Global Education Summit 2017 Ushers in the New Era of Future Global Education

The summit invited more than 300 prominent figures in the global education industry, including Li Wei, Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council and Chairman of China Development Research Foundation, Du Zhanyuan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Dong Qi, President of Beijing Normal University, Lu Mai, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of China Development Research Foundation, Chen Li, Vice President of Beijing Normal University and Bai Yunfeng, President of TAL. Themed on Advancing Education through Science and Technology Innovation, the summit looked into topics such as education development driven by science and technology, revolution of learning approaches in the future, AI and personalized learning, globalized international education, early-stage development of children, and more balanced education development enabled by science and technology with keynote speeches, roundtable discussions, special dialogues and so on. It discussed the development trends of the education industry in the future from multiple angles. The summit aims to become a new linkage between current and future education and between the education sector of China and of the world.

New Trend for Future Education: "Technology+Education"

Education is a flourishing industry at home and abroad. According to the 2016 Edtech Trends released by Edtech Europe, global expenditure on education has exceeded 5 trillion US dollars and is expected to grow at 8% every year to reach 8.1 trillion US dollars in 2020. The expenses on educational technology are also well above the industrial average, growing at 17% every year. At the summit, many domestic and foreign guests agreed that science and technology are ushering in a better future for education.

Li Wei, Minister of the Development Research Center of the State Council and Chairman of China Development Research Foundation shared his vision for future education: "President Xi stressed that education holds the key to the improvement of the overall quality and well-rounded development of the people and serves as an important foundation for national rejuvenation and social progress. Education is of great significance to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We must give top priority to education by deepening reform in this area and stepping up the effort to modernize education, so as to provide quality education that lives up to the people's expectations." Li Wei also said that technology will bring more opportunities than challenges to mankind.

"On behalf of Minister Chen Baosheng, I would like to express warm congratulations on this summit," said Du Zhanyuan, Vice Minister of Education. Technology is one of the most important factors for future education. Especially the development of IT has revolutionary impact on education development and tremendous effect on realizing education development goals and promoting education reform. Therefore, the Chinese Government has placed great importance on ICT for education and introduced the 10 Year Plan for the Development of ICT for Education (2011-2020), where the project of "three links and two platforms" suitable for Chinese national conditions was proposed. Substantial progress has been made in this area over the years.

The discussions at GES on the first day were exciting, sparking ideas among Chinese and foreign guests. It is reported that the following day will unveil more keynote speeches and sub forums. Zhang Bangxin, Founder and CEO of TAL and Yu Minhong, Chairman of New Oriental Education and Technology Group, will present a much anticipated one-on-one dialogue. The summit will be an arena for Chinese education enterprises to give their voice. 

Education empowered by AI: Mapping out the New Blueprint of Future Education

Excellent education achievements are breaking down the barriers of time and space, economy and culture. The Internet, big data, AI, VR and other technologies are integrating into more educational scenarios and profoundly changing people's ways of thinking, working, living and learning.

Beijing Normal University, one of the sponsors, has full expectations for the application of AI in education and teaching and has made strategic layouts in this regard. Its president Dong Qi pointed out in his speech that in October this year, Beijing Normal University initiated the establishment of the National Alliance for Research on Children Brain and Intelligence in collaboration with 18 high-level research institutes including Peking University, Tsinghua University and Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Alliance mainly focuses on the laws of brain and intelligence development, learning and cognition dysfunction, and relevant technologies and methods to improve brain and intelligence. "In the new educational ecosystem, especially when this new ecosystem is created by science and technology such as AR, VR and AI, these have exacted new impact on the development of brain and intelligence of children and have also provided unprecedented opportunities for the liberation and development of the children's brains," said Dong Qi. The research findings on brain and intelligence will help the educators better understand the learners and better apply other technological achievements for more efficient education and learning, so as to create a better future for the learners.

