From May 11 to 13, the 2026 World Digital Education Conference hosted in Hangzhou by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China and the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province. Zhou Peng，Vice president of UPC, led a delegation to the conference upon invitation and attended the signing ceremony for the joint establishment of the “Open Learning Centre, Gqeberha, South Africa” on behalf of the university.
Zhou Peng delivered a speech at the parallel session on lifelong education of the conference, and signed the agreement on the joint establishment of the Open Learning Centre, Gqeberha, South Africa with representatives from The Open University of China and Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. He stated that the joint construction of the Open Learning Centre, Gqeberha, South Africa is a concrete measure taken by the university to earnestly implement President Xi Jinping’s initiative of setting up “overseas learning centers” in BRICS countries and respond to the development call of the “Global South”. Relying on the Open Learning Centre, Gqeberha, South Africa, the university will join hands with The Open University of China and Nelson Mandela University,South Africa to give full play to their respective distinctive school-running features and resource advantages, focus on fields such as digital economy and clean energy, thoroughly implement the BRICS Digital Education Capacity Building Program, and strive to build a new-type smart education hub integrating resource sharing, co-construction of courses, talent cultivation, scientific research cooperation and cultural exchanges, so as to contribute the strength of UPC to empowering global lifelong education with digitalization and promoting “Greater BRICS Cooperation”.
Under the theme of “Artificial Intelligence in Education: Transformation, Development and Governance”, the conference attracted more than 850 distinguished guests, including government officials, heads of international organizations, diplomatic envoys to China, presidents of renowned universities and Chinese and foreign experts and scholars from 65 countries and regions around the world. The participants jointly looked forward to the global trends and brand-new opportunities of “Artificial Intelligence + Education”, and eight achievements were released at the conference, including China Smart Education Development Report (2025-2026) and Global Digital Education Development Index (2026).
Translated: Sun Yuqi, Geng Haiwei
Reviewed: Xu Xiaoyan
Updated: 2026-05-20
