On May 9, the international organization talent program organized by the Beijing Municipal Education Commission was launched at CUEB. The program involves collaboration between five prestigious universities: CUEB, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Communication University of China, Central University of Finance and Economics and China Foreign Affairs University. The first cohort of trainees comes from 24 pilot universities across the city. Wu Weixing, President of CUEB, hosted the ceremony.

Li Yi, Deputy Party Secretary of the Education Committee of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Director of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, attended and addressed the ceremony. He remarked that international organizations, as key platforms for global governance, rule-making, and multilateral cooperation, have become an important arena for China to engage in global competition, demonstrate its responsibilities as a major power, and safeguard its national interests. The Beijing Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government attach great importance to attracting, training, and retaining talents in international organizations. Developing a group of young professionals who truly understand the operation of international organizations with global perspectives, professional skills and cross-cultural communication competences is a crucial task for Beijing’s higher education in serving national strategic interests in the new era. He emphasized that carrying out the specialized pilot program for the first time ever is not only an important step to enhance the system of educational openness and cooperation, but also an active exploration to support Beijing’s development as an international exchange hub and its participation in global governance.

Li Yi stressed the need to uphold collaborative promotion and resource sharing. Universities shall undertake training according to the students’ respective strengths, leverage complementary disciplinary advantages, turn curriculum “addition” into “multiplication”, and evolve from surface-level coordination to deep-seated, transformative integration, which means to cultivate well-rounded talents with Chinese cultural heritage, global awareness, and dedication. He stressed the need to adhere to systematic planning and end-to-end approach, optimize the training model, and link training and employment recommendation. This will provide trainees with more opportunities for internships and practical experience in frontline international organizations, giving them a true experience of “enrollment equals employment”. He encouraged the trainees to seize new learning opportunities that cross boundaries, integrate undergraduate and graduate studies, mix age groups, and combine disciplines; to absorb diverse resources; to continuously strengthen multilingual skills, master multilateral decision-making processes, and develop professional capabilities for international roles, so as to find their place in the global arena.

Wei Xubin, Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, Li Jincheng, Level II Bureau Rank Official of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, and leaders from the five host universities — Li Kunpeng, Vice President of CUEB; Zhao Gang, Vice President of Beijing Foreign Studies University; Yang Yi, Vice President of Communication University of China; Li Tao, Vice President of Central University of Finance and Economics; Zhou Li, Full-time Deputy Party Secretary of the Party Committee of China Foreign Affairs University — jointly launched the training program and unveiled the implementation plan for this program. It focuses on five modules: global governance and the international organization system; international rules and multilateral governance; operations of organizations and public affairs management; international economic and trade cooperation and global governance; cross-cultural communication and international leadership. It establishes a comprehensive, inter-university training system covering curriculum, seminars, assessments, talent pool and internships. It will organize and recommend eligible students for internships in international organizations, aming to establish a sustainable talent development mechanism for systematic training for international organization talents with Beijing characteristics.

Liu Ying, Party secretary of CUEB, noted in her speech that this year marks both the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) and the 70th anniversary of CUEB. The university is committed to enhancing international education, planning the development of the Hongmiao International Campus and exploring a triad model of talent development for international organizations, international students and Sino-foreign cooperative education. It strives to transform its Hongmiao Campus into a window for international education in Beijing, and to become a hub for international finance and a digital finance center in the central business district, so as to forge ahead toward a first-class university of finance and economics with Beijing standards, Chinese characteristics and international recognition. As the leading institution of the program, the university undertakes the secretariat responsibilities and is in charge of the trainings of global governance and international organization system. Taking this specialized program as an opportunity and under the guidance of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission and the Foreign Affairs Office, CUEB will work with sister universities to facilitate resources sharing and establish a sustainable development mechanism, aiming to advance major national strategies and Beijing’s development in the new era.

Sophie Muller, Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR or UN Refugee Agency) in China, added that the youth play a key role in future global governance. The joint efforts of Beijing’s five host universities reflect the strong commitment to the development of global governance talents, and she looks forward to further collaboration with universities on training and internships. Song Zihao, a trainee representative, said that the specialized training gathered quality resources from across the city, enabling trainees to learn first-hand how international organizations operate and laying a foundation for future engagement in global public affairs.

More than 300 people attended the event, including officials from relevant departments under the Beijing Municipal Education Commission and the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, representatives of international organizations in China, experts, scholars and student representatives.