On January 30, 2024, the World Digital Education Conference 2024 opened in Shanghai under the theme “Digital Education: Application, Sharing, and Innovation.” During the conference, the World Digital Education Alliance (WDEA) was officially launched. Representing the founding organizations, Mr. Liu Limin, President of the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), introduced the background of the Alliance’s establishment and considerations for its future development.

Mr. Liu emphasized that the digital transformation of education is increasingly becoming a collective endeavor of global educational reform and an innovative pathway toward realizing a learning revolution and enhancing educational quality. At the World Digital Education Conference 2023, CEAIE and other domestic and international institutions jointly proposed the establishment of the WDEA, which has since received strong support and active responses from multiple stakeholders. To date, 104 universities, international educational organizations, research institutions, and enterprises from 41 countries and regions worldwide have joined the Alliance.

The WDEA actively responds to the spirit of the United Nations Transforming Education Summit and the UNESCO 2030 High-Level Steering Committee on Education. Its mission is to create an international platform for strengthening dialogue and exchanges, advancing pragmatic cooperation, and promoting the high-quality development of digital education. Centered on the core task of facilitating the digital transformation of education, the Alliance seeks to establish a long-term mechanism for international cooperation in digital education, encouraging all stakeholders to contribute jointly to the digital transformation of education, thereby ensuring more equitable, inclusive, and high-quality education for all.

Following its establishment, the WDEA will focus on serving its members by building a high-level dialogue platform, promoting the sharing of digital education resources, disseminating successful practices, and further expanding its membership. It aims to pool high-quality digital education resources worldwide, actively participate in global digital education governance, and develop into an international public service platform with broad international influence.