On April 17, 2024, Leaders and representatives from the 15 universities comprising the Asian Universities Alliance (AUA) convened online for the annual board meeting. The session focused on reviewing the Alliance's achievements over the past year and deliberating on critical issues for future development.
The meeting commenced with a warm welcome from Prof. Ghaleb ALBREIKI, AUA President and Acting Vice Chancellor of United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). He expressed his delight for the Alliance's growth, particularly in associate membership and corporate partnership, and emphasized the importance of fostering innovation and entrepreneurship among member universities.
Prof. Ghaleb ALBREIKI and Prof. Yang WANG Giving Addresses
On behalf of HKUST President and AUA Executive President Prof. Nancy IP, Prof. Yang WANG, Vice-President for Institutional Advancement of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), outlined HKUST's contributions when holding the Executive President of the AUA. He highlighted several programs organized under HKUST’s leadership, which aimed at enhancing cooperation among member institutions and inspiring the youth.
The AUA Board selected the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) to hold the AUA Executive Presidency for the year 2024-2025 and appointed Prof. Subhasis CHAUDHURI, Director of IIT Bombay, as AUA Executive President 2024-2025. In his address, Prof. Chaudhuri expressed his pleasure and honor at IITB being chosen to hold the next AUA Executive Presidency. He also shared the recent developments of IITB and his insights on possible initiatives that AUA may consider to launch in the future.
At the meeting, AUA Secretary Dr. ZHANG Chuanjie presented the work review of AUA and the financial statement for the year 2023-2024; and Ms. FANG Yanhua, Chief Administrator of the AUA Secretariat, took the stage to detail the planned programs and budget for 2024-2025. The Board reviewed and approved the financial statement for 2023-2024 and the budget for 2024-2025.
Group Photo
At the last session of the Board Meeting, Prof. Kaori HAYASHI, Executive Vice President of The University of Tokyo (UTokyo) presented a video message from Prof. Teruo FUJII, President of UTokyo, who extended cordial invitations to all member universities to attend the next AUA Summit, which will take place at UTokyo in the beautiful Japanese spring of 2025. After Prof. Fujii’s video message, Vice Chancellor Prof. H.D. KARUNARATNE of the University of Colombo, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Noor Azuan Abu Osman of Universiti Malaya, Acting President Prof. Ilesanmi ADESIDA of Nazarbayev University, University Secretary dr. Agustin KUSUMAYATI of Universitas Indonesia, Vice President Prof. FANG Fang of Peking University, Vice President Prof. Pomthong MALAKUL of Chulalongkorn University, Deputy Director Prof. K.V.K. RAO of IITB; Pro-Rector (Academic) Prof. Thidar AYE of the University of Yangon, Vice President Prof. WANG Hongwei of Tsinghua University, Prof. Yang WANG of HKUST, Deputy Vice President of International affairs Prof. Sun Young KIM of Seoul National University, Associate Vice For Global Relations Dr. LUM Sau Kim of the National University of Singapore, and President of Global Engagement Office Dr. Mezyad ALTERKAWI of King Saud University shared respective universities' development and expressed their strong support of AUA.
Writer: Ehab ALETOUM
