On the morning of June 22, 2024, the Song-zexing Memorial University Lectures by Overseas Prestigious Scholars of Liaoning University (the sixteenth lecture) was held in the Jonathan KS Choi Hall of the Administration Building at Puhe Campus. Professor Wei Shangjin of Columbia University was invited to give an academic report entitled ‘Science and Technology and Educational Equity: Empirical Evidence Based on Digital Footprints’. Professor Yu Miaojie, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and President of Liaoning University, attended the lecture and delivered a speech. Professor Ge Suqin, Director of the Center for Future Work Places and Practices of Virginia Tech University, Professor Huo Weidong, Deputy Director of the Department of Economics of Liaoning University, Professor Liu Junting, Director of the Editorial Department of the Journal of Liaoning University, Professor Ma Xiangjun, Vice President of the China Economic Research Institute and Vice President of the School of Finance and Trade, Professor Li Dan, Vice President of the School of Finance and Trade, and Professor You Yu, Vice President of the Li Anmin Institute of Economic Research attended the lecture. The lecture was presided over by Professor Qiu Huanguang, Vice President of Liaoning University.

In his speech, President Yu Miaojie introduced Professor Wei Shangjin's academic background and achievements in detail. Professor Wei Shangjin is a well-known economist with a high international reputation in the fields of international finance, international trade, macroeconomics and China issues. He is one of the few Chinese scholars who has achieved a high reputation and leadership in both the international academic field and the international policy community. He ranks first among Chinese economists in the world in the latest Global economist rankings released by the RePEc Research Database in May 2024. He has deep academic attainments and fruitful research results. His main research results have been cited by authoritative institutions such as the People's Bank of China and the Federal Reserve and have received long-term extensive attention from mainstream media at home and abroad. Professor Wei is the founding head of the China Economic Research Group of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He has organized and promoted a number of China-US economic research cooperation projects and has made significant contributions to actively promoting the internationalization of Chinese economic research and talent training.

The title of Professor Wei's report was ‘Technology and Educational Equity: Empirical Research Based on Digital Footprint’. He first humorously used the example of calligraphy misreading to explain the importance of the Vernacular Movement and the Simplified Chinese character reform in promoting education and lowering barriers to education in history. This led him to the topic of the report, that is, how science and technology will affect the educational equity of wealthier and poorer families after lowering the barriers to education. He first analyzed the impact of online education, as a new form of education that relies on the power of science and technology, on students from different family backgrounds, especially those with large differences in economic strength. Then, by in-depth tracking of the digital footprints of mobile communication users, he used the differences in the length of time spent on online education in different cities in Guangdong Province during the epidemic to assess the impact of the shift from offline to online education on students' educational achievements and the gap between wealthy and poor. The study found that after the promotion of online education, the advantage of students from wealthier families entering top secondary schools has grown with the increase of the length of time on online education. That is, online education has further expanded the educational inequity between wealthier and poorer families. He pointed out that during online learning, whether parents can accompany their children at home, and the heavy use of game applications on parents' mobile phones, may affect the quality of children's online learning and become a factor in widening the education gap. Professor Wei's research uses big data from mobile communications to provide strong empirical support for an in-depth understanding of the impact of modern science and technology on education and its fairness.

During the lecture, Professor Ge Suqin, Professor Ma Xiangjun and other guests had exchanges and discussions on the quality measurement of online education, the possible impact of offline make-up classes on research conclusions, and the possible scalable research on this topic.

After the lecture, President Yu Miaojie presented Professor Wei Shangjin with a letter of appointment as a tenured honorary professor of Liaoning University on behalf of LNU, Professor Qiu Huanguang presented Professor Wei with a commemorative plate of the Song-zexing Memorial University Lectures by Overseas Prestigious Scholars, Professor Huo Weidong presented Professor Wei with a commemorative photo, Professor Liu Junting presented Professor Wei with the Liaoning University Think Tank Report, Professor Ma Xiangjun presented the school badge and school hat to Professor Wei, and Assistant Professor Xu Rui of the China Institute of Economic Research presented flowers to Professor Wei as a teacher representative.

Finally, the participants took a group photo with Professor Wei Shangjin to commemorate the event. The report meeting was hosted by the Faculty of Economics of Liaoning University and organized by the School of Finance and Trade and the China Economic Research Institute. More than 300 representatives of teachers and students from affiliated units of the Faculty of Economics attended the meeting.

Wei Shangjin: biography

Wei Shangjin, an internationally renowned economist, is N.T. Wang Professor of Chinese Business and Economy and Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Graduate School of Business. He is Director of the China Economic Research Group of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Researcher of the European Economic Policy Research Center, Consultant of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Researcher of the Brookings Institution, and Visiting Professor of the School of International Finance of Fudan University. He served as the chief economist of the Asian Development Bank, the head of the Trade and Investment Department of the International Monetary Fund, and a consultant to the World Bank. He also taught at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University. His main research areas include international finance, international trade, government governance and reform, the Chinese economy, and macroeconomics. His academic papers have been published in top international economic journals such as American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Quarterly Journal of Economics.