The ironclad friendship between China and Serbia is brimming with new vitality in the new era, as mirrored by the growing enthusiasm for learning Chinese in Serbia, the expanded educational cooperation, the continuous enhancement of technological exchanges, and the frequent exchanges in tourism.
Serbia was one of the earliest countries to join the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China. Over the past decade, the two countries have carried out extensive cooperation in culture, education, tourism, sports, and other fields, building a solid foundation for people-to-people exchanges.
Nestling among green trees, a three-story white teaching building stands at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Belgrade. On an exterior wall of the building, there are national flags of China and Serbia.
Danimir Mandic, dean of the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Belgrade, told People’s Daily, “With the help of our Chinese friends, we now have one of the most advanced digital education and artificial intelligence (AI) technology laboratory in the Balkan region.”
The laboratory Mandic referred to is the Center for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Education (hereafter referred to as “the Center”) located in the white teaching building. In January 2020, NetDragon Websoft Holdings Ltd., a leading Chinese education and gaming provider, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development to collaborate on projects related to educational software, hardware, value-added services, and online intelligent learning platforms, with an aim to make Serbia’s education more intelligent and digitalized. The Center is one of the important components of such collaboration.
In an intelligent classroom of the Center, People’s Daily reporters experienced one of the most cutting-edge technologies: with the help of virtual reality goggles, tasks such as circuit testing and reagent handling in physical and chemical experiments can be simulated by operating the controller; upon detection of mis-operations, notifications are displayed on a screen, ensuring authenticity and safety.
There is an innovative educational lab within the Center, equipped with a variety of educational tools, such as intelligent homework assessment and analysis software, language learning software, and sandbox games. It also comes with an AI assistant that answers students’ questions.
