On March 29, 2016, a delegation from the Laos Ministry of Education visited Peking University (PKU). Consisting of the presidents from four national universities of Laos and officials from the Ministry of Education. The Lao delegation was received by Li Yansong, Vice President of PKU; Zhai Kui, Professor in the PKU School of International Relations; and Zhou Manli from the PKU Office of International Relations.
Mr. Li Yansong first showed his warm welcome to the arrival of the delegation, noting that there are currently three students from Laos studying at PKU. Considering the limited exchange among universities in China and Laos, Mr. Li hoped there would be more communication between the two sides. Khamphay Sisavanh, President of Souphanouvong University expressed his enthusiasm for this hope, especially in terms of student exchanges and joint research. He mentioned that his previous visits to China were mostly in the south, for example, Kunming, Guizhou, Guangxi, to attend the annual event “China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week”. This was his first visit to PKU, during which he was greatly impressed by the beautiful campus and its highly preserved traditional culture, and he showed his gratitude for the cordial hospitality of PKU. Mr. Khamphay Sisavanh stated the main purpose of this visit was to learn from China’s experience in higher education reform, including talents cultivating, international collaboration and financial management, hoping that PKU could give some suggestions to the fast developing higher education in Laos.
Mr. Li then briefly introduced the current status of higher education in China as well as in PKU. He indicated the different ideas in PKU undergraduate and graduate education—combining the liberal and professional education in undergraduate studies, while emphasizing the funding system for graduate studies. In addition, Mr. Li also illustrated the division of 62 schools in five general departments in PKU, stressing the indispensable role of these departments in promoting inter-disciplinary studies and the sharing of academic resources. Mr. Li addressed the importance of keeping balance between traditional and modern culture, national and international methods in the process of higher education reform. In general, it required a certain period for the public to accept the newly-developed system. According to Mr. Li, in order to gain broad national recognition of the reforms, the decisions should be discussed and clearly explained. Finally, PKU holds many international forums for higher education, and Mr. Li wished for further exchanges with Laos universities.
Written by Liu Xiya
Edited by Li Ruoxue
