Impacts

On the morning of 20 May 2023, the finals of the First International Organization Competence Competition, initiated and hosted by Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) and organized by its School of International Organizations (SIO), were successfully held online. Professor Jia Wenjian, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and Vice President of BFSU, attended the event and delivered the opening address.

In his address, Jia Wenjian noted that, in the face of momentous changes unseen in a century and in response to the new demands of the new era, it is the mission entrusted to the young generation of our times to take an active and effective part in global governance amid these transformations; to cultivate a new generation of diplomatic and foreign-affairs professionals—endowed with patriotic devotion, global vision and professional expertise—who are competent to work in international organizations; and to better make China’s voice heard, offer China’s solutions and contribute China’s wisdom on the international stage. In the post-COVID era, global development has suffered severe setbacks, and the international community needs effective international cooperation and multilateralism more than ever before; the important role of international organizations in global governance has thus become all the more prominent. He expressed the hope that, through participating in the competition, students would gain a deeper understanding of both China and the world, continuously strengthen their own capabilities, cultivate a spirit of teamwork, and lay a solid foundation for future engagement in the practice of global governance.

The competition consisted of two stages, a preliminary round and a final. In the preliminary round, 164 teams of 616 contestants from 138 universities around the world registered in three language groups—Chinese, English and French—and submitted 137 knowledge-sharing reports on the theme “International Organization SDG Knowledge Sharing”. After multiple rounds of anonymous review by experts, 28 teams stood out and advanced to the final. The final was adjudicated by a panel of 15 experts: senior scholars of international organizations and global governance from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University and other peer institutions, as well as practitioners with rich hands-on experience who had held important positions in international organizations. Zhang Ning, President of the International Competence Development Committee (ICDC) of the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy (CSEDS), served as Chair of the Judging Panel. Building on the reports they had previously submitted, the finalist teams gave vivid and detailed presentations of their chosen topics, providing in-depth analyses of the successes and failures of different international organizations in advancing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and responded to on-site questions from the judges. The competition was intense throughout: the teams fully demonstrated their knowledge, theoretical grounding and practical skills, innovative thinking and teamwork, earning unanimous praise from the judges.

After keen competition, 18 teams from 14 universities—Beijing Foreign Studies University, China Foreign Affairs University, Nankai University, Beijing Normal University, Tianjin Foreign Studies University, Jilin University of Finance and Economics, Renmin University of China, Beijing Sport University, Beijing Language and Culture University, University of International Business and Economics, Soochow University, Shanghai Normal University, Xi’an International Studies University, and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics—won the First, Second and Third Prizes in the Chinese, English and French groups.

The First International Organization Competence Competition aims to further strengthen research on international organizations and the cultivation of related talent, build a platform for universities worldwide to conduct research and exchanges on international organizations, heighten students’ interest in and attention to issues concerning international organizations, expand their knowledge base, and enhance their theoretical literacy and practical competence.