On March 8, UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED) held an expert consultation meeting on medium and long-term development planning in the fifth meeting room of Jingshi Xuetang in Beijing Normal University. Conducted in the combination of online and offline, the meeting invited more than 20 senior scholars from UNESCO National Committee, relevant departments of UNESCO headquarters and category 2 centers. Zhou Zuoyu, Vice President of Beijing Normal University, and Qin Changwei, Secretary General of Chinese National Committee for UNESCO, delivered opening speeches respectively.   

Zhou Zuoyu, Vice President of Beijing Normal University, first expressed his gratitude to the participating experts. Then he emphasized that as the first batch of category 2 centers of UNESCO, INRULED should put forward new missions and higher requirements in the new situation and give full play to its standing as a focal point to both introduce the international experiences and tell China’s story.

Qin Changwei, Secretary General of Chinese National Commotion for UNESCO, mentioned that INRULED should not only focus on the missions of UNESCO but also pay close attention to China’s foreign policy and internationalization strategy. The medium and long-term development planning of INRULED should have an international view, an overall view and a development view.

Tang Qian, former UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, mentioned that INRULED should seek to actively engage with the international community and formulate the future plans and actions from an international perspective. Also, INRULED should step up efforts in increasing visibility and enlarging social influence.

Zeng Xiaodong, the Executive Director of INRULED, introduced the new management team and reported the medium and long-term development planning. The plan takes five goals as the action plan: promoting the development of international rural education and research methods and technologies, promoting cooperation among member countries in rural human resource development, information exchange and dissemination, international cooperation in rural education, and establishing a network of rural education researchers.

Wang Li, Deputy Director of INRULED, reported the centre's 2021 annual plan, elaborating on the programs to be rolled out such as the Revolving Door Program, the African Project, the International Seminar on Education for Poverty Alleviation, etc. Then, the leaders and experts put forward many constructive suggestions on the planning and development of INRULED. Also, they discussed on the positioning and development mode of UNESCO category 2 centers to better align with the educational priorities of UNESCO.

At the end of the meeting, Huang Ronghuai, Director of INRULED, made a summary, calling on strengthened support and renewed commitment to the development of the centre and for the sound organization of the incoming meeting of the INRULED executive board.