The Sino-British College (SBC) 10th Anniversary Conference and Inaugural Annual Conference was successfully held on 27-28 October 2016 as part of the 110th anniversary celebration for the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST).
Themed on “Responsible leadership, global citizenship and the role of education – what might the last 10 years tell us about the next 10 years?”, the Conference was hosted by SBC in association with British Council and Greenleaf Publishing. It is designed to provide a forum for discussion on the key themes of responsible leadership and global citizenship and the role of education institutions, particularly universities, in developing students who will behave responsibly throughout their careers and be capable of operating in different cultural contexts.
Held on the morning of 27 October, the opening ceremony was chaired by Professor Tian Weifeng, Vice-President of USST and Dean of SBC. Professor Tian also gave a welcome speech on behalf of Professor Hu Shougen, President of USST and Chair of the SBC Management Council. Honorary Professor Matthew Knowles, Consul (Culture and Education), Area Director East China, Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulate-General and member of SBC IAG attended the Opening Ceremony and gave his warmest congratulations to the success of SBC achieved over the past 10 years. Nearly 40 members from the Deans’ Association of Chinese-foreign Co-operation in Running Schools were also invited to attend the event.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, Professor John Wilson, Principal and CEO of SBC said: “The overarching theme of the Conference is related to SBC’s involvement in the United Nations initiative of Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) and, in that context, the Conference provides an opportunity to reflect on the last 10 years to consider what lessons we can learn to inform our practices over the next 10 years.”
Following the initial announcement in April this year, 25 submissions of papers and presentations from our UK partner universities and other educational institutions as well as within the SBC faculty were accepted to present at the Conference. A wide range of topics have been discussed during the two-day event, from practice of PRME and Global Compact in responsible leadership, experiences with transnational education in China and the UK to cutting-edge Engineering-related subjects in relation to environment and sustainability.
In addition, 6 keynote speakers were invited to attend the Conference, i.e. Professor Zong Wa, Deputy Secretary-General of China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), Professor Colin Bailey, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester, John Peters, CEO of GSE Research and Greenleaf Publishing, Professor Chris Rudd, Provost of The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Professor Xi Youmin, Executive President of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and Professor Yang Wuqiang, Professor of Electronic Instrumentation at the University of Manchester and member of the SBC International Advisory Group (IAG).
In his keynote speech entitled “Missions and Challenges of Chinese-foreign Joint Institutions”, Professor Zong Wa shared his knowledge and experience about the background and development of joint institutions in China as well as aims to be achieved over the next few years. He highly recognised the success achieved by SBC as a fine example of international university college adopting the unique “1 to N” model for Sino-UK collaboration with innovative approaches for teaching and learning.
Another distinguished keynote speaker Professor Colin Bailey talked about the role of higher education in formulating and promoting international relationships from an educationalist’s perspective with a particular focus on the internationalisation of the University of Manchester in setting its vision, strategy and plans of activities for the future.
Apart from participants from other institutions, the Conference was also attended by faculty and students at SBC. As the first ever major academic event at SBC, the Conference was very well received and was considered as beneficial and enlightening for students studying all subjects at all level.
Professor John Wilson said: “I am very grateful to the British Council and Greenleaf Publishing for supporting the Conference, to our distinguished keynote speakers, to all colleagues who helped organise the Conference, gave presentations and engaged with the sessions and to our students for their attendance. I would also like to acknowledge how impressed everyone was with the Student Posters. The Conference was linked to our involvement in PRME and I look forward very much to building on its success in planning our 2017 Conference.”
