岳大使在中爱高等教育论坛开幕式上的致辞（英文）

Remarks by Ambassador Yue Xiaoyong at the Opening Ceremony of China-Ireland Higher Education Forum

Great Hall, Clontarf Castle Dublin

Tuesday 20 March 2018

Mr. Giles O’Neill, 

Mr. Zhao Lingshan,

Presidents,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning.

I am very much delighted to attend this wonderful opening ceremony of the China-Ireland Higher Education Forum. It is a real pleasure for me to take this opportunity to welcome all 70 some members of the delegation from China Education Association for International Exchanges (CEAIE) and to meet with Irish and Chinese officials and experts in the field of higher education.

The holding of this forum is very well-timed. Education is a lofty cause for future. The 19th National Congress of the CPC held last October reaffirmed our readiness to work together with the rest of the world to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and education is one of the key areas. The current National People’s Congress has accordingly called for more and specific actions and according to Premier Li Keqiang in the press conference a while ago, our door will be opened even wider, our reform will be further deepened, and education is going to be a top priority for development. Your delegation is certainly one of the earliest measures. It again showed us China’s going-all-out spirit and efficiency.

Ireland is among the first European countries to recover from the financial crisis and education played a very important role. The larger picture is that China-Ireland relationship has in recent years gained fresh momentum. We are getting closer together not only in terms of political high-level dialogues and exchanges in trade and investment but also in fields of culture, education, technology and tourism, bringing growing benefits to people in both countries. Mr. Simon Coveney, Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade in his recent successful visit to China attached great importance to education with substantial fruits.  The Chinese language will be implemented as a Leaving Certificate subject in September 2020, which will contribute to future cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between China and Ireland. Last May Mr. Liu Limin, president of CEAIE had a very good meeting with Mr. Richard Bruton, Minister for Education and Skills. Last August, the 4th meeting of the China-Ireland Inter-governmental Joint Working Group on Education was successfully held in Beijing. While expressing their satisfaction with the steady expansion of two-way student mobility, both sides stressed the importance of expanding and deepening our bilateral educational exchanges and encouraging more Irish students to study or do internship in China. Last November, 22 presidents or vice-presidents of universities in Central and Western China took part in a three-week training program in Ireland, hosted by Dublin Institute of Technology. Programs as such not only benefited the participants academically, but also created opportunities for cooperation between Chinese universities and their Irish counterparts. Links between China and Ireland in higher education have developed into strategic institutional relationships based on collaborative provision, student and academic mobility, mutual recognition of qualifications, interactions between higher education institutions, and collaborations in research. 

It is indeed the best time now to further deepen our links in higher education by getting our both side’s students, faculties and presidents together meeting face to face through visits and exchanges. Over the last years, a group of 15-20 Irish higher education institutions have participated in China Education Expo held in October every year. This afternoon, the “Study in China” higher education exhibition will take place here in Dublin with 33 top-ranking Chinese universities participating. The exhibition will lead to more awareness of China as a location for quality education and research and bring about, I hope, more and bigger achievements through new cooperation.

Ladies and gentlemen, 

Future lies in the hands of our younger generation. It is a given and great commitment for higher education institutions to cultivate for our young people cultural awareness and inclusiveness with love, responsibility, peace, and care. It is hence essential to enhance the internationalization of institutions of higher learning and to create opportunities for all of our students in a culturally diversified world. I am very happy to see that this prestigious forum is really trying to help our Chinese and Irish universities to join hands in their common internationalization drive and also assisting to empower each side to meet new challenges and missions ahead. While first-class Chinese universities are mostly renowned for the rigorous academic training of their students and more so in the fields of science and classical humanities, Irish universities and institutions of technology are strong among other things in supporting students’ creation, innovation, and career-oriented learning. Greater cooperation between our two sides will surely benefit us all for a better and mutually enhanced future.

Let us wish the China-Ireland Higher Education Forum every success. 

Thank you.