On 21 March 2026, Professor Zhong Weihe, Rector of Macau Millennium College (“MMC”), was invited to Beijing to attend the 10th Forum on Reform and Development of Foreign Language Education in Higher Education, where he delivered a keynote speech titled Development of Foreign Language Disciplines in the Context of Generative Artificial Intelligence: Exploring the Programme of Digital and Intelligent Language Services at the Presidents’ Forum. The forum was jointly hosted by Beijing Foreign Studies University, the Ministry of Education’s Advisory Committee on Teaching of Foreign Language and Literature Majors in Higher Education, and the Ministry of Education’s Advisory Committee on College Foreign Language Teaching. The event brought together more than 2,000 experts, scholars, and educators on site, while the online livestream attracted over 100,000 viewers, all contributing to discussions on the future of foreign language education in the new era.

In his speech, Professor Zhong combined the geographical advantages of MMC in Macao, backed by the motherland and connected to the world, to delve into three core issues: The impact of generative artificial intelligence (“generative AI”) on the foreign language discipline, the disciplinary shift from translation to language services, and MMC’s practical exploration of the programme of Digital and Intelligent Language Services. He pointed out that AI is profoundly changing the theoretical foundation, skill structure, and talent cultivation model of foreign language disciplines. In addition to the traditional competencies of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, it is essential to add the dimension of “intelligence”, which includes comprehensive qualities such as human-machine collaboration, technical judgement, and quality control. He also observed that the role of teachers is evolving from that of knowledge transmitters into designers of learning experiences, guides to higher-order thinking, and guardians of values.

Professor Zhong further pointed out that translation studies have gone through four important stages: the linguistic turn, the cultural turn, the social turn and the technological turn. In the digital and intelligent era, he said, the discipline of translation is now moving beyond the technological turn towards a deeper digital and intelligent turn. In this context, he proposed that the more inclusive concept of “language services” should serve as a new direction for disciplinary development.

He shared MMC’s pioneering exploration in the programme of Digital and Intelligent Language Services. As a new interdisciplinary field, the programme is built on AI, natural language processing and language big data, and is designed to cultivate high-level, interdisciplinary talent equipped with technological literacy, service design capabilities and strong industry adaptability. Through this initiative, MMC aims to break down disciplinary barriers, build on Macau’s distinctive strengths, strengthen its ties with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and develop talent equipped to serve national priorities and the international language services market. In doing so, MMC is exploring a new model of talent development that brings together language, technology and industry, and supports the transformation and upgrading of language services education and the high-quality growth of related sectors.

Over the past nine editions, the forum has grown into an important platform for sharing forward-looking ideas and significant achievements, while continuing to shape innovation and development in foreign language education in China. As the 10th edition convened, educators from across the country gathered once again around the educational development goals set for the 15th Five-Year Plan, and to discuss how innovation, reform and sustained effort in higher foreign language education can support China’s ambition to become a leading country in education and enable the field to contribute to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts.