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2022 China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week Conference: Report by George. K. Mashavave

Time:2022-08-29 20:52:12 From: Writer: Hits:

​On the 22nd of August, I attended the China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week. This year’s event is running with the theme “Jointly Building an Amicable Home for a Colourful Future”. This is an annual event that is organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of P.R. China, the Guizhou Provincial Government, and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization as well as many other organizations.


The particular conference that I was attending was hosted by the Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, and they held a competition for all MPA students across China, those in countries along the B&R, and some select East Asian countries. The title of the competition was “MPA International Education Forum for countries along the Belt and Road & Digital Governance Case Analysis” The meeting was graced by a lot of experts in MPA education, including renowned intellects like Professors Yang Kaifeng and Professor Dr. Xu Xiaolin who has 20+ years of experience in the field. Unfortunately, not all participants could take part in the event offline due to Covid travel restrictions, but thanks to technology, they managed to join online. The meeting was split into 2 sessions, the morning session where experts gave speeches, shared their knowledge and ideas as well as talk about challenges in MPA education. The afternoon session comprised of the competition, where 12 groups from different universities took part. The topics presented included Digital Governance, Digital Currency, and other groups spoke about promoting local village businesses by expanding to outside markets through the use of technology in this digital era. 

I learned about the various challenges that both the teaching staff and students face during their course of studying for MPA. All the experts mentioned the importance of cultivating good quality MPA talent for a brighter future. They spoke about Digital Governance as a way to embrace technology and fully utilize it to create convenience and boost efficiency in serving the people. They spoke about bettering the MPA qualification by adjusting the curriculum to not only focus on imparting theoretical knowledge but also on exposing students to acquire practical knowledge. This was followed by applause to the competition presenters by Professor Dr. Xu Xiaolin who mentioned that before it wasn’t encouraged for public workers to learn and talk about business as it didn’t give a good outlook to the general public, but he acknowledged that times have changed, and it is now important for MPA students to have diversified knowledge so that public workers can better serve people. They explained the importance of well-experienced individuals in public service to train young talents. Giving an example of some institutions, they iterated the importance of learning from other universities both local and abroad on how to best deliver MPA education. 

It was also noted that many graduates of MPA from the class of 2001 across different universities in China became a leader in public office, so they explained that it is important to cultivate youths as they are future leaders. One particular speaker also mentioned that MPA education must not end in the classroom but must also involve the community and local governments cooperating together to breed people that will promote development.


Throughout the forum I was listening attentively and jotted down notes, it was an amazing experience. I was challenged by the presentations done by fellow students in the competition, and I hope to share the knowledge I gained from the conference with my fellow classmates and other MPA students so that we can also build a team and represent our school, and our university next year. Thank you to the teachers from our school, the Dean and the entire management, and the university at large for granting me this opportunity. I highly appreciate the encouragement and support they offer, on behalf of other MPA students, we forever cherish your guidance.