On June 6, 2024, a delegation of the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO-ICHEI), including Ms. BI Xiaohan, Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI, Prof. HAN Wei, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of IIOE Secretariat, UNESCO-ICHEI and Mr. WU Lintuo, Senior Programme Specialist of Global Partnership and Programme Office, UNESCO-ICHEI visited the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH Zürich). The delegation held talks with Prof. Gerd Kortemeyer, liaison to the ETH Zürich Rectorate and an expert in educational technology at the AI Centre, Mr. Anders Hagström, Head of International Affairs, and Ms. Turri Letizia, Director’s Associate of ETH AI Center. The visit aims to deepen the cooperation between the two sides in higher education and to discuss the direction of future development.

Group photo of the attendees

Prof. Gerd Kortemeyer extended a warm welcome for the UNESCO-ICHEI delegation's visit, and introduced the frontier applications of generative AI in teaching assistance and teaching evaluation, and detailed its LLM-based learning assistance dialogue system “Ethel”. During the meeting, the two sides had a detailed discussion on the micro-certification project, a series of regional policy dialogues and the joint research projects, and explored potential collaboration opportunities in ETH Zürich's professional development training for teachers, focusing on digital empowerment to address the application of generative AI in education.

Prof. Gerd Kortemeyer, ETH Zürich

This visit strengthened the collaborative relationship between UNESCO-ICHEI and ETH Zürich in higher education. Both parties will continue to deepen their exchanges and cooperation, promoting digital transformation and innovation to tackle the challenges of future education.