The Eighth Meeting of Education Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states was held in Moscow, Russia on Apr. 18. Chinese Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng attended the meeting and delivered a speech.
According to Huai, China has embarked on a new journey of achieving full socialist modernization. The Chinese government considers education a strategic priority and continues to promote the modernization of education founded on fairness, openness, and innovation to serve national development.
Huai said that, following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s proposal, China will provide teachers and students from SCO member states with opportunities to receive International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarships and participate in Hanyu Qiao (Chinese Bridge) summer camps. Efforts will also be made to support scaling up programs and enrollment at HEIs that are members of the University of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (USCO) network, develop signature programs, and enhance educational cooperation among SCO countries. He added that China is willing to work with other member states to create a more robust SCO community as well as explore new grounds for educational cooperation within the SCO through digitalization.
The meeting approved a series of documents prepared under the frameworks of educational cooperation among governments of SCO member states and of USCO, issued the Joint Communique of the Eighth Meeting of Education Ministers of SCO Member States, and reached consensus on the joint development of guidelines for collaboration in digital education among SCO countries. In addition, the Summary Record of the Eighth Meeting of Education Ministers of SCO Member States was signed, while China’s application for hosting the Ninth Meeting of Education Ministers of SCO member states as well as the “Education Without Borders” Education Week in 2025 was endorsed at the meeting.
The meeting was chaired by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science. Participants included educational delegations from China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus as well as the representative of the SCO Secretariat.
