early 200 representatives from Shanghai attended a conference co-hosted by Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), which focused on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and education, and cyberspace security on campus.

The conference is about the opportunities and challenges brought by digital technology and AI to the modernization of education for Shanghai universities.

“The generative AI represented by ChatGPT makes it possible for the whole society to transform into a digital world,” said Zha Mingjian, vice president of SISU.

SISU has been actively exploring the digital transformation of higher education. It has launched fifty massive open online courses (MOOC) on the national education platform Treenity, or “zhihuishu” in Chinese. One of these courses, “The Way of Translation”, introduced in 2015, has attracted 32,100 registers and 194,800 views by the end of October, 2023.

Zhao Yan, director of Information Technology Center of SISU, emphasized that students and faculties need to learn more about AI technology and to use it properly in both study and teaching.

SISU now begins to develop a new information portal, which can record the user's behavior, analyze their preferences and provide personalized recommendations accordingly.

Similar to SISU, East China Normal University (ECNU), another conference participant, has introduced a digital campus platform including 3D maps and cloud pavilions. Visitors can achieve an immersive on-campus tour at any time through this platform.

China proposed digital transformation of education as one of national strategies in 2022.