Lingnan President S. Joe Qin attends 2024 Dalian Summer Davos

On 25 June 2024, Prof S. Joe Qin, President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science of Lingnan University, attended the 15th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (the 2024 Summer Davos) in Dalian. He was invited to deliver a speech and share his views at a sub-forum themed "Future Talents: Higher Education Powered by Digital Intelligence". The sub-forum was organised by Peking University, the Digital Intelligence International Development Education Alliance (DI-IDEA), and the Beijing Forum (Overseas), and the welcome speech was delivered by Prof Gong Qihuang, President of Peking University.

The first speaker was President Qin, who talked about the digitalisation developments of Lingnan University in recent years. Since July 2023, all staff and students at Lingnan University have been given free access to ChatGPT, followed by GPT 4.0 and GPT 4.0 Turbo. The objective is for students to have a competitive advantage in five to ten years. President Qin said that learning about artificial intelligence (AI) early should have a significant impact on higher education, and help the university staff and students to adapt and become proficient in using it. This will enhance their confidence and make sure they are ready for future adjustments in higher education and careers brought about by AI. Lingnan University has introduced several AI-related disciplines, as well as mandatory generative AI courses for all freshmen.

With regard to what universities should teach in the post-AI era, President Qin believes that "To cultivate the next generation of professionals needed by society, we must provide students with the technology and knowledge required for the future, not outdated technical knowledge." He also emphasised the importance of studying the classics, saying human knowledge is accumulated through learning classic works.

Speaking on the urgent mission of higher education in the age of AI, President Qin said, "As AI becomes more widespread, universities must find ways to foster abilities that are difficult for AI to replicate. It is crucial to cultivate students' higher-level thinking, which is essential for their future learning. AI can handle low-level tasks, but humans must learn to coexist with AI in life and cooperate with it at work."

Following the forum, President Qin met Prof Zhu Fangwei, Vice President of Dalian University of Technology, to discuss student exchange programmes, joint doctoral training, and research cooperation. President Qin then presented a cutting-edge academic report titled "Reduced-dimensional time series modelling" to the faculty and students of Dalian University of Technology.