On August 31st, the China-Thailand Agriculture and Food Academic Forum, a part of the 5th Forum on China-Thailand Higher Education Cooperation, took place in the Intelligent Classroom 221 of Dezheng Building at GZU. The event was attended by E Xuewen, Secretary-General of the Alliance of China-Thailand Universities (ACTU), Zhou Shaoqi, Vice President of GZU, as well as experts and young scholars from both domestic and international backgrounds.

In his speech, E Xuewen emphasized that this academic forum was specifically organized by the Ad Hoc Committee of Agriculture and Food at the ACTU. The committee is dedicated to leveraging the cooperative resources between Chinese and Thai universities in the field of agriculture and food. Its goals include promoting high-quality cooperative projects in higher education, establishing joint cooperative educational programs in related specialties, enhancing industry-academia-research collaboration, facilitating communication among young students from both countries in related fields, and cultivating talents for both nations. The ACTU is working on expanding the professional influence of the ad hoc committee by attracting high-quality resources, as well as by initiating and actively fundraising for key projects.

Zhou Shaoqi extended a warm welcome to the attendees, highlighting GZU’s longstanding commitment to open education and international cooperation. GZU has established formal cooperative ties with 195 institutions and research organizations in more than 40 countries and regions. Since 2008, GZU has hosted a series of events for the China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week, and in recent years, GZU has made significant strides in internationalization. A notable achievement this year is the approval of its cooperative educational project with the Royal Princess University in Thailand to establish a master’s program in plant pathology, marking Guizhou’s first international cooperative educational project with an ASEAN country. As the first university in Guizhou Province qualified for enrolling international students, GZU has consistently prioritized international student education and has witnessed substantial growth in both the scale and quality of its international student programs.

Themed “Deepening China-Thailand Educational Collaboration and Promoting Agricultural and Food Cooperation”, the forum was conducted through both online and offline channels. It featured 15 renowned experts, postdoctoral researchers, and doctoral and master’s students who presented thematic reports and engaged in discussions centered around the development of food science and technology.

The Ad Hoc Committee of Agriculture and Food of ACTU was officially established during the 4th Forum on China-Thailand Higher Education Cooperation in 2022. It marked the alliance’s first ad hoc committee, with its secretariat based at Guizhou University. Currently, the committee comprises 19 member institutions, including 12 from China and 7 from Thailand.

Editor: Pang Aizhong, Li Xuefei

Chief Editor: Li Xufeng

Senior Editor: Yang Nan

Translator: Jia Haibo