观点聚焦 | 院长贲圣林：后疫情时代中国的高等教育与创新及中爱合作建议
为期两天的第七届中国-爱尔兰商务峰会28日在爱尔兰科克市落下帷幕。会议以视频方式举行，主题为“后疫情时代世界经济中的中爱商业伙伴关系”。多位中外政、商业领袖及专家出席此次线上活动。
代表们就疫情下的商业领域问题进行了专业讨论；同时大会围绕亚洲的全球崛起——亚投行对于私营企业的机会、中国 “十四五”规划的全球业务影响、中国对外投资拉动经济复苏等议题开展交流。
浙大AIF、ZIBS院长贲圣林教授出席此次会议，并就《高等教育与创新》《高等教育质量带动创新和全球业务》等主题进行对话交流与探讨。
以下为贲圣林教授在此次峰会上的观点与建议精选。（附完整版原英文对话）
Q1
您如何看待后疫情时期中国高等教育质量及评价指标体系的变化？
1）疫情对国际学生的流动产生了一定负面影响，且对那些有赖于国际学生流入的院校影响更大。在此背景下涌现了一批"学术桥"项目，如浙大国际联合商学院（ZIBS）便接纳了大约300名无法前往美国学习的中国学生。
2）疫情无疑加速了数字化进程，我们也越来越适应线上（学习）生活，这使善于数字技术和乐于拥抱新事物的院校拥有了优势。ZIBS作为一所老牌大学中相对年轻的学院，正在积极应对教育环境的变化。我们的国际化团队通过在线课程或是网络研讨会的形式，创造了许多国际交流的机会。
3）疫情提高了人们对科学的重视程度，因此，一些有制药专业等STEM学科实力较强的大学将获得更多的关注并从中受益，比如获取更多的资金投入，以及对教育质量评价指标的（积极）影响。
4）疫情还提高了中国作为教育市场的吸引力。以ZIBS为例，今年我们收到了更多国际申请，录取了来自72个国家的200多名学生。这让我们的学生结构更加多样化，也有助于教育质量的提升。
Q2
您对中爱伙伴关系有何建议？如何合作以及最好的方法是什么？
首先，我同意之前嘉宾的观点，即中国大学相对较高的排名是选择潜在合作伙伴的重要指标。例如，浙江大学作为中国排名前五的大学，拥有高质量的教育水平和丰富多样化的生源，作为潜在合作伙伴优势显著。
关于如何合作和合作方式，我的建议可以分为以下几点：
1）“大格局地思考”。中国是一个幅员辽阔的国家，不同地区往往有其独特而多元的文化。但中国大学的共同点是具有远见和雄心。因此，制定明确详细的合作计划与勾勒清晰可见的发展进程，充分展示目标合作大学在与爱尔兰高校合作中的潜在收益，对于吸引中国大学尤为重要。
2）“耐心细致地执行”。逐步构建中国大学对与爱尔兰高等教育机构合作的信心，例如，建立两国师生学术交流项目以逐步加深了解，在此基础上进一步加强双方的纽带。在寻找合作伙伴及合作落实的进程中保持谨慎，清晰，仔细的态度，从地区、机构和工作方式的匹配等维度多方考量后决策。
3）“积极寻求中国政府的支持”。得到中国政府的积极支持对高等教育机构的长期发展和海外扩张起着非常重要的作用。这是由于中国地方政府经常向高校提供各种财政援助和补贴。
例如七年前，海宁市政府就投资约30亿人民币建设浙大国际联合商学院（ZIBS）所在的浙江大学海宁国际校区。因此获得地方政府的大力支持也是中国高校长期发展的重要因素之一。
而在合作伙伴的选择上，高校的地理位置、学校本身的排名和其人员的素质都可作为评估合作伙伴的重要因素，基于此，浙江大学是爱尔兰高校的上佳选择。
就地理位置而言，浙江大学主校区位于浙江省杭州市。浙江省以其蓬勃发展的数字经济闻名，2020年其GDP总量和人均水平分别位居全国第四和第五位。而杭州本身在数字经济领域发展势头全国领衔，2020年数字经济产业贡献了超过1/4的GDP，杭州也已发展为全国乃至全球领先的金融科技中心之一。
就学校声誉而言，浙江大学目前在中国大陆排名前三，在泰晤士报高等教育世界声誉排名和QS世界大学排名中常年稳居前100名。具体而言，浙江大学有18个学科获得国家“双一流”认定，39个学科在近期的评估中获得A级。该大学还以其学生的创业精神和领导力而闻名，是中国高校中校友在国内外领先的上市公司担任创始人或者高管的数量第一。
另外，ZIBS拥有非常完善的网络安全基础设施和丰富的学术资源，为国际学生开展学术研究提供了充分条件。我注意到爱尔兰已经在北京设立了第一个学习中心，如此迅速的举措和战略眼光值得称赞。
作为全球第二大经济体，中国每年经济增速持续领先美国，有望在未来几年一跃成为全球最大经济体。但希望爱尔兰高校扩大视野，不仅仅局限于北京。正如之前提到的，从发展前景、地理位置和教育资源方面，浙江所处的长三角地区相较于中国其他地区都拥有巨大潜力，可以作为爱尔兰高等教育机构选择合作伙伴的更优解。
浙江大学一直在积极探索与国外优质高等教育机构开展境外和境内合作的机会。随着全世界人民不断加深对中国文化与中国经济发展的了解的需求增加，中国高等教育产业也将逐渐成为全球热点，对于中国高等教育学位的认可将不断加深和拓宽。
浙江大学也积极寻求机遇，在全球范围内设立分支机构，开展对话与合作，以期为中国高等教育的国际合作和发展贡献力量。
以下为完整版原英文对话：
Q1
How do you see quality and quality metrics in China involving Post Covid? There’s been a lot of change.
