Lingnan President S. Joe Qin attends the 2025 World Digital Education Conference to speak on “AI and Future Teachers” with scholars from all over the world
President Qin at the “Transformation of Teachers’ Roles and Enhancement of Abilities in the Intelligent Era” forum of the 2025 World Digital Education Conference.
President Qin delivering a talk on “The New Era of AI and Data Science” at the Boya Lecture Series of Central China Normal University.
President Qin explains the development and applications of AI to teachers and students of Hubei Wuchang Experimental High School.
Prof S. Joe Qin, President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science at Lingnan University, led a delegation to the 2025 World Digital Education Conference in Wuhan, hosted by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. President Qin was invited to discuss “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Future Teachers” with scholars from around the world at the “Transformation of Teachers’ Roles and Enhancement of Abilities in the Intelligent Era” forum.
In the parallel forum on 15 May, President Qin discussed “AI and Future Teachers” with other guests, emphasising that although the teaching profession will not disappear, universities need to re-evaluate which majors and disciplines may decline and which increase in the era of AI. The forum was chaired by Prof Liu Sannyuya, Vice President of Central China Normal University, and guests included Prof Jacques Frémont, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ottawa; Prof Jonathan Charles Mason, Chair of the ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 36; Prof Luliia Filatova, Russian Academy of Education, Russia; and Mr Zhu Jun, Deputy Director of the Wuhan Municipal Education Bureau.
In an interview with Hubei Television, President Qin said that since August 2023 all staff and students at Lingnan University have had free access to versions of ChatGPT covering teaching, research, and management, with the recent addition of the DeepSeek option. He explained that universities need to nourish talent, phase out skill training that may be replaced by AI, and strengthen digital literacy. Lingnan University has made Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) a compulsory subject for all first-year students, and developed an AI lesson preparation system that improves teachers’ efficiency by 90 per cent.
On 16 May, President Qin was invited to speak on “The New Era of AI and Data Science” at the Boya Lecture Series of Central China Normal University, and received the Boya Lecture Series appointment certificate. On the same afternoon, he delivered a keynote speech, “AI Innovations in Higher Education”, at the third AIREA Forum on AI and Education, where he told scholars and experts from Germany, Japan, Australia, and Russia about Lingnan University's digital practices and insights. Prof Frankie Lam, Director of the Teaching and Learning Centre, also participated in the forum's roundtable discussion.
President Qin then visited the Hubei Wuchang Experimental High School, where Mr Dai Jianglian, Secretary of the Party Committee of the school, described its historical culture, and educational achievements, and President Qin introduced Lingnan’s history, latest developments, and world-class faculty, explaining its evolution into a comprehensive university in arts and sciences, and focus on cultivating students' comprehensive qualities and interdisciplinary capabilities. They discussed educational resources and developing the student admission base.
Finally, President Qin delivered a keynote speech to enthusiastic students of the Hubei Wuchang Experimental High School about AI and its future applications. The delegation also visited the Hubei Media Group and the Yangtze Optical Fiber and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company.