5-7 September, Beijing: University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) attended the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) and exhibited the latest international communications in the educational sector and development of online education.

Professor Nick Miles, Provost of UNNC, gave a keynote speech at the 2020 International Forum on Trade in Education Services, sharing the University’s experience of dealing with the pandemic and his insights into international education. 

He also gave interviews to CCTV, CGTN and Xinhua News.

During the interview with Xinhua News, Professor Miles explained how UNNC reopened its campus and became the first Sino-foreign university to resume face-to-face teaching at the end of April, with around 90 per cent of domestic students returning (Xinhua News).

In terms of the challenges and opportunities brought by Covid-19, he thought that the pandemic pushed and accelerated the digital transformation of universities. “To help students feel closer to face-to-face teaching, six sample classrooms were upgraded,” said Professor Miles.

“This work aims to facilitate the better blending of online and offline teaching, with transformed rooms integrating flexible furniture as well as interactive and sharing technologies, and allows off-campus students to gain a real-time view of instructors and let them easily participate in discussions.”

UNNC is a pioneer in Sino-foreign cooperative education. As the Provost, Professor Miles has deep understanding and thorough thinking in international communications. He said that (Chinese) President Xi’s speech during the CIFTIS was quite impressive. “President Xi talks about cooperation across the world, between different societies and different countries to find a cure (to Covid-19). And I think that this is a really big example he uses of human beings coming together to solve a really critical problem.”

As the first Sino-Foreign university in China, UNNC has been a positive role model for many years and has been invited to participate in various exhibitions of such scale. This time, UNNC took the opportunity to showcase its latest cooperation achievements in international exchange and online education.

Recently, UNNC was licensed by Cambridge International to be the first Professional Development Qualifications (PDQ) centre in East Asia to deliver PDQs wholly online. In October 2020, UNNC will begin enrollment of in-service teachers and school leaders. This certificate level programme is also one of the example achievements of UNNC online education displayed during the CIFTIS.

The 2020 CIFTIS runs from 4 to 9 September.