Professor John Lee Chi-Kin, President of The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), led a delegation to Macao, Guangzhou and Shenzhen on 7 and 8 May to engage with government education authorities and higher education institutions, exploring new opportunities for collaboration and innovation.
On 7 May, the Academy for Educational Development and Innovation (AEDI) of EdUHK signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Crowne Plaza Macau, Macau International Golf, and the Macau Fair & Trade Association (MFTA). These partnerships extend EdUHK’s applied talent cultivation into the tourism, exhibition and service sectors of the Greater Bay Area.
Later that day, the delegation visited the Education and Youth Development Bureau of Macao Special Administrative Region and met with Mr Hoi Ka Lou, Head of the Higher Education Department. Discussions focused on special education, gifted education and inclusive education, with both sides exploring collaboration in teacher-training programmes. The delegation shared EdUHK’s experience in educational administration and teacher professional development, while learning about Macao’s training model for kindergarten, primary and secondary teachers. Potential cooperation in AI-powered education, seminars and academic conferences was also discussed.
On 8 May, the delegation visited Guangdong University of Technology (GDUT) and Shenzhen Polytechnic University (SZPU) to exchange views on innovation and entrepreneurship education, industry-academia-research collaboration, joint talent cultivation, and vocational education.
This was the first formal meeting between EdUHK and GDUT since the signing of an MoU in late 2024. GDUT President Professor Qiu Xueqing highlighted recent achievements in talent cultivation, research, discipline development. Professor Lee shared EdUHK’s heritage in teacher education and its recent expansion into interdisciplinary programmes, noting the University’s commitment to educational innovation. Both institutions agreed to deepen collaboration in innovation and entrepreneurship, broadening cooperation among Guangdong-Hong Kong universities.
Accompanied by Professor Xie Guangqiang, Dean of the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at GDUT, the delegation visited its Innovation Valley, a national-level base for innovation and entrepreneurship education, the largest of its kind in Guangdong Province. They also visited the School of Management on the Longdong Campus, meeting with Dean Professor Wu Xiaojie to discuss discipline development, faculty sharing, and joint training programmes.
At SZPU, President Xu Jianling presented the university’s progress in industry-education integration and technological innovation since its elevation in 2023. Professor Lee noted that 2026 marks the 10th anniversary of EdUHK’s retitling, with both institutions at pivotal stages of development, offering many opportunities for collaboration. EdUHK is advancing an “Education + Technology” strategy and hopes to deepen collaboration with SZPU in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, the low altitude economy, cross border e-commerce, smart elderly care and tourism management, jointly exploring new standards for technology driven vocational education.
The delegation later visited the training centre of the School of Artificial Intelligence, where Dean Professor Yang Jinfeng introduced the school’s curriculum, research platforms and industry-education integration practices. Finally, they toured the drone practice-teaching base of the School of Automotive and Transportation Engineering, learning about SZPU’s innovative approaches to drone talent cultivation as well as its experience in collaborating with industry leaders such as DJI.
Reflecting on the visit, Professor Lee said, “It was productive and fruitful, consolidating existing partnerships while opening up new areas of cooperation. As the nation prepares for the 15th Five Year Plan and the Greater Bay Area moves towards deeper integration, demand for high quality applied talents continues to grow. EdUHK will leverage its strengths to advance educational innovation and industry-education integration, deepen collaboration with the Greater Bay Area and the Guangdong-Macao in depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, and contribute to the high quality development of both the region and nation.”
