On October 28, 2018, the 2nd International Advisory Committee (IAC) Meeting of the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHEI) was successfully held in the International Meeting Hall of Southern University of Science and Technology. The meeting was moderated by Prof. Freddy Boey, Chair of the IAC and Senior Vice President of the National University of Singapore.

Participants

Prof. Lim Cher Ping, Chair Professor from the Education University of Hong Kong and Visiting Professor of the Centre for Higher Education Research of Southern University of Science and Technology, delivered a keynote speech titled ICT-enabled Learning Innovations for Access to Quality Higher Education in Developing Countries. Prof. Lim discussed how developing countries could harness ICT-enabled learning innovations to address these tensions and manage the transformation in their higher education sector for access to quality teaching and learning. Prof. Lim said, "developing countries could leapfrog the phase of experimentation based on the promising practices, lessons learned, and evidences of impact on access and quality of the higher education sector in the developed countries."

Prof. LI Ming, Director of ICHEI, reported ICHEI's work in 2018 and work plan for 2019. IAC members offered constructive suggestions and advices on ICHEI's work plan in the future. Dr. TANG Qian, former Assistant Director General for Education of UNESCO, said that, ICHEI has done abundant work in ICT application in higher education and the work should be publicized. ICHEI could compile bi-weekly reports to share its work in the UNESCO community to expand its influence both in China and abroad. Prof. Boey indicated that ICHEI should constantly expand its areas of work, by integrating resources from the academia and the business circle, actively explore new patterns of project implementation and talent cultivation.

Prof. LI Ming reported ICHEI's work in 2018 and work plan for 2019

Prof. ZHAO Jianhua, Senior Specialist of ICHEI, reported on the Proposal to Establish the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE). ICHEI plans to utilize the online course management platforms to allocate and distribute the courses which are most wanted by the partner universities, to conduct online diploma education, and practically and effectively address the problems suffered by the partner universities such as inadequate faculty resources, a lack of education resources and underdevelopment of higher education. IAC members offered a series of suggestions on the feasibility and specific implementing methods of IIOE. IAC members agreed that IIOE should achieve beyond what MOOC platforms have achieved. ICHEI should consider what exactly quality online resources are, determine the goals of IIOE and relevant indicators.

Prof. LI Ming expressed sincere gratitude to IAC members for their kind advices and concluded the specific plans of ICHEI's work in the next step. Prof. LI Ming said, through technical support and capacity building, ICHEI will further expand ICT in higher education programmes to more countries and make greater contributions to achieving the SDG4.

At the end of the meeting, Prof. LI Ming awarded the Letter of Appointment to newly-come IAC members.