The "2025 International Academic Conference on English Teaching and Research in Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education" was successfully held from Nov 21 to 23 at Beijing University of Technology (BJUT). Jointly organized by BJUT and University College Dublin (UCD), and hosted by the Beijing-Dublin International College (BDIC), the conference gathered nearly 280 experts and scholars from 13 countries, representing 106 university and educational sectors. Participants convened to explore new paradigms for English teaching within the context of Sino-Foreign cooperative education, injecting fresh momentum into the cultivation of international talent for the new era. The opening ceremony featured addresses by Wei Xubin, member of the Beijing Municipal Education Working Committee and Deputy Director-General of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission; An Yan, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Education Association for International Exchange; Zhang Hui, Deputy Secretary of the BJUT Party Committee; Professor Paul Fanning, Dean of the UCD International College in China and Provost of the Beijing-Dublin International College; and Yang Jie, Head of Education in Ireland (China). The ceremony was presided over by the head of the University's Academic Affairs Office.

Congratulating BDIC on its achievements, Wei emphasized the need to steadfastly promote broader and deeper opening-up in education, closely aligning with technological innovation, industrial development, and national strategic needs. He outlined three key priorities: first, deepening international exchange and cooperation in education by leveraging Beijing's higher education resources, hosting high-level international academic conferences, promoting high-level joint research and training, and expanding the global network and influence of Beijing's education sector. Second, resolutely introducing world-class educational resources by systematically advancing the local internationalization of education, encouraging Beijing universities to engage in Sino-Foreign cooperative education, to establish joint research centers and laboratories, and create more international education brands with Chinese characteristics. Third, to continuously improve governance of foreign-related education. Wei expressed the hope that participants would address English teaching and research as a key topic for enhancing the capability of educational governance, integrating Chinese characteristics into language teaching, implementing ideological and political education in curricula, and firmly maintaining the educational direction.

An Yan, representing the China Education Association for International Exchange, extended warm congratulations in the conference's opening. She stated that language teaching is the primary "entry point" of Sino-Foreign cooperative education and the "foundational project" for achieving "two-way mutual learning". It not only serves the function of knowledge transfer but also bears the contemporary responsibility of fostering cross-cultural communication and building value consensus. Looking ahead, she urged focus on three core directions: first, fundamentally improving quality and efficiency by optimizing curriculum systems and cross-cultural competency development pathways, ensuring that language teaching truly enhances the quality of education. Second, utilizing digital empowerment, leveraging digital resource platforms from China and abroad, and deeply integrating AI with language teaching to break spatiotemporal constraints and benefit more teachers and students. Third, embracing "two-way mutual learning" as the core, absorbing advanced international teaching concepts and methods, and integrating Chinese elements and disciplinary characteristics to construct a new language teaching paradigm with international vision and Chinese foundations.

Zhang Hui, representing BJUT, welcomed experts and scholars and pointed out that Sino-Foreign cooperative education, as a crucial vehicle for educational opening-up, plays an irreplaceable role in introducing high-quality educational resources, innovating talent cultivation models, and promoting people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries. Foreign language teaching, being a fundamental and pioneering component, is not only crucial for enhancing students' language and cross-cultural communication skills but also the cornerstone for successful talent cultivation within these programs. He called on administrators and frontline English teachers in Sino-Foreign cooperative education institutions and projects to spare no effort, innovate boldly, continuously conduct teaching reforms and practices, reconstruct the underlying logic of English teaching, and explore new paradigms and pathways.

Professor Paul Fanning stated that UCD and BJUT have a long history of cooperation, and their jointly established Beijing-Dublin International College has cultivated many outstanding talents, and has witnessed the continuous development of educational collaboration between China and Ireland. He confirmed that both sides will continue exploring new models for English teaching within cooperative education to cultivate internationally competent talents with global competence. Yang Jie sincerely congratulated the successful convening of the conference, and mentioned that Ireland is implementing new education quality monitoring standards, requiring international students going to Ireland and students enrolled in overseas cooperative programs to meet the language conditions for entry, making the timing of the conference particularly opportune. He hoped organizers would utilize the conference as an opportunity to pool collective wisdom and better address the historical challenges of English teaching in cooperative education.

Currently, Sino-Foreign cooperative education has entered a new phase of high-quality development, with English teaching transitioning from singular language skill cultivation to shaping students' global vision and cross-cultural communication abilities. The conference focused on the forefront of English teaching reform within this context, aiming to consolidate global wisdom, address contemporary challenges, and chart a new blueprint for innovative development.

The keynote report session was chaired by Anna Nunan, Head of English and Global Languages at UCD. Six experts and scholars delivered keynote presentations, while Professor Douglas Bell from the University of Nottingham Ningbo China analyzed the challenges and opportunities facing English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in an era of technological revolution under the title "'Apocalypse Now' or 'Brave New World': What Future for EAP?". Professor Aiying Di from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and Jennifer Macdougall, English for Academic Purposes quality coordinator at Glasgow College, UESTC, shared their experiences in innovative faculty development, under the title "EAP Teaching Team Building in Sino-UK Cooperative Education: EAP Teacher Professional Development Based on Discourse and Participatory Space". Professor John Liang from New York University Shanghai shared innovations in EAP curriculum content and experiential learning models based on backward design under the theme "Goal-Oriented Curriculum Design: Backward Design-based EAP Course Content and Experiential Learning Innovation". Professor Wenying Wu from BDIC and Alex Runchman from UCD shared the College's English teaching experiences and outcomes under the title "A New Paradigm for English Language Teaching in Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education: The Role of EAP, Collaboration, and Community".

The conference hosted three parallel forums where attendees engaged in lively discussions covering the entire process of English teaching in Sino-Foreign cooperative education. The first forum focused on EAP teaching models and cross-cultural competency cultivation, exploring strategies for developing language ability and cross-cultural skills in EAP teaching, foreign language teaching practices within the Belt and Road Initiative, and the educational and academic advantages of EAP beyond language teaching, aiming to comprehensively unlock new pathways for EAP education. The second forum directly addressed technological frontiers, delving into the application of generative AI in teaching academic writing, the impact of AI voice tools on listening and speaking abilities, and AI-powered adaptive learning for English, exploring new prospects for AI-enabled English teaching. The last forum centered on teacher development and cooperation, providing multiple solutions for building a high-quality, sustainable teaching workforce through topics such as lifelong learning-oriented teacher training, constructing faculty support systems, "four-dimensional empowerment" for sustainable EAP teacher development, and challenges and opportunities in teaching English and learning skills.

Established in 2012, the Beijing-Dublin International College at Beijing University of Technology has become, over the past 13 years, a benchmark and model for high-quality development in Sino-Foreign cooperative education. The college currently offers four undergraduate programs: Internet of Things Engineering, Software Engineering, Electronic Information Engineering, and Finance, with over 1,400 enrolled students. To date, it has produced nearly 2,500 graduates, with 99.5 percent earning dual degrees, an average employment rate of nearly 94 percent, and an advanced study rate exceeding 77 percent. Over half of its graduates have entered world top-50 universities for Master's and doctoral degrees, with nearly 80 percent entering world top-100 institutions. The college has received honors including the "2021 Beijing Municipal First-Class Teaching Achievement Award", the "2024 Top 20 Outstanding Case for Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education Institutions in China" award, and the "2025 Outstanding Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education Institution" award.

Source: CHINA DAILY