May 5th – May 12th, 2013

      Prof. LI Jiayong and Mr. GAO Yinmin were part of Beijing Normal University Faculty of Education’s delegation to visit Waseda University, Tohoku University, and Kyoto University.
      Waseda, Tohoku, and Kyoto universities are all top tier universities in Japan, and enjoy great acclaims in the world. Under efforts of many faculty members, BNU Faculty of Education was able to establish friendship status with respective centers of educational research. The mission for this visit is to strengthen the current cooperation and exchange with the three universities. During the visit, the delegation visited the vice chancellor at Waseda University and attended a visiting professor ceremony and the cooperation agreement signing ceremony with Dean SHI Zhongying of the Faculty of Education at Tohoku University. The delegation also attended Dean SHI Zhongying’s lecture at Kyoto University, as well as many secondary fields’ academic events between Beijing Normal and Kyoto University.
      GAO Yimin presented a lecture titled “Imagination of the Other as World Citizen.” at the Department of Education Research, Waseda University. He believes that objectifying the Other is often directed by establishing oneself, thus often leads to self-centeredness; but only by acknowledging the absoluteness of the Other, then can one truly appreciate the understanding of the Other. In conclusion, he believes that the phrase “World Citizen” is not essentially a part of the theoretical perfect world, but instead, it is a person working towards making the world perfect. GAO’s speech and lecture were well received in Waseda University.
      On May 9th, 2013, LI and GAO specifically held a discussion with the staff and students at the Comparative Education Center at Kyoto University. They discussed many of the topics of concern to the Japanese academia, for instance, universal design for learning and inclusionary strategies in China. The topics also covered Shanghai’s involvement in PISA, an international test, and Chinese higher education reforms.