The Vocational Education Track of the 8th Global Competition on Design for Future Education (2025) Launches on September 1, 2025!
date：2025-09-01 12:17author：adminsource：Smart Learning Instituteviews：
In response to the call in the report of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party to "speed up efforts to build a contingent of personnel with expertise of strategic importance" and to cultivate a greater number of master craftsmen and highly-skilled workers, the Vocational Education Track of the 8th Global Competition on Design for Future Education (2025) officially launches on September 1. Co-hosted by Beijing Normal University (BNU) and the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE), this competition aims to explore new models of talent cultivation in the digital era. It encourages currently enrolled students from higher vocational institutions worldwide to apply design thinking to solve educational problems, showcasing their innovative spirit and practical skills in applying emerging technologies and concepts to educational activities.
As one of the annual events of the "World Digital Education Alliance", the Vocational Education Track is dedicated to providing an international platform for vocational students globally to showcase their talents and exchange creative ideas.
As one of the annual events of the "World Digital Education Alliance", the Vocational Education Track is dedicated to providing an international platform for vocational students globally to showcase their talents and exchange creative ideas.
Participants
- Students currently enrolled in higher vocational institutions both domestically and internationally, with no limitation to their majors.
- Teams must consist of 3-5 members. The team leader is responsible for registering on the official website and adding the information of team members.
Competition Themes
- AI and Education: How can AI tools based on their features of generating texts, videos, programming codes, 3-D printings, create infinite possibilities in improving the efficiency, effectiveness and equity, and make education more intelligent and more effective?
- Metaverse and Education: How can an immersive online space construct educational scenarios in metaverse courses, learning space design, new educational games, cultural heritage and protection, metaverse conferences, metaverse with digital twins and metaverse educational spaces supporting various subjects, etc.?
- Rural Education: What design can help solve the needs of rural areas, such as teacher shortages, students' motivation improving, learning environmental design, curriculum development, interdisciplinary inquiry activities and experimental teaching innovations based on local rural resources, cultivation of technical talents, theme-based learning, project-based learning, teaching tools for various subjects, educational toys, innovative design of teaching tools, equipment, and instruments using digital technology, etc.?
- Inclusive Education: How can an educational model help provide appropriate and high-quality education to promote educational equality? Consider people with physical disabilities and health impairments, the elderly, girls and women, students with learning difficulties, those affected by war conflicts or crises, migrants or displaced persons due to climate change, etc.
- Educational Neuroscience: How to integrate neuroscience, psychology, and education to design scientific and effective educational solutions based on evidence, including policy design, curriculum design, instructional design, evaluation design, educational culture and space design, teaching aids and toys design, artificial intelligence meta-universe design, and so on, in order to improve the quality of education and teaching.
- AI and Engineering: How can AI, with its capabilities in optimization, simulation, and intelligent systems, transform engineering by addressing real-world challenges, improving design processes, and promoting sustainability (e.g., in sectors such as transportation and mobility)? How can AI be integrated throughout every phase, from initial design and manufacturing to operations and maintenance, ensuring more effective engineering solutions?
Work Requirements
Submission materials for the First Round must include four items: Project PPT, Project Design Report, Poster, and Video.
Schedule
1. Registration and Project Design: September 1, 2025 - October 15, 2025. Final works can be submitted until 18:00 on October 15, 2025 (UTC+8).
2. Project Review and Results Announcement: October-November, 2025.
3. Finals: December, 2025.
Assessment Criteria
The organizing committee will organize expert review sessions. The number of award-winning works will, in principle, not exceed 30% of the total submissions. The criteria are weighted as follows: Problem Awareness (15%), Innovative Spirit (30%), Integration of Science and Education (15%), Application Prospects (20%), and Presentation (20%).
Benefits
Participants in the competition will have the opportunity to receive the following benefits:
1. Participate in relevant events organized by the World Digital Education Alliance.
2. Bonus and certificates of honor jointly issued by Beijing Normal University and UNESCO IITE.
3. Winning projects to be included in the competition project collection and featured in the E-Library initiated by UNESCO IITE, accompanied by an inclusion certificate.
4. Opportunities to transform projects into intellectual property, papers, or monographs.
5. Opportunities to receive expert recommendation letters and internship positions at renowned companies.
6. Support for applying for other projects and awards based on winning works.
7. Invitations to attend conferences hosted by Beijing Normal University, such as the Global Smart Education Conference.
Four Recommended Topics to Inspire Educational Innovation
To spark creative ideas, the Organizing Committee has proposed four recommended topics. Participants can either design their projects freely within the six competition themes or draw inspiration from these directions to tackle a specific challenge.
- Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Inheritance: Focus on the preservation and inheritance of ICH, using digital means to revitalize traditional culture. Explore areas like virtual museum design, interactive ICH skills experiences, ICH-inspired cultural and creative product design, or innovative communication design for ICH.
- Specialized Educational Resources: Aim to break down disciplinary barriers by designing cross-disciplinary and practice-oriented educational resources. Participants can explore cross-disciplinary resource design, develop hands-on practical learning materials, provide personalized educational designs for special needs groups, or create resources that enhance social responsibility.
- Innovative Educational Games: Explore the infinite possibilities of game-based learning by designing games that are both educational and entertaining. Topics include open-theme educational games, creative visual-centric games, digital art educational games, and comprehensive skills-learning games for life and work.
- Intelligent Learning Assistants: Combine AI technology to design innovative intelligent teaching aids and learning environments. Participants are encouraged to design new intelligent tools, create smart learning environments, develop process improvements for specific production needs, or design practical, applicable methods for real-world scenarios.
We cordially invite vocational students from around the world to register and participate. Use your wisdom and creativity to help shape the blueprint for the future of education.
Please see the attachment for the full competition announcement: The 8th Global Competition on Design for Future Education (2025) Announcement of Vocational Education Track.
Please see the attachment for the full competition announcement: The 8th Global Competition on Design for Future Education (2025) Announcement of Vocational Education Track.
For more details and to register, please visit the official website: https://gcd4fe.bnu.edu.cn/en
This page by Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.