From 30 May to 5 June 2024, Professor Xudong Zhu, Dean of the Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University (BNU), led a delegation to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The visit sought to implement outcomes of President Xi Jinping’s visit to Serbia, strengthen educational and people-to-people exchanges, and contribute to the China–Serbia community with a shared future in the new era.
Professor Ronghuai Huang, Co-Dean of BNU’s Smart Learning Institute and holder of the UNESCO Chair on AI in Education, joined the delegation. It visited partner universities, the Chinese embassies in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and local primary and secondary schools, and co-organized the Forum on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Education with the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Education as part of an international scientific conference.
30 May: school curricula and educational robots
On 30 May, accompanied by Professor Danimir Mandić, Dean of the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Education, the delegation visited Savremena Elementary School. Executive Principal Zorana Bodiroga presented its curriculum and classrooms, emphasizing information technology and educational robots in teaching. Zhu discussed curriculum content, learning assessment and teacher competencies with staff. Huang discussed teachers’ digital literacy and robot-assisted teaching, inviting the school to share its experience of educational robots.
31 May, morning: university cooperation and teacher development
On the morning of 31 May, the delegation held discussions with the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Education. Mandić introduced the faculty and its AI-in-education research. Zhu presented BNU’s Faculty of Education, reviewed exchanges since their 2018 cooperation memorandum, and expressed interest in deeper educational collaboration within the China–Central and Eastern European Countries cooperation framework.
Huang reviewed collaboration between the Smart Learning Institute and the Belgrade faculty, including their joint Center for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Education (CRAIE). He proposed cooperation in shared educational resources, joint research and teacher capacity development. Both sides expressed their willingness to deepen AI-in-education cooperation within the China–CEEC framework and with guidance from BNU’s Faculty of Education.
Ivan Savić, Deputy Director of Serbia’s Institute for Improvement of Education, joined the meeting by invitation. He described its responsibilities for national school curriculum development, textbook quality certification and professional development for teachers and principals, and expressed interest in cooperation with BNU on teacher and principal training, especially teachers’ information literacy.
Professor Jun Teng, Deputy Dean of BNU’s Faculty of Education, and Professor Chen Wang discussed joint research, co-authored publications and staff and student exchanges with the Belgrade faculty’s dean, deputy dean and participating professors. Both sides supported varied, multidimensional cooperation under the education-discipline community of the China–CEEC Higher Education Institutions Consortium.
At the end of the meeting, Zhu and Mandić renewed their cooperation memorandum for a further term, opening a new round of collaboration.
31 May, midday: security faculty anniversary
The original report describes a security college anniversary event in Belgrade at midday on 31 May, calling it a fiftieth-anniversary celebration. The delegation held separate discussions with Milan Pašić, Assistant Minister of Education of Serbia, a former rector of the University of Belgrade, its serving vice-rector and the security college’s dean.
31 May, afternoon: Chinese Embassy in Serbia
That afternoon, the delegation visited the Chinese Embassy in Serbia, where Cultural Counsellor Dasheng Tang and education and culture staff member Bo Chang received it. Tang introduced government-sponsored study-abroad programmes and China–Serbia cultural exchanges. The parties discussed an overseas teacher-training centre building on the Faculty of Education, Smart Learning Institute and Belgrade partnership, exchanges and training for school teachers, and technology from smart education in cultural communication. They agreed to establish liaison mechanisms for educational cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe and share resources in support of the China–Serbia community with a shared future.
1 June: international scientific conference opening
On the morning of 1 June, the delegation attended an international scientific conference hosted by the University of Belgrade. In his opening remarks, Zhu introduced BNU and its education disciplines, reviewed the partnership and expressed hope for deeper cooperation in educational research, teacher education and educational innovation, advancing education disciplines through international collaboration.
Teng outlined the background, aims, content and development plan of the education-discipline community of the China–CEEC Higher Education Institutions Consortium and invited all conference participants to join.
1 June, afternoon: robotics and AI education forum
That afternoon, the Forum on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Education took place at CRAIE. It was co-organized by BNU’s Faculty of Education, the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Education and the UNESCO Chair on AI in Education. Huang’s opening remarks emphasized educational technology and the forum’s importance for innovation; Wang chaired the session.
Researchers, educators and business representatives from around the world discussed educational applications and innovation in robotics and AI. In closing, Mandić emphasized interdisciplinary cooperation and exchange to advance educational technology and practice among Chinese and Central and Eastern European institutions and contribute to inclusion and equity. The separate forum report retains the individual speakers and roundtable discussion.
3 June: University of East Sarajevo education faculty
On 3 June, the delegation visited the University of East Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina and met Dr Stević, Dean of its Faculty of Education, Deputy Dean Dr Mitrović and colleagues to discuss a partnership and exchanges. Stević presented the faculty and expressed interest in different forms of cooperation with BNU’s Faculty of Education.
Zhu thanked the hosts and described cooperation with universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and joint development of education disciplines as outcomes of engagement with the Belt and Road Initiative. He outlined BNU education’s broad coverage and international reputation, expressing hope for collaboration at multiple levels in joint research, international conferences and staff and student exchanges. Huang said AI was changing learning environments, teaching methods, assessment and resources while also creating challenges. He hoped to promote educational policy dialogue, capacity development and resource development with partner universities.
That day, Zhu and Huang were interviewed by television media in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The original archive also retains a television-report image described as covering a cooperation agreement between BNU’s Faculty of Education and the University of East Sarajevo’s education faculty. This edition preserves that archival description without inferring a precise signing date from a single screenshot.
4 June: university-level cooperation
On the morning of 4 June, the delegation met Professor Milan Kulić, Rector of the University of East Sarajevo; Professor Sandra Ivanović, Chair of its Management Board; and Professor Jelena Krunić, Vice-Rector. Kulić noted both universities’ membership of the China–CEEC Higher Education Institutions Consortium and proposed staff and student exchanges, international conferences and joint research within it. Zhu and Huang respectively introduced BNU’s education disciplines and developments in AI and education, expressing interest in cooperation on education disciplines, innovation and AI.
4 June: Chinese Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina
On 4 June, the delegation visited the Chinese Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and met Chargé d’Affaires Daike Miao. He supported academic exchanges and practical cooperation between Chinese universities and universities and research institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and hoped BNU would play a greater role as lead institution of the consortium’s education-discipline community. The parties also discussed bilateral relations, high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and AI and education.
The original report regarded the visit as deepening BNU’s educational exchanges with Central and Eastern European universities, advancing the disciplinary community and laying foundations for practical cooperation. Accompanying members were Dr Jing Liu, Director of the Faculty of Education’s International Office; Smart Learning Institute postdoctoral researcher Junjie Zhang; doctoral student Jiahao Liu; Senior Education Research Specialist Hao Chen; and Education Research Specialist Lin Xu.
Archive and sources
Archive note: this edition follows the site’s original report and the two institutions’ official versions, preserving every stage of the visit and all sixteen original images. SLI’s page is dated 12 June 2024 and CIT’s 13 June; the site’s original 10 June archive date remains. The overview’s Chinese typo “international scientific university” is standardized to “international scientific conference” using the later passages. Names and roles remain in their 2024 context; intentions are not presented as subsequently completed outcomes. The fiftieth-anniversary wording remains attributed to the original event account; it is not used to infer a founding year or expand the Chinese institution name into an unverified formal foreign-language title.
Related reports and resources
Further reading: the separate forum report, the Chair’s 2023 Serbia visit, and AI education resources.
Original link: https://aiedchair.bnu.edu.cn/news-7550-en/
