On the morning of March 20, the opening ceremony of the Cross-border Education Quality Assurance Research Base of China Education International Exchange Association and the opening ceremony of the Seminar on Improving the Quality and Guarantee capacity of Sino-foreign cooperation in running school were held at the International Business College of South China Normal University in Nanhai Campus. Zhou Yan, Deputy Secretary-General of China Education International Exchange Association; Li Jinjun, Director of The Department of Exchange and Cooperation of the Guangdong Provincial Education Department; Shang Xuejun, Director of the Education Bureau of Foshan City; Zhang Yuanfa, Director of the Nanhai District Education Bureau; Ma Weihua, Vice President of South China Normal University, the relevant leaders of the China Education International Exchange Association, as well as the leaders of the relevant departments/colleges of SCNU, attended the ceremony and witnessed the opening of the Cross-border Education Quality Assurance Research Base of the China Education International Exchange Association, the signing of the certification of the quality of Sino-foreign Cooperative School-Running, and the certification of experts employed by the Cross-Border Education Quality Assurance Research Base of the China Education International Exchange Association. The event was hosted by Wu Jianli, Dean of the International Business College of South China Normal University and Executive Dean of the International United College.

It was reported that in November 2018, South China Normal University in the Nanhai campus set up the International United College. With the "one-to-multiple" principle, it will introduce foreign high-quality education resources, deepen the comprehensive reform of education, and cultivate outstanding international talent. In this context, in order to give full play to the role of the internationalization platform of the Nanhai campus and the advantages of cross-border education development in Southern China, South China Normal University, in consultation with the China Education International Exchange Association, established the "Cross-border Education Quality Assurance Research Base of China Education International Exchange Association" based on the "Cross-Border Education Quality Assurance Research Center". Zhou Yan, deputy secretary-general of the China Education International Exchange Association, said that in the current process of accelerating the construction of "Double First-class" universities in China, cross-border education and its quality assurance are important issues in the internationalization of higher education. The establishment of a research base on cross-border education quality assurance by the China Education International Exchange Association and South China Normal University was a major attempt and effort to promote the development of cross-border education in China. The Association will cooperate more deeply with South China Normal University to jointly undertake theoretical research and practical innovation in the governance, monitoring, evaluation and quality assurance of cross-border educational institutions and projects throughout the country, and jointly promote the quality assurance of cross-border education.

At the signing ceremony of the quality certification of Sino-foreign Cooperative School-Running, Zhou Yan and Ma Weihua jointly signed the agreement on quality assurance (certification) of Sino-foreign Cooperative School-Running at South China Normal University. It was understood that finance major in International Business College of South China Normal University was the first approved program by the Ministry of Education of Sino-foreign Cooperative School-Running. In order to comprehensively assess the quality of this project, South China Normal University will cooperate with the Chinese Education International Exchange Association's Sino-foreign Cooperative School-Running Professional Committee, in accordance with the relevant government regulations and standards for its quality recognition and certification, certificating the quality of financial major, so as to ensure the quality of Sino-foreign Cooperative School-Running and promote the sustainable development of this project.

At the ceremony for the appointment of experts at the Cross-Border Education Quality Assurance Research Base, Zhou Yan and Ma Weihua jointly presented the letter of appointment to the hired expert representative: Lu Xiaozhong, Dean of  the College of Education Sciences of South China Normal University/Changjiang Scholar, and Gary Miron, Professor of Western Michigan University in USA.Some experts also were employed for cross-border education quality assurance: Liu Baoxuan, Chairman of the Asian Institute of Comparative Education/Director of the Institute of International and Comparative Education at Beijing Normal University; Feng Weizhe, Director of the International Cooperation and Exchange Department of China Agricultural University; and Barbara Clark, Professor of Aberdeen University in UK.

From March 20 to 22, the Seminar on Improving the Quality and Guarantee capacity of Sino-foreign cooperative classes will be held in the International Business College of South China Normal University. Sponsored by Sino-foreign Cooperative School-Running Professional Committee of China Education International Exchange Association's, the seminar aimed to carry out the spirit of the National Education Conference, promote the construction of high-level Sino-foreign Cooperative School-Running and improve the quality of Sino-foreign Cooperative School-Running, take policy theory and management at the same level of importance, take quality assurance and ability improvement as the theme. Through specialized reports, group discussions, field visits and other forms, the seminar made a deep research on the terms of Sino-foreign cooperative school-running policies and development trends, school-running management, internal and external quality assurance, legal finance and other related practices.

The seminar would invite Tang Zhenfu, deputy director of the Academic Exchange and Research Department of the China Education International Exchange Association; and Gary Miron, deputy director of the Cross-Border Education Quality Assurance Research Center of South China Normal University/the professor of Western Michigan University in the United States and other Sino-foreign cooperation certification experts, to give lectures about the policy and development of Sino-foreign Cooperative School-Running, theory and practice of external quality assurance, management of whole-process analysis, legal and financial issues, etc. Sixty-six representatives from 45 universities across the nation participated in this seminar.

Date: 2019-03-21