From the Back Cover
This book presents the status quo of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education, with a focus on China and the 17 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia (the "17+1" cooperation mechanism, as an incubator for pragmatic trans-regions cooperation platform, created by China and the 17 CEECs). With recent advances in ICT in China and the CEECs, it has assumed increasingly important roles in education, including the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning, as well as the promotion of equity in education. The significant contribution of ICT in education is an enabler to achieving the goals of the "17+1 cooperation" mechanism between China and the CEECs, which has attracted considerable attention worldwide, given fresh impetus to cooperation between the two parties, and opened a new chapter in China-CEEC cooperation.
The contributors, all of whom hail from these 18 countries, describe the state-of-the-art of ICT in education in their respective country, and focus on three major aspects, namely: the country profile, general status of education development, and ICT in education. In turn, leading experts in educational informatization research compare the situations in different countries. Taken together, the papers offer valuable insights for policymakers and educators on how to integrate ICT into educational processes, and on inter-regional cooperation with regard to ICT in education.
Dejian Liu, senior engineer, graduated from the University of Kansas, USA, in 1996. Currently working as Chairman and Executive Director at NetDragon, he also serves on the Board of Directors at Fujian TQ Digital, Inc., on the Board at Baidu, Inc., and as a Member of the Standing Committee at Fujian Science Association. The Vice-Chairman of the Fujian Young Entrepreneur Association, he has received numerous awards, including a Business Venture Hero award, Excellent Entrepreneur award, Youth Entrepreneurship Achievement award, and Science and Technology for Young People award.
Ronghuai Huang is a Professor at the Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, where educational technology is one of the National Key Subjects, and director of the R&D Center for Knowledge Engineering, which is dedicated to merging artificial intelligence and human learning. Prof. Huang has been engaged in research on educational technology and knowledge engineering since 1997. He has completed more than 60 projects, including key science and technology projects in the national "Ninth Five-year Plan," "Tenth Five-year Plan" and "Eleventh Five-year Plan," projects in the national 863 plan, etc. In addition to publishing more than 160 academic papers and over 20 books, Prof. Huang is very active in academic organizations both at home and abroad. He is also editor-in-chief of the Global Chinese Journal for Computers in Education.
Bojan Lalic is an Associate Professor, Director of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, and Head of the Department of Production Systems, Organization and Management at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Holding a PhD in Industrial and Engineering Management, his research interests include simulation modelling, e-learning, and innovation in manufacturing. He has managed numerous projects including TEMPUS, CEEPUS, National Research projects sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Serbia, Provincial Government of Vojvodina and research projects coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute, Germany. Bojan is currently Director of the Belt and Road Institute at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia and an adviser to the Minister of Innovation and Technological Development. He has published numerous papers in international journals and books.
Haijun Zeng is the Vice Dean of SLIBNU and the Director of the National Engineering Laboratory for Cyberlearning Intelligent Technology. Holding a PhD in Educational Technology, Beijing Normal University, his research interests include online education and digital learning support service systems. He has previously worked at the Department of Higher Education at the Ministry of Education of China, the UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (UNESCO-INRULED) and the Department of Human Resources at Beijing Normal University. He has hosted more than 10 projects and published over 30academic papers. Nikola Zivlak is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Novi Sad, and an Associate Professor at EMLYON Business School. He is also a Deputy Director of the National Belt and Road Institute in Serbia. His main interests include innovation management, emerging markets, quality management, international business, strategic management and supply chain management, and he is currently involved in 17+1 and BRI, and pursues research and participates in numerous events related to these topics.
