President S. Joe Qin attends the 2024 Beijing Forum
Prof S. Joe Qin (eighth left), President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science at Lingnan University, and other principal guests jointly release the "White Paper on Digital Intelligence Education Development".
On 1 November 2024, the 21st Beijing Forum opened in the Fangfei Garden of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. This year's forum, "The Harmony of Civilizations and Prosperity for All — The Era of Innovation and Advancement of Mankind," gathered internationally known figures and scholars together to share insights on important global issues. Prof S. Joe Qin, President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science at Lingnan University, was invited to the opening ceremony, and he and other principal guests took the stage to jointly release the "White Paper on Digital Intelligence Education Development".
The White Paper has collected diverse cases from well-known universities around the world, including two from Lingnan University, “Digital intelligence education case study – CUS BACS curriculum system” and “IDEAL-Gen.AI: Revolutionizing Instructional Design with Generative AI”.
During the forum, President S. Joe Qin was invited to take part in a roundtable discussion at the Global Innovation Forum on Digital Intelligence Education Fostering an Inclusive, Equitable, and Collaborative Future. The subject was "Humanities Meet Artificial Intelligence: Concepts, Technologies, and Ethics." President Qin talked about the latest developments in digital education at Lingnan University, particularly the School of Data Science, the introduction of new undergraduate programmes, and the inclusion of artificial intelligence as a core curriculum course for first-year undergraduates. These initiatives reflect the university’s proactive adoption of digitalisation.
Addressing the impact of artificial intelligence on education, President Qin said "Regardless of the stage of technological development, humans remain at the centre, and technology remains a tool that must align with human values." He illustrated this with the example of AlphaGo defeating the world champion in 2016, pointing out that while AI may surpass human abilities, people still prefer watching humans due to the inherent interest of seeing how people make mistakes and then recover. President Qin believes that in this age of artificial intelligence, education should focus on enhancing human values rather than creating competition between human beings and machines. Lingnan’s liberal arts education has consistently upheld the tradition of whole person education.
Prof S. Joe Qin (middle) takes part in a roundtable discussion at the Global Innovation Forum.
Prof S. Joe Qin joins the DI-IDEA council meeting.
Lingnan University was invited to join the Digital Intelligence International Development Education Alliance (DI-IDEA), and President Qin went to their council meeting, where he reviewed the alliance's reports and made suggestions for its future development. He expressed Lingnan's willingness to host the alliance’s forums in Hong Kong, thereby contributing to global exchanges and cooperation in digital and intelligent education.
Peking University established the DI-IDEA together with 30 prestigious institutions worldwide to address the opportunities and challenges facing global higher education in the digital era, and it was officially launched at the Beijing Forum on November 3, 2023.
The Beijing Forum, an international academic event overseen by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China and co-sponsored by Peking University, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, and the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, has been held annually since 2004.
Prof S. Joe Qin (second right, second row), President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science, and Prof Li Dong-hui (right, second row), Associate Vice-President (Experiential Learning Projects) at Lingnan University attend the 21st Beijing Forum.