From June 5th to 7th, 2023, Professor Ante Simonic, former Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, as well as Dr. Rita Zhao, the Secretary-General of the Croatia-China Friendship Association, visited Jinan University and held wonderful lectures at the International School. Deng Yongzhong, Secretary of the International School Party Committee, and Professor Yu Pei, Dean of the School extended the warmest welcome to the distinguished guests and hosted the lectures.

Professor Simonic delivered two lectures respectively titled "Is Knowledge Creating the Greatest Adventure of Humans?" and "Challenges in Technology, Economy, and Health Care in Knowledge Society."

He introduced the history of human knowledge development which has had enormous impact on various aspects of human society, such as technology, economy, medicine, military, sports, education and art, and brought provoking thoughts on the challenges we are facing nowadays as the global scientific research competition increases and artificial intelligence blooms. After fully engagement in the Q&A section, students gave a round of applause to Pro. Simonic for bringing such a feast of valuable insights.

Meanwhile, Dr. Rita Zhao delivered two themed lectures at the International School："Image Branding for Media People in the Era of AI" and "The Beauty of Diplomatic Etiquette."

With her extensive experience in the media industry, Dr. Zhao demonstrated the image-building ability that media people should have, guiding students to acquire a sense of self-cognition and establish personal brands in order to create greater influence and value for society. Dr. Zhao opened a window to the beauty of international diplomatic etiquette, advocating understanding and respect for diverse cultures. Her inspiring and charismatic speech was highly welcomed and loved by the teachers and students.

At the end of the lectures, Dean Yu Pei and Secretary Deng Yongzhong both expressed sincere thanks to Professor Simonic and Dr. Rita Zhao for their visit, highly praising their enlightening speeches brought to the students, and looking forward to further educational cooperation and cultural exchange between International School of Jinan University and University of Rijeka, Croatia. Professor Simonic expressed his welcome to the International School of Jinan University to visit Croatia, hoping to deepen the friendship between China and Croatia.

Dean Yu and Secretary Deng presented the guests with Chinese-culture featured gifts to conclude the event a great success.

Written by: Liu Jiali

First review: Li Jingwen

Second Review: Song Jingsong

Final Review: Deng Yongzhong