5th China-CEEC Education Policy Dialogue and The 4th Meeting of China-CEEC Higher Education Institutions Consortium

Dr. Nikola Zivlak

Novi Sad, Serbia

September 21st - 22nd, 2017

The University of Novi Sad, Serbia hosted two largest events related to education between People’s Republic of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) with 16+1 Cooperation Mechanism, 5th China-CEEC Education Policy Dialogue and 4th Meeting of China-CEEC Higher Education Institutions Consortium. Both evens were organized in coordination between Ministry of Education in People’s Republic of China, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development in Republic of Serbia, China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE) and University of Novi Sad.

These two events were the largest multilateral events in Republic of Serbia in 2017.

The first event, 5th China-CEECs Education Policy Dialogue (EPD) was held at the University of Novi Sad on September 21, 2017, bringing together high representatives of relevant ministries in the field of education from the People’s Republic of China and CEEC. The meeting was officially opened by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Ms. Ana Brnabic. Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Mr Mladen Sarcevic, Deputy Minister of Education of the People's Republic of China Mr. Du Zhanyuan and Rector of the University of Novi Sad prof. Dr. Dusan Nikolic. During this event, representatives from Chinese and European side exchanged their views on educational cooperation and current practices, as well as on the alignment of educational strategies in order to strengthen co-operation in that field. Document that they developed is named Novi Sad Declaration and it should be accepted by all 17 countries until the end of 2017. Afterwards this document shall present a key document for further cooperation between Ministries of Education from 17 countries.

Following this first event, The 4th Meeting of Higher Education Institutions Consortium (HEIC) was organized at University of Novi Sad, Serbia on September 22nd, 2017 and it has gathered the highest number of representatives from 80 leading universities from China and CEEC. At the end of this event, 23 new universities from China and Europe have become members of the Consortium.   

At the opening ceremony of this event, the attendees were welcomed by the Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development in Serbia, Mr. Mladen Sarcevic, the Vice Minister of Education in China Mr. Du Zhanyuan, the President of the Vojvodina Province Provincial Government, Mr. Igor Mirovic, the Mayor of Novi Sad Mr. Milos Vucevic, and the Rector of the University of Novi Sad, Prof. Dr. Dusan Nikolic.

During four working sessions, discussions were held about inter-institutional cooperation, with a special emphasis on joint capacity building in the field of higher education, science, and innovation. The conference participants emphasized the importance of mutual exchange of data on available and insufficiently tapped resources, their existing study programs, developmental and scientific projects, current and planned mobility programs, as well as international conferences, gatherings, and other significant activities of universities which are Consortium members.    

At the end of the conference, Novi Sad Platform for Joint Capacity Building at Universities in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe and China in the Field of Higher Education was adopted and it represents the key document for further development of multilateral and bilateral cooperation of higher education institutions from China and Central and Eastern Europe.  

University of Novi Sad has also been selected as the CEEC headquarters of the Secretariat of the Higher Education Institutions Consortium (HEIC) for cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries. This represents a very significant international acclaim, by means of which the University of Novi Sad has been granted the status of the coordinator for inter-institutional cooperation within the Consortium. Being the new headquarters of the Secretariat for the CEECs, the University of Novi Sad will perform its new role during the two-year term in cooperation with the permanent Secretariat of the Consortium headquartered in the People’s Republic of China.