On the banks of the Ganjiang River, friends from all over the world gathered. On November 17, the 2025 International Conference on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research, and Application (Jiangxi) & Education International Cooperation and Exchange Conference, jointly organized by the Jiangxi Provincial Education Departmentand the Office of Foreign Affairs of the People's Government of Jiangxi Province, and undertaken by the Jiangxi Education International Cooperation and Teacher Development Center, was held as scheduled. Participants included envoys from Singapore, Malaysia and other countries, representatives from 60 universities in 17 countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Hungary, Russia, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan, as well as nearly 400 representatives from 113 domestic universities, all discussing cooperation plans together.
This year, Jiangxi has pressed the "fast forward" button in the field of international exchanges and cooperation. From the 2025 Jiangxi International People-to-People Exchange Week, the Foreign Experts Visit to Jiangxi, and the Jiangxi Sub-venue of the China International Talent Exchange Conference, tothe 2025 International Conference on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research, and Application (Jiangxi)that promotes substantial project signings, Jiangxi is increasingly confident and open, making frequent appearances on the international stage of education and technology cooperation, and opening a new chapter of "education providing the platform, industry playing the lead role, talents gathering, and cultures learning from each other."
The 2025 International Conference on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research, and Application (Jiangxi) & Education International Cooperation and Exchange Conferenceopened in Nanchang on November 17. Photo provided to Xinhua
Jiangxi's Practice of High-level Openness
This is the sixth consecutive year that Jiangxi has built this high-level international exchange platform. The content of the conference has expanded from the initial academic exchanges to project promotion, platform co-construction, technology transfer, cooperation negotiations, and talent introduction. Jiangxi's "international circle of friends" has gradually expanded.
During the opening ceremony on the morning of November 17, three rounds of important signings marked the further expansion of the "connotation" of the conference. The signing content covers two types: Sino-foreign cooperative education and "accompanying enterprises to go global". Together, they build an innovation chain that runs through "basic research-technical research-industrial application", and promote the comprehensive upgrading of Jiangxi's international industry-academia-research-application cooperation system. This layout clearly outlines Jiangxi's cooperation path: from "unilateral introduction" to "two-way embrace", and the deep integration of "bringing in" and "going global."
The quality and efficiency of "bringing in" have been improved. The signing of a number of high-level Sino-foreign cooperative education projects, such asJiangxi University of Finance and Economicswiththe University of Technology Sydney, Australia, and Nanchang Hangkong University with Belarusian State University, indicates that Jiangxi has achieved a leap from sporadic projects to large-scale and systematic introduction of high-quality overseas educational resources. Previously, the Queen Mary School, Nanchang Universityand the Griffith Digital Intelligence School, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economicswere approved by the Ministry of Education, realizing a breakthrough in Jiangxi's Sino-foreign cooperative education institutions and filling the gap in the field of high-level cooperative education.
A number of high-level Sino-foreign cooperative education projects were signed at the conference. Photo provided to Xinhua
The pace of "going global" is solid. What is more groundbreaking is the signing of the "accompanying enterprises to go global" section. Jiangxi's universities have joined hands with leading enterprises such as China Jiangxi International Economic and Technical Cooperation Co., LTD.,Jiangxi Salt Industry Group CO., LTD, Huawei Technologies Co., LTD., and Jiangxi China Coal International Holding Group Co., LTD.to directly embed education cooperation into the globalization strategy of enterprises. This model implements China's vocational education standards, professional courses, and talent training programs through overseas projects of enterprises, realizing the coordination of "education following output and industry-education". This year, more than 100 universities and enterprises in Jiangxi have formed the “Tiangong Academy”alliance, which is a systematic practice of "Jiangxi education going global". So far, 13 colleges and universities in the province have built 23 "Tiangong Academy/Workshops" in 15 countries such as Thailand, Pakistan, Zambia, and Hungary, output 42 professional standards, 136 core courses, and trained more than 3,000 overseas students.
These series of changes accurately target the national development orientation of expanding high-level opening up and deepening international education cooperation. Jiangxi is taking the initiative and practical actions to transform the top-level design into the "Jiangxi Practice" of serving the construction of a strong education country.
