When you think of international organizations and multinational institutions, what comes to mind first?

The imposing UN Headquarters building?

Diplomats sparring with words on the evening news?

Or perhaps the sense that these are dream jobs reserved for "someone else's kids"?

As the global governance system undergoes accelerated restructuring, and technological innovation becomes ever more deeply intertwined with international rule-making, cultivating versatile, high-caliber talent who combine solid professional expertise with deep global competence has become a shared mission for higher education and international science and technology organizations alike.

This coming fall semester, coordinated by the Asia Simulation Federation and supported by the Beihang Hangzhou International Innovation Institute, a flagship course — Global Competence — will launch at Beihang University, taught personally by Professor Weixi Gong: Chief Strategist of the Asia Simulation Federation, former Division Director at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), a practitioner and co-developer of global competence models, and Senior Advisor for Professional Competence Development at UNIDO.

The course is designed specifically for senior undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students at the Beihang Hangzhou International Innovation Institute, aiming to comprehensively strengthen young students' global competence and their capacity for international practice on the world stage. Through this course, ASIASIM hopes to break down the perceptual barriers between traditional academia and international careers, guiding young students to see through to the essence of the global governance system, grasp the underlying logic of international careers, and channel a new generation of confident, capable, rule-savvy, and responsible high-caliber talent into the global innovation governance network.

01 Course Positioning and Significance

The United Nations is the most central and universally representative platform in today's global governance system. This course is designed to guide students in systematically learning the basic structure of the UN system, its principal organs, specialized agencies, and operating rules, and in deeply understanding the macro framework of global governance.

Deepening Understanding

Helps students fully grasp the UN's function as the core platform of global governance, and gain a clear understanding of how the network of major international organization host cities is structured, as well as how global career opportunities are distributed and accessed within it.

Model-Led Learning

Introduces and unpacks a cutting-edge global competence model, decoding — across the three dimensions of "values, core competencies, and professional skills" — the rigorous standards international organizations apply to versatile, high-caliber talent.

Strategic Alignment

The course closely aligns with Beihang University's talent cultivation goals of "internationalization + engineering + interdisciplinarity" under its "Double First-Class" initiative, and is highly consistent with the Beihang Hangzhou International Innovation Institute's strategic focus on international innovation transformation and China-Europe cooperation — helping young students better integrate into, and ultimately lead, the future of international science, technology innovation, and governance.

02 Instructor with extensive international governance experience

Cultivating talent with genuine global competence requires a leading figure with real multilateral diplomatic and international hands-on experience. The course's lead instructor, Professor Weixi Gong, served at UNIDO continuously for nearly 27 years and is a committed practitioner of "global competence" within the UN system.

Professor Weixi Gong

Currently Chief Strategist of the Asia Simulation Federation. He previously served as the founding Director of UNIDO's Division of Global Investment and Technology Promotion and Institutional Partnerships; Chief of the Investment Promotion Branch, Division of Trade, Investment and Innovation; Senior Coordinator for South-South and Triangular Cooperation; Resident Representative to Iran (at Ambassador rank) and Chair of the UN Operations Management Team in Iran; and Chair of UN-Energy. He has led numerous major UN agendas in global investment promotion, technology transfer, South-South cooperation, and international city summits.

1. Original Theoretical Contributions

·                Proposed the Measurable Public-Private Financial Partnership (Measurable PPfP) methodology.

·                First introduced the concept of Fourth-Generation Industrial Investment (4GII) at the World Manufacturing Summit in 2018, and incorporated the role of artificial intelligence within it into the course's central thread of "Technology × Capital × Governance."

·                Built a soft-infrastructure and measurable-matrix model for urban development.

2. International Honors

Recipient of the United Nations Award for Outstanding Contribution to South-South Cooperation, the UNIDO Outstanding Leadership Award (individual) and Outstanding Team Award (collective), and the United Nations System Innovation Award (Global Pandemic Response Solutions Initiative).

3. Interdisciplinary Background

Holds an undergraduate degree from the Department of Applied Mathematics at Beihang University, a PhD in Applied Mathematics from TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology), and a Master's degree in Advanced International Studies from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna — combining a strong foundation in engineering with deep expertise in international law and politics.

4. University Teaching Experience

Holds visiting, distinguished, or adjunct professorships and graduate advisory appointments at multiple world-class universities, including the PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University, the KoGuan School of Law at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the School of Management at Zhejiang University, and the School of International Innovation and Transformation at Shandong University.

