On 12 May 2018, the Fourth Executive Council Meeting of the University Alliance of the New Silk Road was held in XJTU. 18 Executive Council Members gathered in XJTU and discussed the development of the alliance and explored the cooperation. The meeting was hosted by the UASR Secretariat.
Wang Shuguo, President of Xi'an Jiaotong University delivered a speech on behalf of the President University. He stated that the world changes quickly while various new social problems emerged. Such development and problems bring more opportunities and challenges to the development of universities in natural science, social science and talent training. To solve these problems, UASR provides a brainstorming platform for all members. The Silk Road is not only a road or a region, but it also contains the “silk road spirit”. The peaceful cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit and win-win achievements" is the essence of the alliance which distinct it from other alliances.
Xi Guang, Vice President of Xi'an Jiaotong University, delivered a working report of UASR on behalf of the Secretariat. In the report, he reviewed the work progress of the UASR including the recent events characteristics, cooperation development and mechanism construction. He stated in the report that with the joint efforts of UASR members, especially the executive members, various kinds of cooperation are carried out, and the intercollegiate cooperation of XJTU –Polytehnic di Milano Joint Design School is continuously promoted. The silk road international summer school program, the silk road youth leadership Program and 2017 silk road robotics innovations competition achieved complete success. After the report, the membership applications of 15 universities from 10 countries were submitted to the council for approval in the meeting.
In the session of experience sharing, Miranda LOU, Vice President of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Dinah BRICH, vice president of university of Liverpool, Qian Buyue, associate Professor of the School of Electronic and Information Engineering of XJTU and Wang Youfa, Dean of Global Health Institute of XJTU, introduced t relevant programs including disaster and risk management, heritage protection, life and health and Silk Road Training Base of International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology under the Auspices of UNESCO (IKCEST) under the auspices of the alliance.
All the EC Members discussed the operation mechanism of the UASR, the construction of the sub-alliance and the alliance’s sustainable development the applications of 15 universities were also reviewed in the meeting. All the representatives believed that the UASR has established the cooperation platform for members of the UASR in the 3 years of its operation, and they hoped that student exchange programs would be developed in the UASR, and the potential of members in scientific research cooperation would be continuously tapped.
After the discussion, 15 universities from 10 countries and regions became new members of UASR. Up to now, 151 universities from 38 countries and regions have become members of the University Alliance of the New Silk Road.
