The 2025 Council of the Belt and Road Languages and Cultures Network (BRLCN), Belt and Road Forum for Language and Culture Collaboration, and Global English Education China Assembly were held in Beijing from July 24 to 25.

Distinguished guests such as Du Jiangfeng, vice-minister of Education, and Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, attended the opening ceremony.

Zheng Chengjun, vice-president of Beijing International Studies University (BISU) and a member of the standing committee of its CPC committee, represented the university at the conference.

During the meeting, BISU was elected a founding member of the BRLCN executive council.

Zheng Chengjun (R3) takes a group photo with other participants of the 2025 Council of the BRLCN.

At the July 24 council meeting, 21 founding executive council members were elected from a pool of 70 candidates. These comprised 14 domestic and seven international institutions. Recognized for its influence in language and cultural education, BISU was selected as one of them.

On July 25, Zheng was invited to participate in the council's President's Forum and attend the "Gen Z in Dialogue with the Presidents" session. Alongside leaders from Tianjin Foreign Studies University, Northwest Normal University, Hunan University of Science and Technology, he answered questions from Peking University's Belarusian international student and internet influencer, Ekaterina Kaligaeva.

Zheng (C) discusses definition of success with university leaders and a representative of Gen Z.

Addressing topics of interest to Gen Z, such as learning experiences, definitions of success and participation in school governance, Zheng spoke about BISU's experience in transforming and upgrading talent cultivation.

He pointed out that BISU is building a "language + integration + internship" three-dimensional education model centered on the theme of "new era people-to-people exchange", developing flexible evaluation mechanisms like a "credit bank" and focusing on nurturing new-era interdisciplinary foreign language talents through AI-empowered courses, dual integration training and cross-border, cross-field internships.

He emphasized that the youth have a high degree of participation and autonomy in personal development and school governance, and he believes that Gen Z will ultimately achieve success in self-awareness and social evaluation.

The BRLCN was initiated and established by China Daily in October 2023, aiming to promote language communication among countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) and to support its steady and long-term development.

The alliance's membership has expanded to cover 70 institutions across five continents and 50 countries and regions, continuously enhancing its global network and influence. In October 2023, BISU became a member of the alliance's first council, with Ji Jinbiao, president of BISU and deputy secretary of its CPC committee, attending the inaugural council meeting.

This event was co-hosted by China Daily, Beijing Normal University and Shanghai International Studies University, with academic guidance from the China Association for Comparative Studies of English and Chinese, the Foreign Language Education Committee of the Chinese Society of Education, the International Research Foundation for English Language Education and the British Council.

BISU's participation and election provide an important opportunity for the university to further deepen language education cooperation under the BRI framework and integrate into the international education governance system.

In the future, BISU will fulfill its responsibilities as an executive council member, contributing its wisdom and solutions to deepen language and cultural exchange and cooperation among BRI countries and promote mutual learning between Chinese and foreign peoples.