From October 31 to November 1, the International Conference on Innovation and Development (ICID), co-hosted by Liaoning University (LNU) and Victoria University, took place at LNU. Qiu Huanguang, Vice President of LNU, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.
In his speech, Qiu Huanguang extended a warm welcome to all guests from afar on behalf of the university and expressed sincere gratitude to colleagues from all walks of life who have long supported the cooperation between the two universities. He briefly introduced LNU’s disciplinary layout and talent training system as a national Double First-Class construction university, emphasizing that international education is an important cornerstone of LNU’s development. He noted that this conference not only summarizes and pays tribute to the profound cooperation between the two universities but also serves as a key platform to explore innovative paths for international education in the future. He expressed expectations to further deepen international cooperation and jointly promote the high-quality development of higher education through this conference.
Professor Andy Hill, Deputy Vice President of Victoria University, delivered an online speech. He reviewed the 26-year successful cooperation between Victoria University and LNU, pointing out that this conference marks a new milestone in extending their cooperative relationship from teaching to scientific research collaboration.
Professor Rob Strathdee, Vice President of Victoria University, also addressed the conference online. He emphasized that the conference focuses on core themes such as transnational education, teaching innovation, and sustainable development, building a high-level dialogue platform for global scholars, industry experts, and young students.
At the opening ceremony, the ICID Organizing Committee was officially established, followed by the appointment certificate issuance ceremony for committee representatives. Subsequently, Professor Lü Kangjuan, AACSB accreditation expert and Party Secretary of SILC Business School, Shanghai University, delivered a speech as the committee representative.
The conference featured 18 high-level keynote speeches, bringing together renowned scholars from home and abroad to conduct in-depth exchanges on cutting-edge topics including educational innovation, artificial intelligence, sustainable development, and international cooperation.
It also set up 8 parallel sub-forums covering a wide range of themes such as transnational education innovation, green innovation and sustainable development, digital innovation and economic development, and language education innovation and reform. Additionally, 4 international student forums were specially organized for undergraduate, master, and doctoral students.
A total of 54 excellent papers were selected at the conference, including 21 first prizes (9 from the teacher group, 7 from the doctoral student group, 3 from the master’s student group, and 2 from the undergraduate group) and 33 second prizes (14 from the teacher group, 11 from the doctoral student group, 4 from the master’s student group, and 4 from the undergraduate group). An award ceremony was held to honor the winners of the excellent papers.
At the closing ceremony, Associate Professor Ranjith Ihalanayake, Dean of the Business School of Victoria University and representative of the host institution for the 2nd ICID, delivered a speech. Dean Ihalanayake fully affirmed the fruitful achievements of the 26-year cooperation between the two universities, stating that this conference has laid a more solid foundation for in-depth cooperation in educational innovation, academic exchanges, and talent training. He emphasized that Victoria University will continue to work hand in hand with LNU to further expand cooperation space and jointly promote the high-quality development of international education. Finally, Dean Ihalanayake sincerely invited global scholars to gather in Melbourne in 2026, looking forward to continuing to pool wisdom, deepen exchanges, and jointly write a new chapter of international cooperation at the 2nd conference.
The conference attracted experts and young scholars from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and China. Domestic participating universities included more than 10 institutions such as Beijing Jiaotong University, Shanghai University, Northeastern University, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Southwest University, and Henan University. The first international conference included 23 member units with 58 members, and a total of 125 participants gathered to discuss innovation opportunities and depict development blueprints.
