Hosted by the China Association of Higher Education and the Chongqing Municipal Government, the International Conference on Quality Enhancement and Striving for Global Excellence in Higher Education was held in Chongqing from 22 to 23 October 2011.

As a major sponsor of the conference, the British Council supported four UK higher education practitioners to attend the conference and deliver keynote speeches on the themes of equity and quality assurance of higher education. The UK speakers contributed their own perspectives to the conference through introducing and analyzing measures and their effects concerning higher education equity and quality assurance in the UK. They were also given the chance to exchange their ideas and thoughts with their Chinese counterparts during the networking events.

These speakers and their presentation titles are:

Dr David Law, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Edge Hill University: Developing global skills for 21st Century - inequality and entitlement

Professor Kelvin Everest, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Public Orator of University of Liverpool: Issues in UK–China Collaboration

Mr Douglas Bell, Head of Centre for English Language Education of the University of Nottingham, Ningbo: Achieving global excellence in teaching and learning at the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China

Ms Caroline Turnbull, Assistant Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Creative Industries of Edinburgh Napier University: An Enhancement Approach to Quality: The Experience of a Scottish University in Enhancing the Student Experience.

The conference was attended by over 600 university leaders and higher education practitioners from all over the world with Mr. Du Yubo, Vice Minister of Education giving the opening address.