Session 3 (Tuesday, October 14, 2025)
Book Talk: Gu Mingyuan’s Educational Thought by Prof. Jun Teng
The morning session opened with the release of the English edition of Mingyuan Gu’s Educational Thought. Professor Jun Teng, Associate Dean of Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University, presented the background, structure, and methodology of the translation project. She emphasized that the English translation provides a solid textual foundation for introducing Chinese educational thought to the international academic community. It enables overseas scholars to better understand Chinese educational discourse and traditions, while offering primary materials for comparative education and intellectual history research. The event coincided with Professor Mingyuan Gu’s 96th birthday. As one of the founding figures of Comparative Education in China and a lifelong educator with over six decades of contribution to the field, Professor Gu was warmly celebrated with a birthday song and collective best wishes from faculty, guests, and students
TC staff and students celebrated Professor Mingyuan Gu’s 96th birthday.
Lecture and Panel Discussion: Building World-Class Universities — Experiences from China
Professor Kai Jiang, Dean of the Graduate School of Education at Peking University, Professor Jun Teng, Associate Dean of Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University, Professor Thomas Hatch, Director of the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University, and Professor Fei Guo from the School of Education at Tsinghua University examined key issues from multiple dimensions, including strategic positioning, institutional design, research ecosystems, talent policies, and governance capacity. From a comparative perspective, experts summarized China’s institutional innovations and governance practices amid the rapid development of higher education. They also proposed directions for improvement in evaluation systems, interdisciplinary integration, research quality, international collaboration, and talent mobility.
Professor Kai Jiang (Peking University) discussed strategic positioning and world-class university development
Professor Fei Guo (Tsinghua University) addressed Generative AI and college student learning engagement
Guest speakers of the panel discussion