Innovative Fertile Soil for Sustainable Cooperation
Holding theInternational Conference on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research, and Applicationfor six consecutive years is not only about the signing results of the current session, but also about continuously optimizing the international cooperation ecology of Jiangxi through institutionalized and platform-based operations.
First of all, it has built a stable "international innovation circle". Hungarian Rectors’ Conference, Republican Scientific and Methodological Center, the Kyrgyz Republic, and other organizations have become regular participants in the conference, and cooperation has moved from temporary exchanges to long-term and institutionalized cooperation. As Dr. Dubéczi Zoltán, Secretary-General of Hungarian Rectors’ Conference, said, "Education is the most solid and enduring bridge connecting different civilizations." The accumulation of trust has paved the way for deeper cooperation.
Secondly, it has opened up the "last mile" of industry, education, research, and application. The enterprise-university docking session specially set up at the conference allows universities to directly face the needs of industries. The topic of "All Intelligence Accelerates the Digital and Intelligent Development of Education" discussed by Zhao Yixin, Vice President of Huawei Global Public Sector BUin the Keynote Speechesis precisely a cutting-edge issue of common concern to both universities and enterprises. This kind of cross-border dialogue effectively promotes the deep integration of innovation chains, industrial chains, and talent chains, providing international intellectual support for Jiangxi's advantageous industries such as aviation, new materials, new energy, and electronic information.
Furthermore, it has formed a gathering effect of "attracting talents with talents". During the previous "Foreign Experts Visit to Jiangxi" activity, Lu Chao, President of Nanchang Hangkong University, issued an invitation on the spot to experts in related fields to build joint laboratories and carry out joint research. At this conference, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics and the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, reached an agreement on joint talent training and joint research. It is the continuous efforts of the platform that have promoted cooperation intentions to become substantive.
In recent years, through a series of activities, Jiangxi has transformed "temporary and occasional" cooperation into "long-term and effective" talent and technology cooperation, building a dynamically expanding international "intellectual reservoir" for high-quality development.
International Education with Temperature
"Studying in Jiangxi not only allows me to continuously improve myprofessional knowledge, but also allows me to experience an incrediblyexcellentcampus life!" The remarks of Navaf Asif Shah, an international student at Jiangxi Vocational Technical College of Industry & Trade, in the short film at the opening ceremony of the conference, echoed the common voice of many international students in Jiangxi.
Thanks to the strong platform built by 2025 Jiangxi International People-to-People Exchange Week, the Jiangxi International Students' Chinese LanguageCompetition, and other series of platforms, the channels for international exchanges in higher education in Jiangxi have continued to widen, and the forms have become increasingly rich. On these platforms, international students are increasingly involved in interactive participation. They spontaneously become "spokespersons" for Jiangxi education and international image through various ways such as cultural performances, academic seminars, and social media, spreading a real, three-dimensional, and full of opportunities image of Jiangxi to the world.
At the same time, universities in Jiangxi have built a professional matrix that attracts international students based on their characteristic disciplines. The core competitiveness of the "Study in Jiangxi" brand has been formed, with clinical medicine at Nanchang University, traditional Chinese medicine culture at Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, ceramic art at Jingdezhen Ceramic University, economic management at Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, and Chinese international education at Jiangxi Normal University, making Jiangxi's profile and attraction in the international higher education landscape continue to increase.
Looking to the future, Jiangxi's education opening up to the world is going deeper. The next step is to transform the consensus and agreements reached at the conference into solid landing projects. AsMr.Karabaev Akparaly Davletalievich, Republican Scientific and Methodological Center, the Kyrgyz Republic, quoted from an ancient Chinese saying, "The ancestors plant trees, and the descendants enjoy the shade." The tree of cooperation that Jiangxi and international partners have planted together today needs continuous cultivation and care.
In the context of building a new development pattern, Jiangxi, a traditional inland hinterland, is vigorously building a new highland for China's education opening up and the integration of industry, academia, research, and application, with its profound cultural heritage, clear opening-up strategy, and practical cooperation measures. This "Jiangxi path" of promoting development through openness and seeking win-win cooperation through collaboration is becoming increasingly clear, also injecting continuous global momentum into the Jiangxi chapter of Chinese modernization.
