On 15-16 November 2018, the second Asian Universities Alliance Executives Meeting (AUAEM) was hosted by Universitas Indonesia, AUA Executive Presidency 2018-2019. The meeting took place in Bali, Indonesia.
At the opening ceremony, AUA Executive President 2018-2019, and Rector of Universitas Indonesia Professor Muhammad Anis, delivered an opening address. He began by welcoming all delegates to Bali, and set forth the agenda for the AUAEM 2018. He also referred to the fact that the Alliance was relatively young but had already achieved many goals. Professor Anis said:
“We have proven to be able to gain significant achievements pertaining to our goals through the members’ joint efforts in establishing various academic forums and mobility programs over the past year.”
Professor Anis delivering the opening address at the AUAEM18
Professor Anis also wished for the continued success of AUA and for its long lasting impact on higher education, both in Asia and worldwide.
Professor YANG Bin, Vice President and Provost of Tsinghua University, gave a speech to welcome all attendees on behalf of AUA President and Tsinghua University President, Professor QIU Yong. Professor Yang spoke about the successes and achievements of the AUA thus far, including the launch of the firstAsian Higher Education Outlook(AHEO) report and the establishment of the AUA Library Directors Dialogue. He also talked about the trends shaping Asian higher education at present, such as the increase in inward mobility of international students to Asia. Finally, Professor Yang relayed his expectations for the further shared achievements and collaboration between member universities. He said:
“AUA is growing fast and generating concrete results…going forward, we will continue to fulfil the roles required for even bigger success of AUA.”
Professor Yang speaking at the AUAEM18 opening ceremony
In the first session of the AUAEM 2018, representatives from member universities delivered a summary of AUA activities from 2018 to 2019. These included the AUA Library Directors Dialogue, AUA academic conferences, as well as all the AUA student activities which took place at member universities.
For session two, leading author of theAHEO 2018Dr. ZHONG Zhou, from Tsinghua University’s Institute of Education, presented the findings of the report and engaged in a fruitful discussion with other members regarding the direction for future reports.
Dr. Zhong presenting on the AHEO 2018 report
Session three was led by AUA Secretary Dr. ZHANG Chuanjie, and pertained to the implementation of the AUA Scholars Award and AUA Staff Exchange Program, as well as the revision of some AUA policies and aspects of the AUA Framework. Members participated in a lively discussion regarding potential changes and overall consensus was reached.
For the fourth session, members presented their proposals for AUA activities for the year 2019-2020. AUA members will vote on these proposals and the shortlisted proposals will be submitted to Board for approval.
In the fifth and final session, held on the morning of 16 November, members took part in a sharing session on best practices, which demonstrated some of the unique strategies and/or programs of AUA member universities. Each of the approaches were well received by other AUA members.
In the afternoon, students participating in the AUA Youth Forum (AUAYF) 2018, which runs concurrently with the AUAEM, delivered presentations to AUA members on the theme of “Healthy Oceans”.
Overall, the AUA Executives Meeting 2018 was a great success, and resulted in fruitful exchanges between members, deeper cooperation between partner universities and greater enhancement of AUA practices and policies.
All delegates of AUAEM18
