Media

Presidents Summit: “East Meets West: Synergy, Competition or Collaboration”

18 Dec 2011

 

The "Presidents Summit - East Meets West" was held at the University's most historic building - Main Building on Dec 18, 2011.

The University of Hong Kong was established a century ago to be a gateway for knowledge and learning to be shared between scholars and students from China and the West. Today, in a globalised world that is more interconnected and interdependent than at any other time in history, there are issues and complexities, challenges and opportunities that are shared by universities worldwide.

The Presidents Summit, as a part of the University's Centenary celebration activities, was an opportunity for heads of leading universities from around the world to discuss and debate the theme of "East Meets West" in the context of higher education globally, and included issues such as synergy, competition and collaboration, internationalization, mass vs. elite education, public vs. private funding, foreign students, and current challenges in higher education from different international perspectives.

Mr. Kenneth Chen Wei On, Under Secretary for Education and Mr. Edward Cheng Wai-sun, Chairman of University Grants Committee gave the welcome speeches, and HKU Vice-Chancellor & President Professor Lap-Chee Tsui gave the opening remark in the Opening. Around 70 university presidents in total around the world attended the Presidents Summit, including presidents from Hong Kong universities, Mainland universities (e.g. Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University) and Oversea universities (e.g. The University of British Columbia, The University of Chicago, King's College London) to share their views of development of higher education.

For details of the event, please contact Secretariat of "Presidents Summit - East Meets West" (tel: 2241 5785; email: psummit@hku.hk)

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Trinni Choy (Assistant Director (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2606 email: pychoy@hku.hk or Ms Melanie Wan (Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2600 email: melwkwan@hku.hk.

President Summit - East Meets West


Speech by Professor Lap-Chee Tsui, Vice-Chancellor & President