Recently, Shanghai Prospect Development Institute (hereinafter referred to as "SPDI") and the HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education (hereinafter referred to as "HKU SPACE") held a strategic cooperation meeting. Mr. Zhao Mengda, CEO of Longcharm Group, President of the China Culture Promotion Association Industrial Investment Association (CCPAIIA), and Director of SPDI, together with Dr. Wang Lina, Co-founder of Longcharm Education, General Secretary of CCPAIIA, and Director of SPDI, attended the meeting. They were joined by Prof. William Lee, Director of HKU SPACE; Prof. Dorothy Chan, Deputy Director (Administration and Resources); Dr. Danny Gittings, Head of the College of Humanities and Law; Ms. Karen Chan, Associate Head of the College of Humanities and Law; and Dr. Joey Lam, Director of the College of Finance and Business and Director of the Mainland Affairs Office. Dr. John Chun Yin Wong, Lecturer in Translation in the School of Chinese, HKU, and Academic Advisor to SPDI, also attended the meeting. The two sides reached a significant consensus on leveraging their respective advantages to jointly serve the domestic professional and continuing education market, marking a key step in SPDI's transformation.
Rooted Locally, Aiming Globally: SPDI Embarks on a New Journey of Internationalization
As a national-level talent training base with over two decades of history, SPDI has always been committed to serving major national strategies, such as the large-scale development of Western China and rural revitalization. It has trained more than 55,000 talents from central and western regions and has been designated as an important training base by the State Council Western Development Office and the National Development and Reform Commission. With the deepening of the country's opening-up and the demand for new quality productive forces, SPDI is upgrading from a national training platform to an international continuing education institution, aiming to provide high-end education services that combine international standards with local relevance for domestic professionals, entrepreneurs, and government officials.
Mr. Zhao Mengda said, "We have already initiated cooperation intentions with internationally renowned institutions such as Oxford University and Cambridge University. Moreover, HKU SPACE, with its unique 'East-meets-West' advantages, boasting world-class academic standards while deeply understanding the domestic workplace and industry needs, is our ideal strategic partner. This cooperation is a crucial part of SPDI's development strategy. We will take Hong Kong as a bridge to bring global quality educational resources into China, while helping domestic talents step onto the world stage."
Strong Alliance: HKU SPACE Deepens Talent Cultivation in the Greater Bay Area
As the oldest and largest continuing education institution in the Asia-Pacific region, HKU SPACE has served over 3.4 million learners in nearly 70 years. It has established strategic partnerships with more than 20 world-leading universities, including the University of London and King's College London, and has considerable experience in cross-border education, customized training, and online learning. In recent years, HKU SPACE has actively responded to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area by establishing a Mainland Affairs Office, and engaging in in-depth cooperation with domestic universities such as Northwestern Polytechnical University.
HKU SPACE leadership representatives have stated that the School has long been attentive to the development needs of talent cultivation in the Greater Bay Area and the mainland. SPDI has decades of experience in government and enterprise training on the mainland, with vast client resources and local insights. They look forward to working with SPDI to explore new models and paths for continuing education in fields such as lifelong learning, talent development, and international exchanges.
Practical Advancement: Starting with Pilot Courses to Create a Blended Learning Experience
The meeting determined a cooperation path of "pilot first, gradual development". Both sides agreed to start with short online courses, micro-credentials, and executive certificates, adopting a blended model of "online learning + offline practice in Hong Kong". Additionally, they planned to use AI technology to enhance the learning experience. In the future, the courses will rely on the offline resources of SPDI's partner universities in Shanghai, Beijing, and elsewhere to provide flexible and diverse learning settings for learners.
Dr. Wang Lina said, "The brand of HKU SPACE has a strong appeal across China and even the world, especially among entrepreneurs and young people. We will first launch small-scale pilot classes, using existing entrepreneur communities and alumni networks for targeted enrollment to quickly validate market demand, and then gradually expand to longer-term programs such as postgraduate diplomas."
According to the meeting plan, HKU SPACE will provide SPDI with existing short course materials covering university students and executives. The SPDI team will select suitable courses based on domestic market demand and initiate market testing and student recruitment. Both sides also planned to arrange offline mutual visits in the near future to further refine the collaboration plan.
New Development, New Achievements
The successful holding of this strategic cooperation meeting marks a solid step forward for SPDI as it embarks on a new journey. Relying on HKU SPACE's global academic network and rich teaching resources, combined with SPDI's more than two decades of local experience and strong client base in China, the two sides will jointly create a set of high-quality courses that combine international vision with Chinese practice, providing a broader learning and development platform for domestic professionals, entrepreneurs, and government officials, thereby supporting the national strategy of talent development.
Looking ahead, SPDI will take this cooperation as an opportunity to continue deepening its engagement with top global educational institutions, accelerate the construction of its three strategic pillars，"vocational skills advancement, management training, and Sino-foreign talent exchange"，and strive to become a cradle for international talent development and a bridge for global knowledge exchange.