TAL has made serious explorations in the field of "education + technology", which is a highlight at the summit. Zhang Bangxin, Founder and CEO of TAL said that AI will be the keyword for future development of educational institutions, and the mission and vision of TAL is to advance education through science and technology. TAL will grow from an offline company to a technology company and from an operating company to a data-driven technology company. In this process, ITS, IPS, dual-teacher classroom, facial expression recognition technology, etc., are all important milestones for its technology development. Liu Yachao, Co-founder of TAL said at the summit that technology is having a profound impact on education sector. The principal entities and practitioners in this industry have changed. TAL gives very high priority to technology development and sees as its own mission to advance education through science and technology.

Vice Minister of Education, Du Zhanyuan also commented in his speech on AI's impact on education that "we are aware that the rapid development of AI will have greater revolutionary impact on education and will present the space for wider cross-border cooperation between education and industry." Du also shared the vision for future development of education in China which is to build a digitalized educational system based on the Internet and able to provide lifelong personalized education for all, so that more open, suitable, people-centered, fair and sustainable education will be realized.

Zhu Yongxin, Vice Chairman of The Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy and Under Secretary General of the CPPCC, Chen Li, Vice President of Beijing Normal University, Tang Daosheng, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent all agreed with this opinion. Zhu Yongxin held that the allocation of educational resources in the future would be realized on a global scale rather than on a national one. The issue to address in the future is how to use data and put in place a better evaluation system for individuals. Che Li also pointed out that IT has become the internal driving force for educational reform and development which not only provides us with the new methods but more importantly also gives us new support for innovation in the new educational system and new service model by enabling us to think out of the box and understand the new laws of teaching and learning. Tang Daosheng stressed that cloud technology has solved the problem of connecting things. The connection of videos and audios are the change driven by the most basic technology. Moreover, big data and AI have also helped address some of the bottlenecks in the current education model and facilitate the realization of personalized education.

At the summit, Huang Yan, CTO of TAL, Wu Ying, General Manager for Investment of TAL and Yang Songfan, head of AI Lab of TAL all discussed how to transform the way of learning in the future and mapped out the blueprint of future education with analysis on AI and personalized learning integration, and the effort to utilize capital to promote technology revolution and education innovation from their respective angles.

"GSV in China": Look at Future Global Education from here

TAL and other well-positioned education enterprises in China were active participants at the recent sessions of ASU-GSV where they have showed the world the breathtaking growth of China's educational technology. TAL, one of the sponsors of GES, always focuses on the studies of educational technology with forward-looking vision. At the summit, Bai Yunfeng, President of TAL shared his thought on future education on behalf of TAL: "Educational revolution must stay ahead of industrial revolution. Technology advancement is an effective way to promote education that benefits all." Bai also said that TAL will work to advance education through science and technology and usher in a better future in collaboration with public schools, private schools and third party science and technology institutions under the leadership of the government.

Dozens of top crossover dialogues at this GES have revealed the new significance of "education + technology" in different dimensions. As a respected event with great international influence, GES deserves the reputation as China's GSV. Michael Moe, Founder and CEO of GSV talked about his idea about future education cooperation between China and other countries in his speech "From the Silk Road to Silicon Valley" and said that while the ancient Silk Road focused on the connectivity of commodities, the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China works to realize a better integration and connection between the East and the West. Li Wei, President of the Development Research Center of the State Council and Chairman of China Development Research Foundation emphasized that "education is of great importance to the future and the common development of mankind, and therefore requires the participation of and extensive exchanges between governments, international organizations, non-public organizations, enterprises, universities and think tanks. We need to create and make good use of international exchange platforms to share knowledge and summarize experiences, so as to promote the common development of mankind."

Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Du Zhanyuan also called on the participants of the GES to work together, share development experiences and carry out in-depth cooperation, with a view to realizing the beautiful vision for education in various counties and making bigger contribution to creating a community of shared future for mankind. 

Education and technology hold the key to national strength and prosperity. With the improvement of the overall education quality and the realization of educational equity, China is turning from a country with a big education sector into a country with a strong education sector. China has become an important contributor for global educational technology advancement. The GES will also become a new trademark of education in China and a force for good to be reckoned with. 

SOURCE TAL Education Group