SHENZHEN – Universitas Terbuka (UT) has once again taken a strategic role in the transformation of higher education governance and ecosystems on the global stage. The Rector of UT and Chairman of the Indonesia Cyber Education (ICE) Institute Consortium, Prof. Dr. Ali Muktiyanto, led an official delegation to the Future Higher Education Summit held from June 4–6, 2026, in Shenzhen, China.
This large-scale international conference carried the theme “A New Ecosystem for AI-Driven Industry-Academia Collaborative Talent Development.” The event was organized in collaboration with various global entities, including the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, UNESCO IITE, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), and UNESCO-ICHEI.
The UT delegation participating in this academic mission and strategic partnership included Prof. Dr. Paulina Pannen (Senior Expert, ICE Institute), Rahayu Dwi Riyanti, M.A. (Head of UPPDJI), and Fauzy Rahman Kosasih, M.Pd. (Policy Expert Staff at the Rector’s Office). The presence of this delegation aligns with the institution’s continuous efforts in designing educational policies and strengthening the integration of cutting-edge technologies, including Generative AI and immersive reality, into the distance higher education framework to produce graduates equipped with technological literacy and interdisciplinary competencies.
On Thursday, June 4, 2026, upon arriving in Shenzhen, Prof. Dr. Ali Muktiyanto attended an exclusive interview with Phoenix TV at the UNESCO-ICHEI office to discuss the future vision of education, particularly in bridging access gaps, enhancing educational quality, navigating AI development, and aligning with industry demands.
The agenda on June 5, 2026, featured an industrial visit and a hands-on trial session of innovations from KMAX, a technology company specializing in developing the latest AR/VR technologies highly applicable to the education sector. Furthermore, visits and trials were conducted at Baidu Autonomous Vehicle Technology, where the delegation experienced driverless electric vehicles with high levels of precision and safety.
The pinnacle of the event took place on Saturday, June 6, 2026, at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Convention Center. The event commenced with presentations from the organizing leaders. Subsequently, in the afternoon session, Prof. Dr. Ali Muktiyanto featured as a key speaker in the panel “How to Achieve Matching between Industrial Demand and Talent Supply?” alongside four other speakers: Prof. Jia Wei, President of Shanghai Open University; Mr. Sun Xiang, Chairman of the Cross-Border E-Commerce Professional Committee of the China Customs Society; Mr. Cui Kailong, Vice President of Jiangxi KMAX Industrial Co. Ltd.; and Mr. Liu Qiang, Head of the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) Training Team at Alibaba Group. This session explored strategies to align higher education graduates’ competencies with the rapidly evolving demands of industry in the era of artificial intelligence.
The entire series of strategic visits concluded on Sunday, June 7, 2026, with a tour of leading technology companies Huawei and BYD. The visit to these two corporate sites is highly relevant to the characteristics of UT and the ICE Institute, whose growth is closely intertwined with technological advancements.
Through their participation in this event, the delegation brought home various insights, innovative frameworks, and new partnership networks ready to be implemented to enhance the quality of academic services and foster an open and distance education ecosystem that is more responsive to industrial needs and global technological developments.
