The Center for World-Class Universities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University is pleased to announce that the 9th International Conference on World-Class Universities (WCU-9) will be held online on November 18, 2022. The theme for WCU-9 is “World-Class Universities: Challenges and Opportunities in the Post-Pandemic Era”.

Over the past few years, world-class universities were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Universities face immense challenges as online courses increased, international mobility changes, and budgets fall. In response, world-class universities are committed to leading innovation in learning and teaching, maintaining excellence in scientific research, transforming university governance, and enhancing international communication and cooperation, which will contribute to the future global development in times of uncertainty.

World-Class Universities (WCU), commonly recognized as global research universities or flagship universities, are essential in developing a nation’s potential for development in the knowledge economy and in seeking conceptual and practical solutions to daunting challenges. To continue and further deepen our previous conferences’ discussion on building world-class higher education systems and the indispensable roles of WCUs in teaching, research, and service, particularly in the uncertain post-pandemic era, WCU-9 will shed light on WCUs’ challenges and opportunities in response to the changing landscape of higher education and our society as a whole.

All stakeholders, including policy-makers, university presidents and senior administrators, academics, and ranking analysts, are encouraged join in the discussion and share their valuable viewpoints and experiences on the above and other issues related to a carrying topic of the WCU-9 conference.