The first meeting of the third Governing Board was held successfully by INRLUED on 6-7 April 2017. Tian Xuejun, vice minister of  Education and director of China national commission for UNESCO, Dong Qi, president of the Beijing Normal University(BNU), and Ms. Anne Coupez, representation of UNESCO headquarter in Paris, attended the meeting and delivered speeches. Before the meeting, Cheng Jianping, Secretary of the Party Committee of BNU, met with Tian Xuejun and his delegation. Zhou Zuoyu, Vice President of BNU attended the meeting andmade a concluding speech on behalf of the university.

The Governing Board and Advisory Committee of INRULED were established at the meeting, with members mainly from influential officials and experts of UNESCO and educational research institutions at home and abroad. The meeting discussed important documents such as the Statute of INRULED and the procedural rules of the governing board, adapted the newly nominated director and considered the medium-term strategic plan of INRULED for 2017-2021 and the annual work plan and budget for 2017.

The participants fully affirmed the achievements of INRULED in the field of international rural education. In the next step, under the leadership of the Governing Board, further  INRULED will further strengthen its capacity building and improve its management level according to the improvement requirements proposed by the UNESCO evaluation, drawing on the governance experience of other international organizations and fully integrating with the specific practical experience of China. During the meeting, the participants also had a discussion with the relevant managers of China basic education quality monitoring Collaborative Innovation Center at the Beijing Normal University, and visited the Institute of Intelligent Learning.

China has long been committed to supporting the educational development of all countries, especially in rural areas. In 1994, INRULED were set up under the cooperation between China and UNESCO. To better play its role, the Ministry of Education decided to relocate INRULED from Baoding, Hebei province, into Beijing Normal University in 2008 to better serve the “education for all” goal globally, especially in rural areas. Under the framework of "2030 Education Agenda", INRULED will continue to explore ways to develop rural education and contribute to the achievement of related goals.