CHENGDU, China – A groundbreaking initiative from Sichuan Normal University is redefining how young people in southwest China share their cultural heritage with the world. The "Voice Up Academy" project, founded by award-winning university students, has built a full-cycle ecosystem combining English public speaking training, cultural storytelling, and international competition platforms.
At its core is the "National Youth Chinese Culture International Communication English Competition," a proprietary event backed by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Tournament of Champions (TOC). The competition, segmented into primary, secondary, and international student tracks, focuses entirely on Chinese cultural themes—from intangible heritage and rural revitalization to technological development.
"Traditional speech training focuses only on pronunciation and gestures. We integrate one cultural theme with every single skill point," said Li Siyu, team leader and national champion speaker. "A student learning about narrative structure does so by crafting a speech about Sanxingdui bronzes or Sichuan opera, not generic topics."
The impact is measurable. During a pilot phase across six schools in Chengdu and Chongqing, student speaking performance improved by an average of 47 percent, with 15 students winning provincial-level or higher awards. Eight outstanding speeches were selected for the UN SDGs Youth Cultural Exchange case library, gaining global exhibition.
What distinguishes Voice Up Academy from conventional training centers is its deep integration with university resources. The project directly draws upon Sichuan Normal University's 12-year speech competition legacy, 86 specialized teaching cases, and a pool of over 120 nationally awarded student instructors—assets that commercial competitors cannot replicate.
The team has established partnerships with over 20 primary and secondary schools, reaching more than 5,000 students. Regular online exchanges link participants with partner Confucius Institutes in South Korea, Pakistan, and Slovakia, providing authentic cross-cultural communication scenarios.
As ASEAN countries increasingly prioritize cultural exchange and youth empowerment through education, the Voice Up model offers a replicable template for how university resources can be mobilized to serve broader societal needs in international communication capacity building.（Li Siyu ; Li Yuhan）