Headed by Professor XU Xiaozhou, dean of ZJU’s Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences and chair-holder of the UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship Education, a ZJU delegation has just concluded a three-day visit to South Korea.

On the afternoon of December 12, XU met with Mr. Young Chul Choi, president of SKU and former deputy prime minister of South Korea. They briefed each other on recent developments of the two universities and agreed to push ahead with bilateral cooperation. Afterwards, XU was invited to deliver a keynote speech titled Entrepreneurial Education: International Trends and China's Experiences.

“As entrepreneurial education has become a globalized, lifelong, strategic, universal and systematic issue, it is important to conduct extensive cooperation in research projects, teacher training, curriculum development and entrepreneurship competitions,” XU said. He went on further to propose reshaping the concept of entrepreneurial education, restructuring its overall system, designing diversified curricula, and training highly qualified teachers for its development. “South Korea and China should cooperate to meet global challenges and create a better future,” XU added.

Established in Seoul in 1947, SKU is a private university with 8400 students and 625 faculty members who are conducting cutting-edge research across a wide range of academic disciplines.

On the morning of December 13, the delegation visited NCSOFT Corporation, a premier South Korean video game developer. Songyee Yoon, CEO of NCSOFT, introduced the delegation to the corporation’s development of innovation and entrepreneurship. Several department heads briefed the delegation on the curriculum development, management systems and teaching practices of the corporation’s affiliated kindergarten.

In the afternoon, XU gave an academic talk to NCSOFT staff titled Innovation and Entrepreneurial Education in a New Era. He pointed out that the essence of entrepreneurship is to seize opportunities, create value, and take actions. With the rapid development of science and technology, modern teachers should have the awareness and ability of innovation and entrepreneurship. They also need to break the shackles of traditional education concepts and emphasize social environment and cyberspace in the cultivation of future entrepreneurs, XU said.

“The contemporary curricula from preschool education to higher education should involve the awareness of innovation and entrepreneurship so as to cultivate all-round students. In the process of globalization, curriculum design should find a balance between localization and internationalization,” XU said.