The Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development

Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship

Towards a Solution

On 26 September 2015, at the United Nations, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China would establish an Institute for South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD). With strong support from the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance and relying on Peking University’s solid strength in the humanities and social sciences, ISSCAD was officially established on 29 April 2016. ISSCAD is a national-level example of China's participation in South-South cooperation that has clear development goals for human and social development in education and training.  

ISSCAD is a new educational platform devoted to promoting equitable, inclusive, and sustainable growth by sharing knowledge and experience on matters of public leadership and national development, with developing and especially LDCs. Through education and training, ISSCAD builds an effective learning community for the Global South and contributes to their effective integration into the world economy. By contributing towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 in enhancing quality education, ISSCAD is a leader among institutions of higher education It prepares students for transnational careers in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, and it offers a customized curriculum integrating practical and theoretical approaches so that graduates can apply their learning and contribute to the economic, social, and environmental development in their own countries.  

The long-term goal is to build a training base for developing countries’ most talented young people in a national development research institution. In ISSCAD’s dynamic global exchange platform, students are able to share the experiences of national development between developing countries, strengthen international cooperation, and contribute to the construction of a community with a shared vision for mankind. 

The core faculty of ISSCAD is from Peking University, which has an established reputation both an outstanding academic institution and as a policy think-tank in China.  The core faculty is supported by selected faculty and professional associates from other schools and departments within Peking University and beyond, the purpose being to nurture a vibrant interdisciplinary learning environment that encourages intense inquiry, open dialogue, and cross-cultural learning, which serve as a bridge between theory and practice. 

As well as developing an extensive national development degree curriculum, ISSCAD has also carried out research in four sustainable development areas: agriculture and poverty reduction; education and innovation; public health; and climate change and environmental protection. ISSCAD offers both degree and non-degree executive education programmes. 

Students are carefully selected from a pool of Global South applicants who meet the institute’s admission requirements. The most outstanding students and students from LDCs are financially supported by ISSCAD. Regular courses are supplemented by fieldwork and workshops in various domains (such as education and poverty reduction, population and public health, social security and public safety, urban development and land reform, energy and environment, industrial upgrading and technological innovation, and global governance and foreign policy). As well, students are expected to develop knowledge and understanding in cross-disciplinary fields for actions appropriate for local or context-specific conditions. 

ISSCAD creates an innovative educational space to examine the success and challenges experienced in China and other developing countries, and to exchange good practice between them. The ISSCAD “good practice” model is sustainable as a formal educational institute and is a model that could be replicated and adapted in other Global South countries who aim to create an educational institute to strength South-South cooperation through education and training. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, admitted students from the Global South had to engage in the programme virtually from their homeland. However, some have encountered internet connection problems which may have impacted their learning. Additionally, ISSCAD had to accommodate students from different regions and different time zones for online teaching and learning during the pandemic. 

ISSCAD focuses on contributing to SDG4 and the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) Priority 5, human and social development. It provides affordable higher education to students from the Global South, offered education for sustainable development and fostering global citizenship, and provided higher education scholarships for students. As of September 2021, ISSCAD has enrolled nearly 300 students (over 50 per cent from LDCs) from more than 60 developing countries and trained more than 150 master’s and doctorate graduates to return to their home countries. In the future, ISSCAD will continue to expand the enrolment of students from developing countries and build a broader exchange platform for national development theory and practice.