symposium on the Future of Higher Education” was held smoothly both online and offline from September 3 to 4 2022, hosted by Zhejiang University (ZJU), steered by Secretariat of Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, in collaboration with UNESCO Beijing Office and UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, and supported by UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurial Education at ZJU and UNESCO Research Center ZJU.

Following the 2022 World Higher Education Conference (WHEC 2022), the symposium brought together experts from all walks of life to review fruitful outcomes and important consensuses reached at WHEC 2022, and jointly expressed an urgent call for the future development of higher education. The meeting maintained a hybrid format for broad participation, with a total of more than 15,000 people participated（both online and offline）.

The opening session was presided over by Professor KAN Yue, Executive Dean of College of Education at ZJU. Prof. Shahbaz Khan, Director of UNESCO Beijing Office, and Mr. QIN Changwei, Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, affirmed the value of this symposium and looked forward to seeing new Chinese perspectives on the future development of higher education. Subsequently, Professor HE Lianzhen, Vice president of ZJU, extended warm congratulations and hoped that all participants could discuss crucial issues to serve the higher education at home and abroad. Professor XU Xiaozhou, President of Communication University of Zhejiang and Chairholder of UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship Education at Zhejiang University, expressed his gratitude to the participants and expected to work with scholars in the context of knowledge production.

In the keynote speech, Professor XU Hui, deputy director of Constitution and Law Committee of National People's Congress, claimed the social mission of modern universities from the four perspectives, namely promoting social equity, accelerating economic development, serving common prosperity, and serving national security. Professor YANG Wei, President of Chinese Society of Academic Degrees and Graduate Education, delivered a speech entitled Open Science and the Future Development of Chinese Higher Education, and summed up six levels of higher education construction through academic analysis and international comparison. Prof. SONG Yonghua, Rector of University of Macau, shared specific talent cultivation structure based on R.I.S.E (Relevance, Impact, Significance, Excellence).Professor XU Xiaozhou, focused on challenges and crises in higher education. Professor WANF Libing, chief of Section for Educational Innovation and Skills Development, mainly introduced the concept of “micro-certificate” and its influence of micro-certificate on students' international mobility.

The symposium consisted of four sub-sessions and involved various subjects, including the future of higher education, lifelong learning as well as entrepreneurship education were fully understood, shared, and discussed.

The closing session of the seminar was presided over by Professor MEI Weihui, Assistant Dean of College of Education at ZJU. On behalf of the organizers, Professor KAN Yue expressed his gratitude to experts, scholars and all the participants. He also emphasized that the roadmap looked at both the higher education systems including norms, policies, structures, stakeholders and institutions, such as universities, specialized entities, networks. The symposium served as a new platform to further promote the circulation of the consensus of WHEC 2022 and contribute to figuration of the new roadmap to future of higher education.

UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship Education at Zhejiang University

Zhejiang University UNESCO Research Center

Edited by Nadila, ZHANG Ningshan, SUNJiacan, ZHENG Shuxian

Photoed by Conference Organizing Committee, CHEN Zhuo, CHU Xiaoyan