On September 14 to 15, 2024, the 3rd Doctoral Students Seminar on Comparative Education, hosted by the Comparative Education Branch of the Chinese Education Society and organized by Liaocheng University and the School of Educational Science at Liaocheng University, was held in Liaocheng. Professor LIU Baochun, President of the Comparative Education Branch of the Chinese Education Society and Director of the IICE at Beijing Normal University, and Professor HU Haiquan, Vice President of Liaocheng University, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. The opening ceremony was chaired by Professor TENG Jun, Secretary-General of the Comparative Education Branch of the Chinese Education Society and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University. Over 130 experts, scholars, and doctoral students from more than 20 domestic universities gathered in the northern Jiangbei Water City to engage in in-depth academic exchanges.

IICE adjunct professors LI Jun, LIU Baochun, TENG Jun, GAO Yimin, BAO Dongming, DING Ruichang, NIU Xuan, PANG Ruoyang, YI Xuejin, JIANG Guanqun, ZHANG Xiyu, SANHAO Dazhu, BAI Zhiyong, WU Ling, MA Ailun, ZHANG Duo, and CHEN Lei, among others, participated in the conference and delivered speeches.

IICE Professor LIU Baochun mentioned that this year’s seminar did not set a specific theme, allowing experts, scholars, and doctoral students to focus on issues within their own research fields and discuss their viewpoints. He also referred to General Secretary Xi Jinping’s remarks at this year’s National Education Conference, emphasizing the importance of achieving educational modernization, building a strong education nation, and promoting the spirit of educators, along with the need for building a highly skilled, professional teacher workforce in the new era. Professor LIU Baochun hoped that doctoral students would maintain a sharp sense of inquiry and contribute to the development of comparative education.

During the conference, IICE doctoral student PANG Ruoyang gave a keynote speech titled "Bridging the Digital Divide in Education: International Responses and Current Challenges". In the doctoral students' subgroup discussions, more than 70 graduate students from over 20 universities across the country presented on six key topics: digitalization and artificial intelligence in education, vocational education reform and development, higher education reform and development, curriculum and teaching reform, international education cooperation, and educational policy changes. Fourteen experts and scholars from universities nationwide provided feedback on the doctoral students' presentations. Several of our graduate students, including Yi Xuejin, Jiang Guanqun, Zhang Xiyu, and Ma Ailun, gave presentations on topics such as the safety risks of students during the digital transformation of education, strategies for digital talent competition in Singapore, the impact mechanism of cross-border cooperation in higher education, and Finland's special education reform policies.

On September 15, IICE Professor GAO Yimin chaired a "Face-to-Face with Journal Editors" session. Editor-in-Chief Bao Dongming and six other journal editors, including Yan Wenle (Comparative Education Review), Su Danlan (Curriculum, Teaching Material, and Method), Hu Yi (Foreign Education Research), Wang Yan (Modern Distance Education Research), Hou Yueming (Modern Education Management), and Song Shiyun (Journal of Liaocheng University), shared insights on journal topics, submission requirements, manuscript review processes, and other hot issues, and answered questions from faculty and students on-site.

In the "Doctoral Supervisors Discuss Development" session, IICE adjunct professors LI Jun and TENG Jun, along with scholars from Xiamen University (Professor Wu Wei), Southwest University (Professor Wang Zhengqing), Central China Normal University (Professor Hu Rui), South China Normal University (Professor Zuo Zelin), and Shanghai Normal University (Professor Kong Lingshuai), discussed topics such as graduate students’ academic planning, thesis topics, academic publication, and writing. They also answered questions raised by students.