The AUA Board Meeting was held on April 28th, 2017. The AUA Board consists of Chief Executives of all member institutions and among its active duties includes the selection of AUA Presdiency and Vice Presidency for a three-year term. During this meeting, President Qiu Yong of Tsinghua University was elected the founding President of the AUA and President Bundhit Eua-arporn of Chulalongkorn University became the AUA Executive President 2017-2018. With unanimous approval from all fifteen members, Tsinghua University holds the AUA Presidency from 2017 to 2019; Chulalongkorn University holds the AUA Executive Presidency for 2017-2018; and Universitas Indonesia will hold the Executive Presidency in 2018-2019.
The Board approved by vote approved “Public Health”,“Resources & Environment”, and “Information Technology” as the three themes for the 2017-2019 term. All three themes are relating to pressing challenges faced by the world, and echo the AUA mission that “AUA will jointly address regional and global challenges, specifically related to higher education and economic, scientific and technological development, by strengthening collaboration among member institutions”.
• Public Health is a major challenge in an increasingly interconnected world. There are no countries that are immune from the outbreak of devastating diseases. Specifically in the case of Asia, as the most populated continent, addressing public health issues through joint efforts is the way forward.
• Resources and Environment has been a dominant theme globally for the previous decades. Challenges include but are not limited to air and water pollution, solid waste, and depletion of natural resources and require multi-disciplinary approaches and innovative solutions.
• Information Technology and its development has changed people’s everyday lives. Today Asian universities are playing an increasingly important role in producing the most innovative technology. Asia needs continue significant contributions to the global IT Revolution, and also seek solutions to the various concerns and challenges through consultation and research.
The AUA will develop programs that address these three themes and fit the following four modules: Mobility, Research Collaboration, Strategy & Policy, and the Annual Report on Asian Higher Education. The Board approved the following student programs:
1) “Asian Undergraduate Summit” proposed by National University of Singapore;
2) “Experiencing the 2018 Winter Olympic Game Site at PyeongChang” proposed by Seoul National University;
3) “AUA Students Week” proposed by Universitas Indonesia.
