“The Silk Road is a path to win-win cooperation promoting common development and prosperity and a road towards peace and friendship by enhancing mutual understanding, trust, and all-round exchanges.” Over the past 2,100 years, the Silk Road spanned across Europe and Asia making histories in the confluence of civilizations, business interoperability, cultural development, and human and social interactions. The belief of openness, cooperation, harmony, and inclusiveness is forged to last.

Civilization is diversified by communications and enriched by mutual learning. Against the backdrop of globalization, the trend of higher education in collaboration and integration is getting inevitable. Today, representatives of about a hundred universities from countries and regions around the world gather at Xi’an, China, the starting point of the Silk Road, on an equal and cooperative basis, to establish the ‘University Alliance of the New Silk Road’ (UANSR) to contribute to the common development of civilizations and the open collaboration in higher education.

UANSR will advocate the spirit of the Silk Road– ‘peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit’ - to establish cooperative education platforms and further regional development. It will advocate the concept of “Silk Road Academic Belt” to facilitate cooperation among member universities in the fields of inter-university exchange, talent nurturing, research collaborations, cultural exchange, policy studies, and medical and health service collaborations etc., strengthening the understanding and friendship across different countries.

Admiring the full moon in Chang’an and sharing countless stories of the Silk Road, we explore the opportunities in higher education and promote the friendship between different nations. Standing at the new starting point of the Silk Road, all members of UANSR will uphold the belief of unity in diversity, openness, and inclusiveness to formulate strategic development for a bright future!