Asian Universities Alliance Formed

Fifteen universities from across Asia have formed a consortium called the Asian Universities Alliance. A joint statement from member universities identifies four objectives: to “promote mobility of students, scholars and staff among all members,” “strengthen research collaboration and joint innovation,” “establish high-level dialogues and forums to discuss higher education strategies and policies,” and “compile and publish annual reports on Asian higher education.”

“We believe that higher education will play an increasingly important role in future Asian societies and that economic globalization has made openness the trend of higher education,” the statement said. “AUA will embrace that trend by building closer ties both among member universities and with universities outside AUA. Together, we will play a more significant role in world higher education.”

The following universities are members of the alliance:

• Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
• Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
• King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
• National University of Singapore
• Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan
• Peking University, China
• Seoul National University, South Korea
• Tsinghua University, China
• United Arab Emirates University
• Universitas Indonesia
• University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
• University of Malaya, Malaysia
• The University of Tokyo, Japan
• University of Yangon, Myanmar