Background of the Forum

The 2025 Women University Presidents Forum, initiated and hosted by Xi’an Peihua University, is themed around "Women Leadership, Innovation, and AI in Global Higher Education." The forum aims to enhance female leadership in higher education, promote gender equality, and encourage sustainable development in academia.

1.Inheriting the Gene of Peihua Women's Education

Since its establishment of the first women's vocational school in Western China in 1928, Xi'an Peihua University has always regarded women's education as its core mission. Through the Women's College, it offers distinctive courses and practical programs, continuing the vocational education philosophy of Huang Yanpei. The university aims to cultivate compound female talents who possess professional skills as well as the spirit of "self-respect, self- confidence, self-reliance, and self-improvement." Integrating the red gene into the education system, the university has developed red cultural courses and practical activities in ideological and political education to enhance students' sense of social responsibility and consolidate the cultural foundation of women's education.

2. Accelerating the Internationalization of Peihua's Education

With the goal of training international talents, the university has built a cross- border platform for teachers and students to conduct joint research. It has also introduced AI technology to simulate business scenarios, promoting the improvement of cross-cultural practical abilities. By integrating global academic resources with local industrial demands through a research-to-teaching feedback mechanism, the university has created an open educational ecosystem characterized by the integration of industry and education as well as collaboration between the university and local communities.

3. 2025 Women's University Presidents Forum

The "2025 Women's University Presidents Forum," initiated and hosted by Xi'an Peihua University, focuses on women's leadership and entrepreneurship in the AI era. It brings together global education leaders to explore the pathways for higher education reform. Using Peihua's century- long experience in vocational education as a practical model, the forum aims to promote gender equality and sustainable development.

Objectives of the Forum

President Xi Jinping, in his vision of building a global community with a shared future, emphasizes that humanity has formed an interconnected and interdependent community with intertwined interests. He advocates for abandoning the "nation-first" mindset and instead upholding openness, cooperation, and mutual benefit, guided by the shared values of humanity, to build a world of lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity. This vision deepens the international community’s understanding of cooperation and development from the perspectives of global governance and civilizational exchange, offering a Chinese approach to addressing global challenges.President Xi attaches great importance to the critical role of women in modernization, recognizing them as a vital force in national development and rejuvenation. He stresses the need to strengthen legal protections for women’s rights, optimize their development environment, and encourage self-respect, confidence, independence, and resilience. He underscores the importance of women’s leadership by advocating for concrete measures to achieve gender equality through a tripartite mechanism involving national support, social collaboration, and women’s own efforts, thereby contributing Chinese wisdom to global women’s empowerment.

The forum focuses on enhancing female leadership and social influence, exploring the pivotal role of women in public governance and higher education, and analyzing the key factors behind female university presidents' success in academic innovation and strategic decision-making. Leveraging Peihua University’s century-old tradition in women's education, the forum aims to establish a global hub that integrates theoretical research, leadership development, and international collaboration. By fostering an academic exchange platform, it seeks to promote deeper cooperation among higher education institutions on gender equality and governance models.

Expected Outcomes of the Forum

This forum aims to systematically explore the frontier trends, development opportunities, and transformative challenges of global higher education in the AI era. By establishing an interdisciplinary dialogue platform, it seeks to inspire strategic thinking among higher education institutions on balancing technological innovation with humanistic values. Centered on the core themes of "Sustainable Development and University Internationalization," the forum will deepen research on industry-academia collaboration mechanisms and explore digital transformation pathways that remain true to the essence of education.

The core strategic pathways include:

1. Collaborative Innovation Among Diverse Stakeholders

Bringing together university presidents, business leaders, and policymakers to analyze global education governance reform from a multidimensional perspective.

2. Value-Oriented Technological Applications

Focusing on the ethical framework of AI technologies, driving innovative higher education practices that uphold human dignity and promote gender equality.

3. Empowerment Through Global Responsibility

Strengthening the leadership role of higher education institutions in addressing global challenges such as climate change and world peace, while developing an evaluation model for education-driven sustainable development.

Through case studies and strategic workshops, the forum aims to establish actionable international cooperation frameworks, providing systematic solutions for the transformation of global higher education.