Global collaboration took centre stage at PolyU as education leaders gathered from the Belt and Road region. As the Rotating President of the University Alliance of the Silk Road (UASR), PolyU hosted the UASR Presidents’ Forum cum Executive Council Meeting 2024, bringing together representatives from nine universities across six countries to share insights in support of the Belt and Road Initiative, synergise resources for educational development and foster collaborative opportunities in promoting higher education development in the Belt and Road countries.

The officiating guests at the opening ceremony included Mr Nicholas Ho Lik-chi, Commissioner for Belt and Road of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR); Professor Jin-Guang Teng, President of PolyU; and Professor Zhang Liqun, President of Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU).

Themed “Global Engagement Strategies along the Silk Road”, the forum facilitated valuable discussions on regional academic exchanges, research partnerships and industry-academia collaboration, with distinguished speakers from institutions including Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Harbin Institute of Technology, National University of Sciences and Technology, Politecnico di Milano, Sabancı University, University of Macau and University of Novi Sad.

Jointly established by PolyU and XJTU in 2015, the UASR is a non-government and non-profit alliance aimed at providing an open and international collaborative platform in higher education. PolyU holds the Vice Presidency of the Alliance and takes a leading role in fostering talent development, research on technologies and policies, cultural exchange and medical services among members institutions along the Belt and Road.