Mongolian Smart Classroom Officially Unveiled
On 8 October 2022, Smart Classroom, a joint initiative of UNESCO-ICHEI, Mongolian University of Science and Technology (MUST), CreateView Education Technology, and Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), was successfully inaugurated at MUST, witnessed by representatives from the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Mongolia, UNESCO Beijing Cluster Office, Ministry of Education and Science of Mongolia, and Mongolian National Commission of UNESCO (Mongolian NatCom).
The ceremony was chaired by Prof. Uuganbayar Tumurkhuu, Director of the Office of International Affairs and Cooperation of MUST, and followed by an overview of the Smart Classroom project by Mr. Hassan Adeel Shehzad, CTO of Smart Classroom & Programme Specialist at UNESCO-ICHEI. Dr. Tserenchimed Purevsuren, Senior Specialist of Open Education Center (OEC) of MUST, reviewed the deployment process of the Smart classroom and presented a detailed plan for its usage in the future.
Afterward, Prof. Badarch Dendev, Advisor to Minister of Education and Science of Mongolia, Prof. Shabhaz Khan, Director of UNESCO Beijing Cluster Office, Mr. Boldsaikhan Sambuu, Secretary-General of the Mongolian NatCom and Mr. CHEN Shuang, Cultural Counselor of the People's Republic of China in Mongolia and Director of Ulaanbaatar Chinese Cultural Center delivered their speeches respectively. Prof. Badarch Dendev acknowledged the significant role the Smart Classroom played in supporting blended learning at MUST and other Mongolian universities during the epidemic, and wished that the partnership would be extended to more universities in Mongolia in the future. Prof. Shabhaz Khan said that Mongolia is actively responding to UNESCO's various projects and activities and that the collaboration with UNESCO-ICHEI, including the Smart Classroom project, is leading and contributing to the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Mr. Boldsaikhan Sambuu believed that the inauguration of the Smart Classroom is an important step in the digital transformation of higher education in Mongolia and will provide valuable experience for the future development of blended teaching practices in the country. Mr. CHEN Shuang expressed his hope to have more Smart Classrooms deployed across Mongolia to help its students and teachers master advanced technology and knowledge through distance learning.
In the following session, Prof. Namnan Tumurpurev, President of MUST, expressed his appreciation for the great support of UNESCO-ICHEI, CreateView, and SUSTech, and said that he would continue to support the project and expected the project to produce more results under the support from IIOE, contributing to the sustainable development of higher education in Mongolia. Mr. ZHANG Yu, Chairman of CreateView, delivered congratulatory remarks on the launch of MUST Smart Classroom, and noted that, under the overall coordination of UNESCO-ICHEI, CreateView will continue to support the work along the Belt and Road Initiative, promoting the use of technology to improve education quality and empower the cultivation of high-quality innovative talents. As one of the project's key stakeholders, Dr. CHEN Hao, Executive Deputy Director of SUSTech Global, presented a series of achievements of SUSTech in the digital transformation of higher education and elaborated on potential areas of collaboration between SUSTech and MUST, including research and academic exchange. Prof. LI Ming, Director of UNESCO-ICHEI highly praised the mission of CreateView, a well-known Chinese educational technology and equipment company, for international educational public welfare, and expressed his great expectation of achieving sustainable higher education cooperation through the Smart Classroom project, helping MUST to become the model in Mongolia for advancing the digital transformation of universities.
In the closing remarks, Prof. Ganbat Danaa, Director of OEC of MUST mentioned that it has become a consensus among all parties in Mongolia to promote the digital transformation of higher education. As the coordinator of the IIOE National Centre in Mongolia, MUST will make full use of the inaugurated Smart Classroom and the ongoing IIOE pilot projectBlended Learning Capacity Building for STEM Teachersto play an active role as an empowering center for digital teaching and learning for university teachers in the country.
