News
Success Convening of the Second Forum of “Education for the Countryside” Series – Ruralizing Education: Toward a Sustainable Future
June 14-15, 2025, Chongqing, China
The second forum in the “Education for the Countryside” series, titled “Ruralizing Education: Toward a Sustainable Future,” was successfully convened in Chongqing. The event was hosted by HKU Faculty of Education, with support from the Tin Ka Ping Foundation, and co-organized with the Faculty of Education at Southwest University.
The forum brought together more than 40 scholars and practitioners from universities in Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong(China), and Mainland China. Over 200 educators attended the forum in person, while the livestream attracted more than 12,000 online views.
Professor Zhang Weiguo, Party Secretary of Southwest University; Professor Yang Rui, Dean of the Faculty of Education at The University of Hong Kong; and Mr. Tian Qingxian, Director and former Chairman of the Tin Ka Ping Foundation, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches, encouraging educators to explore pathways for the high-quality development of rural education.
Professor Wang Dan from The University of Hong Kong delivered a keynote speech, emphasizing the need to return to the public nature of education in the development of rural education. She proposed reframing educational goals through the lens of the public-private dichotomy, arguing that rural education, by virtue of its public good nature, should aim to nurture talents for rural and urban sustainable future. She highlighted four key missions for rural education: national security, developmental justice, ecological justice, and public well-being.
The forum fostered diverse and in-depth discussions on sustainability, drawing upon both local and international theories and practices. Frontline educators from Sichuan, Guizhou, Xinjiang, Jilin, and Hebei presented rich examples of innovation in place-based curriculum design and implementation.
The forum marks a significant step toward moving rural education beyond the traditional urban–rural binary. It proposed an innovative educational model that centers on public good, is rooted in rural community knowledge, and advances through multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Committed to education as a public good, Faculty of Education at The University of Hong Kong will continue to collaborate with partner universities in Mainland China in charting the new pathways for “Education for the Countryside.” Please stay tuned for the next forum.
Conference presentations playback:
- Professor ZHU Dequan: Exploring Integrated Curriculum Models in Secondary Education: Research on the Rural Education Revitalization
- Professor Philip ROBERTS: Engaging Curriculum for Rural-Regional Sustainability: Place, Culture & Knowledge Post-modernity
- Professor Michael CORBETT: Rural Literacies: Grappling with the Complexity of Learning and/in Place
- Professor WAND Dan: Ruralizing Education: Toward a Sustainable Future
- Professor HU Yuegao: Contemporary Rural Education: Status and Mobilization Approaches
- Professor CHEN Yiyuan: The Future of Rural Agriculture: Collective Economy
- Principal WANG Muliang: Going Out and Coming Back: The Story of a Rural School
- Principal WENG Yongbiao: Exploration and Practice in Our Rural Homeland
- Principal ZHANG Pingyuan: Exploring the Vitality of Rural Schools
- Principal ZHANG Huanlin: From “Rough Start” to “Regional Model”: The Breakthrough Code of an Under-resourced Rural School
- Ms. ZHOU Huan: Community Education Practices in the Pastoral Area of Altay, Xinjiang
- Mr. LI Guangdui & Ms. HUANG Jing: Integrating Three Types of Education into ESD: Holistic Education Boosting Rural Revitalization at County Level
- Professor LIU Jing: Rural Education as an Approach to Sustainable Development: Insights from Toyota Model in Japan
- Professor PAN Jia'en: Historical Experiences and Contemporary Implications of the Ruralizing Education