During this extraordinary year,from July 20th to 28th, Tsinghua University will host a special online Global Summer School (GSS) 2020, entitled Toward a Post-Pandemic World. With various forms of learning, such as lectures, webinars, and interactive tours and performances, delivered and organized by Tsinghua’s top-quality educational resources and distinguished Chinese and overseas experts, GSS will help students to rethink our post-pandemic world from the perspectives of economics, politics, society, education, climate change, and leadership. We are waiting for students from different backgrounds to discover and discuss the possible post-pandemic world and feasible solutions for a sustainable future.

Let’s check out the GSS agenda for Day 8!

Day 8: future-oriented leadership

Academic Support for Day 8 (July 27): China-Africa Leadership Development Institute (CALDI) and Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School.

On Day 8, we begin with a keynote speech, themed “Education Leadership in Post-pandemic Era”, by H.E.Aicha Bah Diallo, former Minister of Education in Guinea and former Assistant Director-General for Education in UNESCO. H.E. Bah Diallo has made great contributions in promoting education, especially girls’ education in Africa. She is well known as the champion of girls ‘education through her work as a founding member of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE). She is also the chair of the Network for Education for All in Africa (REPTA), the Chair of Aide et Action International (AEAI), and she is a member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Prize Committee for Good Governance and Leadership in Africa.

H.E. Bah Diallo

Furthermore, we have two short courses, carried out by Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, introducing the importance of big-data, materials science, and engineering in our lives. First, the Executive Dean of Shenzhen International Graduate School, Professor GAO Hong will give us a special address. For the past four years, she has been promoting the integration of global competence into curricula as one of the learning outcomes for both undergraduate and graduate students while facilitating the Schwarzman Scholars Program, the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI) in Shenzhen, and the Global Innovation Exchange Institute in Seattle.

Professor GAO Hong

After the special address, Dr. YUAN Bo will give us a lecture, Data Science: A New Way of Thinking,to show students how data is changing our world and why it is essential to think of the world from a new perspective. Dr. YUAN’s current research interests include data science, reinforcement learning, and parallel computing. He is the author of more than one hundred research articles and the inventor of four patents. His MOOC courses on data science have attracted more than 150 thousand students worldwide.

Dr. YUAN Bo

Later, Associate Professor LIU Bilu will give us a short course entitled Advanced magic materials for energy and environmental applications, with the aim of introducing the importance of materials science and engineering into our lives. Associate Professor LIU is Core-PI at the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI). His research interests cover the chemistry and materials science of low-dimensional materials with emphasis on carbon nanostructures, two-dimensional materials, and their heterostructures.

Associate Professor LIU Bilu

Next, a special webinar arranged by the China-Africa Leadership Development Institute, Tsinghua (CALDI), also supported by the National Health Commission of the PRC and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. In this webinar, we will introduce the history of China-Africa Cooperation and discuss with our panelists the collective aims and engagements in China’s sharing lessons and China-Africa mutual support since the breakout of COVID-19.

We are delighted to have one moderator and seven special guests as our panelists: Ms. LIN Yi, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and Executive Vice President of the Chinese-African People’s Friendship Association; Ambassador KUANG Weilin, the first Chinese Ambassador to the African Union and UN Economic Commission for Africa; Mr. GU Zhiqiang, Acting Director of the Division for African Affairs (Foreign Assistance), Department of International Cooperation, National Health Commission of China; H.E. Getachew Engida, former Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, Distinguished Visiting Professor and the Co-President of the China-Africa Leadership Development Institute, Tsinghua University; Professor SHI Zhiqin, President of the One Belt-One Road Strategy Institute, School of Social Sciences , Tsinghua Univeristy; Professor LIU Huiqin, Executive Director of the China-Africa Leadership Development Institute, and General Secretary of the Institute of Education, Tsinghua University; Professor Shamil Jeppie, Department of Historical Studies, University of Cape Town; and Associate Professor XIE Zheping, General Secretary of the China-Africa Leadership Development Institute.

(Top row left to right: Ms. LIN Yi, Ambassador KUANG Weilin, H.E. Getachew Engida, Mr. GU Zhiqiang; Bottom row left to right: Professor SHI Zhiqin, Professor LIU Huiqin, Professor Shamil Jeppie, Associate Professor XIE Zheping)

Day 8 concludes with a keynote speech themed Leadership in Post Covid-19 Environment given by H.E. Getachew Engida, the Former Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, Distinguished Visiting Professor and the Co-President of the China-Africa Leadership Development Institute (CALDI) since 2018. He joined UNESCO as Deputy Assistant Director-General for Administration and Comptroller in June 2004. He has served as Deputy Director-General from July 2010. He has spent the last 20 years leading and managing international organizations advancing the cause of poverty eradication, peacebuilding, and sustainable development.

H.E. Getachew Engida

Now you have an overview of what’s in store for Day 8 of GSS 2020 and how through its unique interdisciplinary platform, you can explore our post-pandemic world.

Stay posted as we show you more of what’s to come for GSS 2020!

Click here to join us: http://goglobal.tsinghua.edu.cn/ 

or e-mail: experiencing-china@tsinghua.edu.cn

More information about academic support for Day 8:

China-Africa Leadership Development Institute (CALDI):

Supported by UNESCO, China-Africa Leadership Development Institute, Tsinghua (CALDI) is a university center, committed to people-to-people exchange and human resource development among African and Chinese, to educate future  leaders for promoting the China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership, Agenda 2063 as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School: