On the morning of April 29, 2017, Tsinghua University originated the Asian Universities Alliance (AUA) and hosted the first AUA summit on its campus. The AUA is a higher education alliance jointly established by 15 Asian Universities, including Peking University, and is designed to promote comprehensive cooperation and in-depth communication between Asian universities. The AUA aspires to play an important role in resolving regional and global issues by integrating the common Asian wisdom to shape a better future for the future young Asians. The shaping of a better Asia for young Asians will take Asian wisdom and innovation. And in the creation of common Asian goals, an Asian model, Asian methods, and Asian strategies, the Chinese universities - Tsinghua and Peking - the centers for modern history of education, innovation, technology in China, will serve a unique role.
Vice-Premier Liu Yandong delivered the keynote speech at the AUA summit. The AUA will contribute “Asian wisdom to resolve regional and global problems," Liu Yandong said. It will bring together "outstanding talents with an international perspective and to serve regional development," she said. She also expressed her wish that the AUA will become a platform of diversified civilizations, promoting understanding, tolerance, and mutual learning among different cultures and establishing a bridge of friendship among peoples of all countries.
"Asian universities should improve their global reputation and impact through co-operation and exchanges with international counterparts", said Qiu Yong, President of Tsinghua University while emphasizing the need for collaboration across educational institutions in Asia.
Accentuating the perseverance to form an alliance of universities with Asian values, Deputy President and Provost of the National University of Singapore, Tan Eng Chye said, "There are a lot of (international university) alliances. You have a good mix of western and eastern. But, I think it is high time for Asian universities to have our own alliance."
AUA is an attempt to pool in research capabilities and bring about a greater exchange of students and scholars that motivated several Asian universities to join the alliance.
"What we would look for is strong research groups to be build up across these universities," said Prasanna M. Mujumdar, deputy director of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (India). “If we have strength to pool universities together, the best of minds from both sides, each with their own niche expertise to contribute, and then (jointly) bid for research proposals.”
“This alliance will help us refocus on Asian universities in a lot of areas like student mobility, faculty exchange, and joint research,” he said.
In the Times Higher Education’s 2017 ranking of the top universities in Asia, Peking University retains second position and Tsinghua University comes in third. The 15 AUA member universities hold top ranks in the list of Times Higher Education’s 2017 ranking. Increased collaboration within the continent and with the wider global academic community will help more Asian nations to improve their higher education systems in the years to come. The 15 founding members of the Asian Universities Alliance are: Chulalongkorn University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, King Saud University, National University of Singapore, Nazarbayev University, Peking University, Seoul National University, Tsinghua University, United Arab Emirates University, Universitas Indonesia, University of Colombo, University of Malaya, The University of Tokyo, University of Yangon.
After the morning’s activities, delegations of the AUA members came to Peking University for a campus tour and dinner. Prior to the tour of PKU, the delegates were introduced to some innovative projects by PKU students at the new Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center on campus.
The delegates then took a brief tour of the campus that included the Boya Tower and Weming lake, and on this sunny day, the buildings and campus tour were pleasant. After the tour, the delegates enjoyed a dinner in the Shao Yuan Western Restaurant at Peking University.
Authors: Veeresh Kanduri, Jonathan Ly
Photographers: Tsinghua University, Liu Yueling
