On 21 September 2025, the Jiangsu Province Postgraduate Academic Innovation Forum on Theory and Practice of High-Quality Development in Basic Education was successfully convened at Jiangsu University. Hosted by the Jiangsu Provincial Postgraduate Education Steering Committee for Education and organised by Jiangsu University, the forum attracted over 120 postgraduate students from institutions including Nanjing Normal University, Beijing Normal University, Capital Normal University, Jiangnan University, Yangzhou University, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, and Jiangsu University.
At the forum’s opening ceremony, Professor Yang Daojian, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of Jiangsu University, extended a warm welcome on behalf of the university to the attending experts, faculty members, and postgraduate representatives. Vice-Chancellor Yang Daojian systematically outlined Jiangsu University’s educational heritage, disciplinary strengths and developmental achievements, highlighting the progress made by the Faculty of Teacher Education in disciplinary development, talent cultivation quality, and educational research innovation. He expressed hope that this forum would inject fresh impetus into the high-quality development of China’s basic education, provide new insights for advancing educational reform, and offer fresh opportunities for the coordinated development of postgraduate education in educational studies across Jiangsu Province and the nation.
Professor Wu Kangning, Chair of the Jiangsu Provincial Graduate Education Steering Committee for Education, extended a warm welcome on behalf of the Committee to the distinguished experts and scholars who had travelled from afar, and offered sincere greetings to all postgraduate students actively participating in the forum. In his address, Professor Wu emphasised that postgraduate students in education constitute the vanguard of educational development and scholarly research. He encouraged students to investigate genuine issues, grounding their work in the practical demands of the educational field to enhance their academic discernment; to immerse themselves in the soil of practice, drawing wisdom from vivid educational case studies to enrich their cognitive perspectives; and to maintain an innovative spirit, exploring novel pathways in critical domains such as curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment.
Following the opening ceremony, the forum proceeded to the keynote address segment.
Four distinguished scholars presented thematic reports: Professor Ding Gang, Dean of the Institute of Higher Education at East China Normal University, Professor Liu Haifeng, Director of the Centre for Imperial Examination Studies at Zhejiang University, Professor Gu Jianjun, Dean of the Institute of Labour Education at Nanjing Normal University and Professor Lei Wanpeng, Dean of the Graduate School at Central China Normal University. Their respective topics focused on: the AI-driven reconstruction of China’s education system, Gaokao reform and building a modern education system, meaning and practice of labor education in the new era, and the effects and reflections on group-based schooling models. The keynote session was co-chaired by Professor Huang Jinyan, Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Educational Assessment at Jiangsu University, and Kang Cui, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Education.
In the afternoon, four parallel sub-forums were held, respectively exploring the following themes: theoretical and systemic development for high-quality basic education; curriculum reform; teaching innovation; and evaluation reform. The sessions were chaired by Faculty of Teacher Education members Fu Yuyuan, Liu Xiaoxu, Shang Yufei, and Yang Yijun. A total of 36 postgraduate students delivered presentations and participated in discussions. Each chair provided summary comments and reported the outcomes to the plenary session.
During the awards ceremony, Vice Dean Zhou Zhengsong of the Graduate School at Jiangsu University presented commendations to the winning postgraduate students. Following a process of paper submission, expert evaluation, and review by the forum organising committee, eight papers were selected for the First Prize and twenty-eight for the Second Prize.
At the forum’s closing ceremony, Bu Guangqing, Party Secretary of the College of Teacher Education at Jiangsu University, delivered a summary of the event. The sub-forum exchange reports, awards presentation, and closing ceremony proceedings were chaired by Zhang Yun, Deputy Party Secretary of the College of Teacher Education at Jiangsu University.
