Higher education leaders discuss building resilient universities in Asia at QS APPLE Conference

HONG KONG SAR
– Media OutReach -
2 November 2021 – Distinguished higher education leaders in the Asia-Pacific acknowledged
at the Quacquarelli Symonds Asia-Pacific Professional Leaders in
Education (QS APPLE) 2021 Conference that the strategic direction of
transdisciplinary education and research is fundamental to the development of
higher education in the region, and that universities need to become more
resilient to cope with technological advancements and uncertainties in the post-pandemic
era.

The Presidents Panel of the QS APPLE 2021 Conference featured higher education leaders in the region
including (clockwise from top left) Professor Alexander Wai, President and
Vice-Chancellor of HKBU; Professor Lily Kong, President of the Singapore
Management University; Professor Joonki Paik, Provost and Executive Vice
President of Research of the Chung-Ang University in Korea; Professor Yang Bin,
Vice President and Provost of Tsinghua University in mainland China; and Professor
T.G. Sitharam, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati as
panelists; and Mr Anton John Crace, Editor & Programme Designer of QS, as
the moderator.

The sector
leaders, who joined the Presidents Panel with the theme “Building resilient universities for tomorrow: An Asian perspective“
yesterday (1 November) at the QS APPLE 2021 Conference, also agreed that
artificial intelligence (AI) will empower both educators and students to cope
with future education and workforce trends.

The QS APPLE 2021
Conference, hosted by Hong Kong Baptist
University (HKBU) and co-hosted by Prince
of Songkla University in Thailand, is being held virtually from 1 to 3
November with the theme “Future
Rebalance: Emerging trends and workforce in the Asia Pacific”. The
conference features more than 80 distinguished speakers from world-leading
universities and organisations, and the programme includes keynote speeches,
debates, panel discussions and case studies that reflect the opportunities and
trends in education in the Asia-Pacific region.

In his opening
remarks at the conference, Professor
Alexander Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU, pointed out that
higher education is in the midst of an exciting transformation brought about
not only by the pandemic, but also the incredible advances happening in AI and
the technology sector. He said that in this fast-evolving world, we need to
race against time: “Education is the key to adapting to new technologies, and
universities will play a key role in closing an imminent skills gap by enabling
their students to acquire transferable competencies alongside technological
skills.

“Universities must
sow the seeds of systemic change to nurture cultures that emphasise care,
collaboration and community engagement if we are to reap the harvest of
transdisciplinary research – a rich yield where scientific rigour, societal
impact and wider engagement collide,” he said.

Ben Sowter, Senior Vice President of QS Intelligence
Unit, said: “As a consequence of
recent challenges faced, and largely adapted to, by universities, the cat is
truly out of the bag – universities can change and they can do it fast. On what
other challenges should they next focus their collective might? The primary
purpose of this conference is not merely to sustain the conversation, but to
evoke action. Beyond action universities might take to reinforce their own
resilience as institutions, to what they can do to augment ours as a species.”

The Conference’s Presidents
Panel featured higher education leaders in the region, including Professor Alexander Wai of HKBU; Professor Lily Kong, President of the
Singapore Management University; Professor
Joonki Paik, Provost and Executive Vice-President of Research of the
Chung-Ang University in Korea; Professor
Yang Bin, Vice-President and Provost of Tsinghua University in mainland
China; and Professor T.G. Sitharam,
Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, as panellists.

The panellists shared
their visions and experience on how we can build resilient universities in the
Asia-Pacific region that can help students flourish in the face of an uncertain
future that has been brought about by recent rapid technological advancements and
the COVID-19 pandemic. The importance of both natural and social sciences, as
seen in transdisciplinary research in terms of addressing grand global
challenges, was also ascertained.

“At HKBU, we
foster transdisciplinary research with a focus on three areas. The first one is
wellness, and it includes health, food, drug discovery and Chinese medicine.
Another area is art-tech, which embraces visualisation technologies for
traditional art history and culture. All these areas are powered by
technologies including AI and big data, which is our third area of focus. We
strongly believe that these are the areas which will build students’ resilience
and prepare them for an unknown future,” said Professor Wai.

The Panel
discussion also touched on their experience of integrating AI into education
programmes, strengthening the AI capabilities of students for the future world
of work, and ways to boost internal administrative efficiencies.

Please visit the
official website of the conference (https://qsapple.org/) for the full agenda and other information about the event.