1) There was some negative impact on International Mobility, especially for institutions more dependent on the international inflow of students. But for ZIBS, we have had the pleasure to host some of the Chinese students who were supposed to be studying in Cornell University or UIUC. They couldn’t travel to the US but benefitted from the approved academic bridge programs hosted by us.
2) In terms of Digitalization, online (learning) is becoming something that we have become more and more comfortable with. How tech-savvy the university is might determine how they can respond to the pandemic swiftly and take advantage of opportunities.
As a relatively young institution within an established university, ZIBS has a dynamic faculty and are responsive to the changing circumstance in education. Therefore, through online courses or webinars and given the fact that my colleagues are all fluent in English, we have opportunities to connect with the outside world.
3) For those universities stronger in STEM Subjects, they would gain much greater visibility because under the pandemic people have attached a lot more importance on science. Those universities might benefit from the trend and probably obtain more funding, which may affect the metrics as well.
4) It seems that the pandemic has improved the Attractiveness of China as an educational market. For ZIBS, the percentage of international students in the school reached 50%. We are receiving more applications from the international community and admitted over 200 students from 72 countries this year, which shows lot more diverse comparing to last year.
To conclude, in terms of Covid impact on quality and quality metrics, there is a bit of divergence between different institutions. Those institutions who are tech-savvy and willing to embrace digital tools will attract more students. And experience of Chinese universities can serve as an excellent example.
Q2
Do you have advice about the partnership between China and Ireland? How to partner and what is the best approach?
First, I agree with the previous ideas that the relative high rankings of Chinese universities are important indicators for forming potential partnerships. For example, Zhejiang University as a top 5 ranked university in China with high quality education and diverse sources of students, could be a good choice as a partner.
About the question that how to partner and the best approach, my suggestion could be divided into the following points.
1）The first suggestion is to “Think Big”. Because China is a huge nation with many provinces and cities with different locations tend to have their unique and diverse culture. But one thing in common is Chinese universities tend to be ambitious. Therefore, the best way to attract Chinese universities as partners is to devise clear plans and visible progress of development which can demonstrate the potential benefits for targeted Chinese universities from the proposed partnership
2）And meanwhile “Act Slow”. Do something which will help to build the confidence of Chinese universities on the feasibility of partnering with Irish higher education institutes. For example, Ireland could set up programs for student and faculty exchange to gradually build up credibility for further and strengthened partnership.
To summarize, the process of finding partners and working with them shall be cautious, clear-cut and specific. Different aspects of partnership need to be considered like diversity of regions, locations, institutions and working styles Working harder and taking longer time could help Ireland establish better cooperation with China.
3）Thirdly, another vital point is the positive attitude and support from Chinese government. This factor plays a very important role in the long-term development and overseas expansion of higher education institutions. It is quite often that local governments offer educational institutions with all sorts of financial aids and subsidies.
For example, the local government invested about 3 billion RMB in constructing the Haining International campus of Zhejiang University seven years ago.
To conclude, Firstly, think big to attract Chinese universities by illustrating visible benefits of partnership, act slow with attention to details to build confidence and credibility between partners, gain support of government and seek opportunities for financial support.
Secondly, always choose the right partner in terms of its location, the institution itself, and its people. Considering these factors, Zhejiang University could be a good choice for partnership as it is located in Hangzhou of Zhejiang province, driven by its booming digital economy, Zhejiang’s GDP and GDP per capita ranked the fourth and the fifth respectively, across the nation, in 2020.
It is noteworthy that the digital economic sector of Hangzhou, accounted for more than 1/4 of its overall GDP in 2020, also known as one of the most promising FinTech hubs. Zhejiang University itself currently ranks top three in China, within top 100 by the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings and QS World University Rankings.
Eighteen disciplines of Zhejiang University have been adopted by China’s “Double First-class” Initiative and 39 disciplines received Grade A in the recent national assessment. The university is also known for the entrepreneurship and leadership skills of its graduates, with over 100 alumni leading listed companies, both domestically and abroad.
Thirdly, ZIBS, Zhejiang University International Business School, is one of the best choices for international students to conduct academic research as it is equipped with the best cyber security infrastructure and academic resources.
I noticed that Ireland has set up the first learning center in Beijing which is a remarkably quick move. As the second largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, with annual economic growth consistently outpacing the U.S., China may be on the track of becoming the largest economy in the years to come.
As mentioned above, Zhejiang is a province with great potential, among other regions in China, in terms of economic prospects, location, and educational resources. Therefore, apart from Beijing, Zhejiang could be an even better choice for partnership with Irish higher education institutions
Zhejiang University has been exploring opportunities globally for both outbound and inbound collaboration with quality higher education institutions abroad.
As the rest of the world is becoming more aware of Chinese culture and economic development, they will also be more interested in Chinese higher education system and recognize the value of Chinese degrees. Therefore, we are actively seeking for opportunities to set up educational institutions and branches of Zhejiang University across the globe.
往期荐阅
编辑｜倪晨琪
责编&翻译｜罗曼、耿雨萱、孙天怡、王语
排版｜王一然
审核｜沈莉