Presidents of top universities converge at 4th Chinese-Foreign University Presidents Forum

03 May 2010

NUS President Prof Tan Chorh Chuan is in Nanjing to attend the 4th Chinese Foreign University Presidents Forum held from 2-4 May 2010, where he will meet with many education leaders in China and university presidents from other parts of the world. He will also be chairing one of the plenary sessions at the Forum.

About 120 Chinese university presidents and more than 30 university presidents from other countries such as the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and Russia are expected to be present at the Forum. Among them are leading representatives from world-renowned universities such as Duke University, Oxford University, Stanford University, Tsinghua University, Yale University and Zhejiang University. Other attendees from China include special guests from some well-known international corporations and about 90 leaders from universities and vocational colleges in Jiangsu Province.

The Forum, organised by the Chinese education ministry, was first held in 2002 when China universities found themselves confronted with unprecedented challenges at the turn of the century, such as how to pursue academic excellence by balancing scale expansion and quality improvement, how to meet the demands of economic and social development and how to enhance international cooperation in an age of globalization. Since 2002, this Forum has been held every two years and has since grown into an important platform for dialogue and exchange between Chinese university presidents and their international counterparts.

The theme of this year's Forum is "Enhancing Cultivation Quality of University Talents", and among the topics discussed include "Creating conducive learning environment for innovative talents in universities"; "Strategies and approaches for teaching in leading universities"; "Quality assurance and evaluation of talents cultivation in universities" and "Construction of a sustainable campus".