On April 13th, the Asian Universities Alliance (AUA) Summit 2019 was held in Hong Kong. Representatives from the 15 member universities of the AUA attended the summit. At the AUA Board Meeting, Tsinghua University was unanimously re-elected as AUA Presidency for 2020-2023, with Tsinghua President Qiu Yong re-elected as President of AUA. The Board also unanimously voted for the AUA Secretariat to be permanently hosted by Tsinghua University.

Prior to the Board meeting, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) The Honorable Mrs Carrie LAM CHENG Yuet-Ngor, GBM, GBS met with the representatives from the AUA member universities to congratulate the opening of the AUA Summit in Hong Kong. Representatives from the AUA member universities attending the meeting were Qiu Yong, President of Tsinghua University, Wei Shyy, President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, OH Se‐Jung, President of Seoul National University, Bundhit Eua‐arporn, President of the Chulalongkorn University, Muhammad Anis, Rector of Universitas Indonesia, Lakshman Dissanayake, Former Vice-Chancellor of University of Colombo, Devang Khakhar, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mohamed Albaili, Vice Chancellor of the United Arab Emirates University, Shigeo Katsu, President of Nazarbayev University, Sawako Shirahase, Executive Vice President of the University of Tokyo, Tian Gang, Vice President of Peking University, Andrew Wee, Vice President of the National University of Singapore, Omar Kyaw, Pro Rector of the University of Yangon, Kamila Ghazali, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya, and Abdullah Al‐Salman, Vice Rector of King Saud University.

As the President of AUA, President Qiu Yong reviewed the key work of the AUA from 2018 to 2019. He noted that the member universities of the AUA actively participated in alliance affairs over the past year, successfully organized 16 activities including academic conferences, student exchanges, and forums on university management, and also launched multilateral cooperation projects such as joint research, scholars award, staff exchange, interlibrary loan and document delivery. The AUA has started building up its influence in Asia and the world. President QIU expressed his thanks to all the member universities for their strong support and active involvement.

President Qiu thanked the Board for its trust in Tsinghua University and himself. He said that Tsinghua University will continue to work closely with other member universities to build AUA towards bigger success, promote the development of the AUA and achieves further development and greater influence.

“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.

During the meeting, the secretariat of the AUA reported the AUA Financial Report 2018-2019, the Budget Report for 2019-2020, as well as the implementation of important activities and projects by the AUA over the past year. Representatives from member universities of AUA also discussed in detail the revenue and expenditure of the alliance, the selection and admission of member universities, the framework and the direction of work for the next three years.

On the meeting, President Qiu Yong delivered the 2019 AUA annual report Asian Higher Education Outlooks: Education Innovation. The report is a collaborative effort of 24 scholars from all AUA universities. Educating for innovative talent is core to AUA universities, and a major global contribution. There is an urgent need to develop more shared insight into the value, progress and achievement of teaching and learning and of education in broader sense. AHEO 2019 discusses six frontier issues, including teaching innovation, doctoral education, online and mobile learning, social engagement, promoting sustainability, and university futures in the AUA.

Vice President Yang Bin and other guests attended the summit.

The Presidents Forum will be held the following day at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Writers: Guo Lili, Wilson Khor
Editor: Guo Lili