From April 12 to 17, 2018, IICE Associate Professor TENG Jun headed to the New York City for the AERA Annual Meeting as one of the members of the BNU delegation. Prof. TENG delivered a presentation entitled ‘Chinese Model of Multilateral Educational Aid under the Framework of the Busan Partnership Agreement: a Case Study of CFIT Project’. CFIT is an educational aid project jointly launched by UNESCO and China that aims to improve teacher education in Africa. Looking at the effectiveness of CFIT from the perspective of four principles set by the declaration of Busan, CFIT has achieved much including enlarging Africa’s say in educational issues by granting ownership to recipient countries, developing the professional capabilities and competences of teachers in African countries by adopting outcome-driven program designs, building up open and extensive partnerships by mobilizing necessary resources, increasing transparency and accountability through information transparency and knowledge sharing. The CFIT, however, still needs to be improved in the following areas: increasing the number of local professionals into the program, reducing redundancies in the fund allocation procedures, clarifying to a larger extent obligations and responsibilities, and giving more play to the quality resources offered by UNESCO and relevant aid providers.

Since its inception a century ago, AERA has strived to advance knowledge about education, encouraged scholarly inquiry related to education, promoted the use of research to improve education and served the public good.

During her visit to the US, Prof. TENG also paid visits to the Center on Chinese Education of Teachers College at Columbia University, the China Institute in America and relevant research bodies under the United Nations.