In August 2001, the first World Women University Presidents Forum (WWUPF), which jointly sponsored by Communication University of China(originally Beijing Broadcasting Institute) , All-China Women's Federation Liaison Department and the Social Education Center of China Central Television (CCTV), was a complete success. The leaders of the National People's Congress (NPC), the State Council, the All-China Women' s Federation (ACWF), the Ministry of Education of China, the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT), Beijing municipal government, as well as the officials of foreign embassies in China together with more than 100 women presidents and women secretaries from different countries and regions met in Beijing and discussed the general topic “The Development Strategy of Higher Education in the New Century” extensively and deeply .
Peng Peiyun, the vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of NPC and the president of ACWF, said “it is of great significance that in the opening year of the next century, women presidents and cadres at home and abroad are gathering here for the WWUPF on the development strategy of higher education in the new century”. She looked back the history of Chinese women participation in the management of state and social affairs and put forward the following two points for the participants: first, we should care for the growth of female university teachers and students; second, we should promote universities to make an emphasis on theory research on women. She hoped that participants would give full play to their advantages to play a greater role in the further emancipation and development of the Chinese women.
According to the vice minister of the Ministry of Education of China, Zhang Xinsheng, the most striking feature in the 21th Century was that it was an era of knowledge-driven economy. As the most important carrier of knowledge, universities were increasingly getting closer to the forefront and center of the economic development and prosperity of the society. “After all, education dominates the future of a country.”And for any university, the president was the key to its development. Thus, it was a historic event that the World Women University Presidents Forum was held in China for the first time. From perspectives of women presidents, it gave advice and suggestions on the development of global higher education and discussed about the strategic development of universities, and promoted the further development of higher education in China.
Zhao Shi, the deputy director of SARFT, put forward that the internationalization of modern education not only referred to the exchange and sharing of science and technology, but also included the integration and cooperation of culture. The issues of education, women and media were the main topics in the new century. As an important force in higher education, women presidents had a deep communication and discussion in the forum from their feminine perspectives and different cultural viewpoints, which would inevitably promoted innovation of higher education both in practice and theory continuously.
The deputy mayor of Beijing, Lin Wenyi, from the perspective of a city manager, based on the need of the society, put forward his opinions on higher education in the following three points. Firstly, the vitality of the development of higher education lay in its preferably meeting the need of the social development. Secondly, another vital problem facing higher education was how to have a forward-looking strategic vision to keep vigorous and how to predict the development trend of economy and culture by standing in the forefront of the world in order to take a lead in talents cultivation. Thirdly, the social responsibility of higher education should be how to cultivate the social conscience and set up moral models for the society.
Professor Liu Ji’ nan, the president of WWUPF, said it was undoubtedly significant to develop higher education by taking advantage of higher education reform in the new century to invite women presidents from all over the world to talk about higher education’ s gains and losses during the last century, to outlook the future development of universities, to exchange women presidents’ strategies of running the university and teaching doctrines and to discuss the path of success and the mental journey of intellectual women. Each country had its own unique culture and tradition, and its own rational thinking and practical experience. This forum provided an opportunity for domestic and overseas women presidents to enjoy a happy getting-together and express their opinions on common topics deeply. In this way, we could achieve the purpose of communicating and exchanging ideas and brainstorming. This was also our original intention to hold this forum.
Ma Yanjun, Member of the Standing Committee of the ACWF and Head of the Organization and Liaison Department, made a closing speech at the forum, summarizing the overall situation and outstanding features of the forum. The forum brought the women elites engaged in higher education management together and provided an opportunity to demonstrate the overall strength and level of women university presidents at home and abroad. Through keynote speeches and group discussions, communications and exchanges were achieved. The four prominent features of the forum were as follows: firstly, it reflected women university presidents’ sense of responsibility and urgency to promote the reform and development of higher education; secondly, it represented women university presidents’ strong sense of innovation; thirdly, it showed the overall level of women university presidents, fully demonstrated their talents and enhanced their mutual understanding; fourthly, the forum highlighted the characteristics of women.
Representatives of women university presidents from different countries and regions made keynote speeches at the forum. Cheng Jialing, the president of Taiwan Shih Hsin University, introduced the history and characteristics of Taiwan's higher education development as well as the status and challenges of women in the field of higher education. She also summarized the current focus of university education in Taiwan from three aspects: universal education, life-long education, and international education.
President Zhang Yunli of the University of Hawaii at Hilo put forward the "Five-Point Thinking" and shared it with all guests: firstly, how could we give young people and adults the necessary technical challenges in a changing world? Secondly, why did we have to deal with equality, opportunity and diversity in economic globalization? Thirdly, what skills must university presidents learn to successfully meet the challenges posed by the rapidly developing world? Fourthly, in a constantly changing world, who was the most successful leader in the search for success? Fifthly, compared with the past, we need leaders who could confront the challenges posed by a competitive and changing world and could preserve and protect our quality of life.
Rector Maria of the University of Belgrade in Yugoslavia proposed that universities should develop following three principles: disseminating scientific and technological knowledge; developing ideas and serving the society; cultivating people's moral qualities in education. She believed that to cope with globalization, universities should emphasize international academic exchanges and maintain the inheritance of humanistic ideas in the process of development so as to contribute to the establishment of a humane society.
Dean Nwawa Ben Zeh of the Hadassah School in Jerusalem, Israel believed that the vision of the leader was the force to unite, mobilize and call upon the people. And the core of leadership lay in the courage to plan and manage in a diversified way and the courage to make decisions. The improvement of university education required a systematic and scientific method of quality control and monitoring. She proposed the establishment of a "global network of women university presidents" so as to expand the communication among universities not only in language exchanges, but also in learning from each other and building long-term work plans together.
The following consensuses were reached at the forum: firstly, the structure and content of education, the awareness of managers and even the interactions between teachers and students were all important in education. Secondly, on the basis of improving the overall quality, the basic strategy and general trend of development for higher education in many countries lay in its popularization, diversification, internationalization, distance and life-long learning in order to cope with various challenges. Thirdly, in the light of the common challenges confronting international higher education and the special problems facing China, we should focus on the following four points for the development of higher education: firstly, we should attach importance to the thinking methods and basic concepts of higher education; secondly, we should make an emphasis on the higher education for ethnic minority groups and on the development of higher education in medical science. Thirly, we should study the different development strategies for universities at different levels and types; Fourthly, we should emphasize the development of women’s higher education and the management of colleges and universities for women.
The outcome of the forum has been compiled into the book Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in the New Century published by Communication University of China Press.
