On the afternoon of August 27, 2021, the Commendation Meeting of the 2021 Summer Internship Program of UNESCO INRULED was successfully held in Jingshi Hall, Beijing Normal University. Zeng Xiaodong, Executive Director of INRULED and Professor of Beijing Normal University, Kan Yue, Vice Dean of Education College of Zhejiang University, Mei Weihui, Project Lead Teacher of Education College of Zhejiang University, Zheng Hongying, Director of International Cooperation Office of Sichuan Normal University, Zhang Lili, Li Xingzhou, Sang Guoyuan and Li Baoping, Chief Experts of INRULED participated in the meeting; more than 20 project researchers and students from Zhejiang University, Northwest Normal University and Sichuan Normal University, as well as relevant staffs of INRULED participated.
In 2021, INRULED started its flagship program to develop the course series: "Education for Rural Development" for UNESCO member states, especially developing countries. These series of courses aim to share the concepts, tools, and experiences on "Education for Social Development", scrutinize and explain China's development achievement, and contribute to theoretical amendments and practical knowledge accumulation for the research on "Education for Rural Development". The summer internship project offered intern students and researchers a chance t fully immersed in the process of knowledge production.
During the summer, student interns and project researchers from the partner universities, chief experts and the project coordinators of INRULED all participated in developing five curricula, namely "Education for Rural Development: Key Indicators and Statistical Analysis", "Women Leadership and Rural Education Development", "Education Technology for Rural Development", "Skills Training for Rural Class Crossing" and "Rural Teachers for Social Development".
The meeting presented the outcomes of curricula development via project reports, expert comments, commendation of excellent teams and individuals. Lastly, INRULED and participants discussed and looked forward to future in-depth collaboration.
Zeng Xiaodong, Executive Director of INRULED, delivered a speech to thank the partner universities for their strong support, congratulated the researchers and students, and elaborated on the course objectives. Originated from the University of Sussex, development studies spearheaded the global research on development concerns. Nowadays, this subject is facing various obstacles ranging from thriving to near-stagnation. Reflections on the growth of emerging market nations, as well as Banerjee's study on the economics of poverty, have rekindled the hope in development studies since the turn of the new millennium. INRULED aspires to lead the exploration of development issues and contribute to the development research worldwide based on China's practice. The series course "Education for Rural Development" is the Centre's product model. We aim to utilize it as a springboard to involve more partners, generate discussion about development issues, and show efforts to integrate Chinese experience with advanced theories worldwide as Chinese scholars. Director Zeng further introduced the course design and follow-up arrangements. Given the practical considerations, the course will be available on the website via online teaching in English. The course development focuses on wide participation, encourages partner universities to engage in the process of course development via visiting researchers, internships, and the Summer Practice Project, to promote the ultimate shape and extension of the curricula.
Following that, each project team updated the group's curriculum development, including the development status, course description, and the demonstration of sample lessons. Chief experts provided feedback on the curriculum. "Education Technology for Rural Development" and "Skills Training for Rural Class Crossing" team were awarded "outstanding project team", and Xu Yaxuan, Yan Tianyi from Zhejiang University, and Huang Linjia from Sichuan Normal University were awarded "excellent individual". Mei Weihui from Zhejiang University and Zheng Hongying from Sichuan Normal University congratulated the researchers and students on their excellent performance during the project and expressed their interest to expand collaboration with INRULED.
At the end, Zhang Lili, on behalf of the Centre, thanked the participating universities for their strong support and acknowledged the researchers' and students' contribution to the project.
The Commendation Meeting marked the successful completion of the Centre's 2021 Summer Internship Project. More relevant materials will be released by the Centre, including the design concepts for the five development courses and English and Chinese versions of course descriptions. We welcome universities, teams, and individuals who are interested in the program to join us, be our partners, and promote the research and practice in the field of "Education for Rural Development".