Asian Universities Alliance (AUA) Summit 2019
The third annual Asian Universities Alliance (AUA) Summit was successfully held in Hong Kong on 13-14 April 2018. Comprised of two Working Group Meetings, the AUA Board Meeting, and Presidents Forum, this year’s Summit welcomed 60 delegates from all 15 member universities, the largest delegation ever.
Session one of the Board Meeting, chaired by Professor Prasanna Mujumdar, Deputy Director (Finance and Programs) of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, consisted of the AUA 2018-2019 Work Review, delivered by AUA & Tsinghua University President QIU Yong. President Qiu said: “Compared with the first year, the year of 2018-2019 has been a rapidly developing year of AUA. We are getting closer and increasingly involved with AUA’s various programs. For me, it carries great significance to work closely with our AUA members towards the mission of our alliance.” Following the Work Review, the financial forecast and confirmation of AUA programs for the 2019-2020 period was announced. Dr. ZHONG Zhou, AHEO leading author and Associate Professor at the Institute of Education, Tsinghua University released the major findings of the Asian Higher Education Outlook (AHEO) 2019: Education Innovation. AHEO 2019, the second of the series, focuses on education innovation in AUA universities. It responds to an urgent need to better understand education, teaching and learning at leading Asian universities. Educating highly talented people is core to AUA universities, and is a major global contribution shared by members. To close session one, two representatives of the AUA Scholars Award and AUA Staff Exchange Program 2018-2019 shared their experience and learning outcomes from participating in these mobility programs.
Session two, chaired by Professor YANG Bin, Provost & Vice President of Tsinghua University, recapped the two Working Group Meetings on financial sustainability and new member and observer admission; a discussion on the restructure of the AUA Framework took place; as well as finalizing the candidate themes for the 2020-2023 AUA term. The three selected themes are:
- Energy and Sustainability
- Artificial Intelligence and Data Sciences
- Asian Civilizations
Chaired by Professor Kamila Ghazali, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Malaya, the third and final session of the Board Meeting confirmed that Tsinghua University will assume a second term of AUA Presidency from 2020-2023, and officially announced that the AUA Secretariat will be hosted permanently by Tsinghua University. Following two addresses by the outgoing and incoming AUA Executive Presidents, Muhammad Anis, Rector of Universitas Indonesia, and Senior Professor Lakshman Dissanayake, Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo respectively, the Executive Presidency was handed over by Universitas Indonesia to the University of Colombo for the year 2019-2020.
To wrap up the AUA Board Meeting 2019, and launch the beginning of the next AUA year, AUA President QIU Yong delivered the closing remarks and announced increased financial support from Tsinghua University. “AUA is becoming a wonderful platform that benefits every member university. Every step of progress was achieved with the efforts and support from member universities. Let’s continue the team spirit and expect an even better year of AUA,” said President Qiu.
