The first International Higher Education Software Exhibition will open in Beijing from September 19 to 21, with thousands of projects from 69 universities, 31 domestic and overseas companies and educational administrations.

Sources with the Ministry of Education (MOE) said here Monday the exhibition was the first of its type in China.

Tian Yongquan, vice-director of the MOE Higher Education Division, said the exhibition, to display and promote good remote education resources and software, aimed to advance informationization of Chinese higher education, and build a lifelong learning society.

The exhibition would be in three sections: on-line teaching projects; informationization of Chinese universities; and companies' contribution to campus networking construction. Projects sponsored by the MOE would also feature at the expo.

Tian said a forum on informationization of Chinese higher education would be held simultaneously with the exhibition. Presidents and experts of leading Chinese universities and institutes would discuss personnel training and digitized campuses.

Statistics showed nearly 70 percent of Chinese universities have established campus networks to carry out on-line teaching, and digital libraries. On-campus students studying for information-related professions reached 1.278 million. A total of 67 universities provide remote teaching services, with more than 1.6 million registered students.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2003)