5. Multi-Dimensional Training Credentials

·                International organizations: Certified trainer for UNIDO's investment feasibility assessment models and methodologies. As Division Director, he was responsible for routine training of his division and its affiliated offices worldwide, and as lead for the UN's institutional capacity-building program on investment climate, he conducted systematic training for senior officials of member states, including senior Chinese government officials — drawing on a mature "adult and executive education" methodology. In 2014, he authored Selection and Decision-Making Approaches and Methods for South-South Cooperation Projects, UNIDO's official guide to South-South cooperation projects, which has been used across multiple training cohorts.

·                Government and think tanks: Currently serves as a member of Beihang University's China-Europe Cooperation Committee, International Trade and Investment Advisor to the Shandong Provincial Government, International Cooperation Advisor to the Zhengzhou Municipal Government, Science and Technology Advisor to the Chengdu Municipal Party Committee and Government, Standing Director of the Vienna City Forum, Independent Supervisor of FACC (AVIC), and External Member of the Science and Technology Committee at Beijing Enterprises Group — remaining continuously engaged on the front lines connecting the four-tier network of "central government–local government–enterprise–international institutions."

·                Executive training: Has delivered strategic management and innovation institutionalization training to senior leadership at world-leading multinational corporations and institutions, including Siemens headquarters, Andritz headquarters, FACC, and the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), reaching more than 300 participants in total.

Under Professor Gong's leadership — combining engineering rigor, diplomatic vision, and hands-on global governance experience — students will gain a rare opportunity to engage directly with the core mechanisms of global governance, and to build a macro-strategic mindset and systematic methodology aligned with international standards.

03 Eight Lectures: Building a Systematic Map of Global Competence

Lectures 1–2: Reframing Understanding — How the Global Governance System Operates
Systematically clarifies the UN's principal organs, the Secretariat, specialized agencies, and the complex network of international governance. The UN is not just New York — it is a network of cities spanning the globe: political and security affairs in New York, multilateral governance in Geneva, industry and atomic energy in Vienna, education, science and culture in Paris, food in Rome, environment in Nairobi, and international justice in The Hague.

Lecture 3: Choosing Your Track — Precisely Matching Expertise to Roles
Focuses on disciplinary backgrounds including engineering, artificial intelligence, law, economics and management, and environmental studies, analyzing the corresponding international career tracks and role types. Provides an in-depth breakdown of the selection mechanisms and pathways for programs such as the Junior Professional Officer (JPO) Programme, the Young Professionals Programme (YPP), United Nations Volunteers (UNV), and internship programs.

Lecture 4: Local Integration — The Global Competence Advantages of Chinese Students
Unpacks UNIDO's three-tier global competence pyramid model, exploring how the strengths of China's higher education system can be organically integrated with the professional integrity, resilience, and cross-cultural understanding valued by international organizations — cultivating international talent who combine a strong sense of national identity with a global outlook.

Lectures 5–7: Practical Empowerment — Understanding How International Organizations Select Candidates
Starting from an analysis of job descriptions (JDs), trains students to evaluate role requirements the way an international organization recruiter would, precisely matching their own experience to organizational needs, and clarifying the long-term growth ladder from internship roles to senior expert and management positions.

Lecture 8: Practical Simulation — Mock Recruitment Committee Decision-Making
Moves from theoretical learning to hands-on practice, fully recreating the real recruitment process — from job posting and eligibility screening to competency assessment, interviews, and final review — giving students a deep understanding of the underlying logic and institutional constraints behind how international organizations select and hire, and helping them transform from passive job applicants into strategically minded global governance talent.

In today's world, simulation technology is broadly empowering global sustainable development, digital twins, and the governance of complex systems. As a key part of the Asia Simulation Federation's strategy for talent cultivation and internationalization, this course aims to build a solid bridge to the international stage for young students — helping more future leaders, equipped with both rigorous professional expertise and a global outlook, carry Chinese wisdom and solutions from campus out into the world, deeply engaging with and actively leading the next wave of global science and technology governance.

From seekers of knowledge on campus, to participants in global governance.

This new semester, let's set out together with Professor Weixi Gong — at Beihang University, headed toward the center of the world stage!

Contact: Mengyuan Ding

Email: 19883572806@163.com
(For course inquiries and project cooperation, please feel free to reach out to us at any time.)