On the night of March 2, 2023, the English lecture series "Sustainable Development and the Future" of Tongji University started all over again at Si ping Campus. The course is an interdisciplinary public elective course jointly organized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and Tongji University's Institute for Environment and Sustainable Development (IESD) and the School of International Cultural Exchange, in the form of a series of open lectures by experts for students across the university. A total of 45 Chinese and foreign students from China, Germany, France, Austria and Egypt took the course.

Figure 1 Professor Lv Pei Ming is teaching the students

The first lecture was given by Professor Pei-Ming Lv, Executive Vice-President of Tongji University, on the theme of "Sustainable Development: Connotation, Evolution and Practice in China", which systematically describes how sustainable development is a response to the world's growing social and environmental problems compared to the traditional development model, and is an important sign of the deepening of human understanding of development. In the face of the social and climatic problems caused by population growth, how can we balance the relationship between human society and nature at a macro-strategic level and what concrete actions should be taken the search for a rational development model. Sustainable development means achieving development in the right areas while respecting nature and people. development. It is about achieving economic goals, but also about social responsibility and environmental protection.

Figure 2  Professor Lv Pei Ming is teaching and discussing with students

In order to accommodate international students who are currently unable to return to China, the school has arranged for a combination of online and offline classes to allow international students to participate in normal teaching activities and ensure an integrated learning environment with their offline peers.

Figure 3 Professor Lv Pei-Ming is teaching in an integrated online and offline mode

At the end of the course, President Lv also emphasis that the essence of sustainable development is for future generations to live as well as or even better than we did, and that in essence, it is for people to rise to a higher level of moral values and to deal with human relationships better. After the lecture, students at the venue expressed that the lecture was insightful, vivid and concrete, and beneficial. Also, the online international students really enjoyed the content of tonight's lecture. Through this lecture, everyone had a better understanding of the concept of sustainable development, its evolution and its practice in China, and worked hard to create a good campus environment for sustainable development.