On December 8, 2025, the closing ceremony of the Belt and Road Exchange Project 2025 Autumn Session was held at the Shicheng Lecture Hall of the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre (TEC). Professor Zhang Minxuan, Director of TEC, Professor Hu Guoyong, Deputy Director of TEC, Professor Wang Jie, Deputy Director of the International Teacher Education Centre of Shanghai Normal University, as well as around 40 educational officials, teacher educators, experts, scholars and primary and secondary school teachers from 14 countries attended the ceremony. The closing ceremony was presided over by Professor Wang Jie.
Prior to the ceremony, in the presence of all participants, Deputy Director Hu Guoyong and Mr. Anvar Kuvandikovich Sobirov, Director of the Samarkand Regional Center of Pedagogical Skills of Kazakhstan, solemnly signed the Memorandum of Understanding between UNESCO Teacher Education Centre and Samarkand Regional Center of Pedagogical Skills on behalf of their respective institutions. This signing is an important achievement based on previous friendly communication and full consultation between the two sides, marking that their cooperation in teacher professional development, educational resource sharing and other fields has entered a more pragmatic new stage.
At the closing ceremony, the audience first reviewed the wonderful moments of the project through a highlight video. Afterwards, 14 delegates from 14 countries shared their insights, experiences and future prospects of participating in the project respectively. They unanimously expressed gratitude to TEC for the thoughtful organization of the event, noting that the trip not only deepened their understanding of China's education development, but also built a platform for exchanges and interactions among all parties, and they were full of expectations for future educational cooperation with China.
After the delegates' speeches, Professor Hu Guoyong, Deputy Director of TEC, delivered a closing address. He first congratulated all participants on the successful completion of the project, stating that this initiative aimed to address a series of challenges facing current teacher development, build a bridge for educational colleagues worldwide to communicate, pool wisdom and find solutions to common problems in national education development. He hoped that this event would serve as a new starting point for China to deepen educational cooperation with all parties, and expressed willingness to further expand the depth of exchanges and cooperation in teacher professional development with all partners in practice. Finally, the certificate presentation ceremony was held in a warm and solemn atmosphere, where participants received their certificates of completion from Professor Hu Guoyong one by one and took group photos to mark the occasion.
This project was held in both Shanghai and Ningbo, consisting of a series of activities including expert lectures, participant sharing sessions and field visits. It aimed to help educators from BRI partner countries gain a solid understanding of the concepts, practices and experiences of China's education development, promote educational cooperation and mutual understanding among all parties, and further consolidate the foundation for cooperation between China and BRI partner countries in teacher professional development. According to questionnaire feedback, the series of activities under this project were highly praised by all participants. Going forward, TEC will take this project as an opportunity to continuously strengthen high-level exchanges and interactions with educators from BRI partner countries, ensuring that the outcomes of the project take root and bear fruit in practice.
Photos and Text: UNESCO Teacher Education Centre (TEC)
