From October 16th to October 27th, 12 international visiting scholars from 11 countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Cyprus, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, Mauritius, Tanzania, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Jamaica, etc., have successfully completed their research s and exchange at Shanghai Open University. The target of the visiting scholar program still focuses on the the Belt and Road countries, and the program has received extensive attention from overseas scholars. A total of 115 applications from 28 countries have been received. After strict evaluation process, 12 international visiting scholars have been selected, 11 of whom have doctoral degrees, and nearly half are senior professors or administers of overseas universities. At the same time, the program received visiting scholars from Cyprus and Jamaica for the first time, which leads to the expansion of its geographical coverage and influence furtherly.
In the past two weeks, the international visiting scholars have had in-depth interaction and exchanges with the Department of Degree Education, Department of Development & Research, Institute of International Exchange, Learning Resource Center, School of Science and Technology, School of Public Administration, School of Humanities, and School of Economics and Management. They have visited the Yangpu and the Qingpu branches of SOU for exchanges. They have participated in the International Conference on Promoting Lifelong Learning in Higher Education Institutions: Strategies and Practices during the program. They have also participated in specialized academic workshops with the themes of Professional Construction and Curriculum Development in Open & Distance Learning (ODL), Application of AI and Information Technology in ODL , and Teaching Quality Assurance in ODL. The visiting scholars also gave brilliant presentations in the workshops.
At 1 o'clock on the afternoon of October 25th, the closing ceremony of the 2023 International Visiting Scholar Program was grandly held in the Round Table Hall on the first floor of the International Conference Center. The international visiting scholars gave speeches one by one at the closing ceremony, not only sharing the gains brought by the two-week program, but also expressing gratitude to SOU and the staff involved for organizing the program. Finally, Dr. Weng Zhuhua, Dean of the Institute of International Exchange, issued program certificates to international visiting scholars on the closing ceremony.
SOU International Visiting Scholar Program has received 13 batches of visiting scholars from 48 countries, totaling 133 visitors since the initiation of the program in 2013.
