From May 16 to 17, 2025, the International Symposium on the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of Comparative Education Review and Educational Reform and Human Development was held at Beijing Normal University (Haidian Campus). The symposium, themed Building a World Education Hub and the New Mission of Comparative Education Research, featured 2 roundtable meetings, 3 keynote speeches, and 39 parallel forums. A total of 6 faculty and students from TEC (UNESCO Teacher Education Centre) participated, including Professor Hu Guoyong, Professor Kong Lingshuai, Associate Professor Song Jia, Associate Professor Bian Cui, doctoral student Hou Jia, and master’s student Xu Miao, who delivered speeches and provided comments.
Professor Hu Guoyong attended the roundtable meeting themed Construction of an Independent Knowledge System and Theoretical Innovation in Comparative Education. He congratulated Comparative Education Review on its 60th anniversary, affirming its role in leading China’s international and comparative education research and supporting the building of a strong education country. He noted that as Chinese education moves to the center of the international stage, it needs to take on more responsibilities but also faces the challenge of insufficient discourse power, citing the China-UK Mathematics Teacher Exchange Program as an example. Finally, he emphasized that the journal’s adherence to the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind and its promotion of the construction of an independent knowledge system and the transformation of research methods are of great significance.
Associate Professor Song Jia was invited to participate in the roundtable forum themed International Experience and China’s Path in Building a World Education Hub. Together with Professor Wang Yingjie from Beijing Normal University, Wang Libing, Director of the Health and Education Division at UNESCO, Professor Rao Congman, Dean of the Institute of International and Comparative Education at Northeast Normal University, and Professor Teng Jun, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University, she discussed the international experience, Chinese challenges, and future paths in building a world education hub. Additionally, Associate Professor Song Jia served as a commentator in Sub-forum B13, providing individual comments on the speeches in the group.
Associate Professor Bian Cui delivered a report entitled Reform of France’s Scientific Research System from the Perspective of Reconstructing a Science Hub: Drivers, Policy Paths, and Reflections on Controversies and served as the moderator in Sub-forum B10. Focusing on French President Macron’s 2023 reform initiative to complete in-depth transformation of the scientific research organizational structure within 18 months and related measures, she analyzed the underlying drivers of this transformation—long-accumulated structural contradictions in France’s scientific research system. She examined these within a historical context, aiming to reveal France’s efforts in institutional adjustment and innovation, as well as the endogenous institutional challenges and potential opportunities it faces in returning to the status of a world science hub.
Doctoral student Hou Jia delivered a report entitled Dilemmas and Paths in Building a World-Class Education Hub—An Analysis Based on Dissipative Structure Theory in Sub-forum B01. Using dissipative structure theory as the analytical framework, she analyzed the new connotative characteristics of a world-class education hub and the new dilemmas China faces in building such a hub, and proposed specific promotion paths.
Master’s student Xu Miao delivered a report entitled From Trauma to Strength: Resilience Building of Ukraine’s Education System and International Cooperation Amid the Ukraine Crisis in Parallel Forum B12, sharing with participants the background, practices, effectiveness, and enlightenment of Ukraine’s education system resilience building amid overlapping crises.
With the theme Building a World Education Hub and the New Mission of Comparative Education Research, the symposium saw participating scholars put forward their respective insights and enlightenment. They discussed the building of a world education hub and the new mission of comparative education research, contributing wisdom and efforts to the development of a globally influential education hub and the advancement of the comparative education discipline.
