The 2021 Tsinghua International Conference on Art & Design Education (ICADE 2021), with the theme "Ask: Our Diverse World", was recently held both online and offline.

Speaking in his speech at the opening ceremony of the ICADE 2021, Peng Gang, chair of the organizing committee of the conference and vice-president of Tsinghua University, extended congratulations to all guests for their on-site and virtual attendance.

Tsinghua University has encouraged synergetic and creative development between different academic disciplines and conducted in-depth cooperation with other universities at home and abroad, Peng noted, adding that the ICADE 2021 is designed to make our world more exciting by deepening mutual understanding, building friendship and strengthening collaboration.

Lu Xiaobo, dean of the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University, said that the high-level, inclusive and comprehensive conference had drawn the attendance of experts from the sectors of art and design education. He went on to say that they were expected to blaze creative development paths for art education in the worldwide artistic domain through the exchanges of personal ideas during the event.

During the International Forum of Art & Design Institute Presidents, which was held after the opening ceremony of the ICADE 2021, 26 presidents of universities from home and abroad exchanged thoughts about the fields of art and design education.

The International Graduation Exhibition of Art & Design Institutes, a parallel event held on the sidelines of the ICADE 2021, exhibited over 2,000 thesis works from 827 outstanding graduates from 53 prestigious universities and colleges around the world online and offline in 10 categories.

The International Academic Symposium of Art & Design Education, another parallel sub-event of the ICADE 2021, drew the attendance of over 70 professors and scholars from 40 top academies of arts at home and abroad, who spoke about prospective challenges and opportunities facing art and design education in the post-pandemic era and debated the roles played by art and design education in the overall sector of higher education.

During its organization of the ICADE 2021, the Academy of Arts & Design at Tsinghua University gathered faculty members from the frontier disciplines of art and design and set up five workshops transcending the boundaries between various disciplines and culture with the support of many international universities and social organizations to help attendees better appreciate the latest movements in modern art and design education.

Editor: Li Han