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The 2020 Annual Presidents’ Forum of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities (AALAU) was held in a hybrid format at East China Normal University (ECNU) on 12 November 2020.

Guided by the theme of “Constructing the Liberal Arts Education for the Future: Challenges and Opportunities”, around 60 educational leaders and scholars representing 22 universities from India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Chinese mainland and Hong Kong shared updates on the best practices and exchanged views on the future development of the Alliance.

Prof. Qian Xuhong, President of ECNU, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, declared in his welcoming speech that universal access to higher education, the rise of a knowledge-based economy amid the backdrop of globalisation and the COVID-19 pandemic have posed serious challenges to the higher education sector. To address these challenges, all universities must take active initiatives and remain united in their pursuit of higher education. He expected that the forum could serve as a platform for Alliance members to search for approaches to deal with new opportunities and challenges in liberal arts education and explore new education models with Asian characteristics.

Prof. Leonard K Cheng, President of Lingnan University, delivered a keynote speech on “Liberal Arts Education for the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities”, in which he shared on the skills and traits required for all talented individuals in the 21st century. He highlighted the “4Cs” for life and career development, Critical thinking, Creativity, Communication and Collaboration. President Cheng also commented that leadership and social skills, behavioral traits such as self-motivation, lifelong learning entrepreneurship spirit, integrity as well as personal and social responsibility, which are also crucial elements to the society, could be nurtured through liberal arts education.

Prof. Dai Liyi, Vice-President of ECNU, gave a keynote speech titled “Promoting the Comprehensive and Free Development of Human Beings: A Practical Exploration of General Education and Cultivation Education in ECNU”, which centres on a scope of practices ECNU has adopted over the past years in general education and teacher cultivation education. These practices include conducting general education curriculums based on mental training, enhancing physical, moral and labour education, strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship education, and exploring teacher cultivation education within a collegiate system.

At the sub-forums held in the afternoon, university representatives from all Alliance members shared their experiences on innovation of education pattern, curriculum development, innovation and entrepreneurship, brain science, learning science and liberal arts education.

For photos of the event, please visit HERE.

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The Second Annual Presidents’ Forum of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities (AALAU) was held on 23 and 24 October 2019 at Lingnan University.

The two-day Forum drew about 50 educational leaders and scholars from seven countries and regions to exchange views and explore areas for collaboration. To further meet the ever-rising challenges faced by the higher education sector in the 21st century, a new session entitled ‘In the midst of Aging Population and AI Revolution: The Changing Roles of Liberal Arts Universities in Asia’ was presented by renowned scholars this year, aiming at strengthening members’ professional roles in dealing with challenges in this era. In addition, there were also sessions on research collaboration, programme development, civic engagement, and entrepreneurship & innovation, at which members could deepen collaboration in these areas and learn from each other’s practices.

In his welcoming address, Prof Leonard K Cheng, President of Lingnan University highlighted that 25 member institutions in Asia from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, India and Thailand have already joined the Alliance. He also gave his great pleasure to welcome Northeast Normal University from Mainland China, Kyushu University from Japan, and Mahidol University International College from Thailand as new members of the Alliance. In addition, Kyoto University, Akita International University and Hiroshima University from Japan and National Taiwan University from Taiwan participated in the Forum as potential members.

Prof Leonard K Cheng also highlighted that there have been several achievements made by the Alliance over the past year, including the arrangement of 22 students and four faculty members from the Alliance’s institutions enrolled in the Lingnan University Jockey Club Liberal Arts Summer Institute 2019 and taught at the Summer Institute respectively. In addition, the Dean of School of International Liberal Studies of Waseda University visited Lingnan University in May 2019 and delivered a seminar to our faculties and students; four Lingnan faculty members participated in symposiums and conducted seminars at Peking University, Northeast Normal University and National Chengchi University. “Lingnan University is honored to have served as the secretariat of the Alliance for the past two years. Today, I am pleased to announce that the East China Normal University (ECNU), located in the beautiful city of Shanghai, will take over the secretariat in the coming year. While we are happy to pass the torch to ECNU, we will continue to provide support and assistance to ECNU to ensure a smooth transition,” he said.

The Forum was supported by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust as lead sponsor and the Lingnan Foundation as key partner and sponsor.

For photos of the event, please visit HERE.

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Professor Joshua Mok Ka-ho, Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy, together with Dr Paulina Wong, Assistant Professor of Science Unit, Dr Jin Jiang, Dr Padmore Amoah, and Dr Weiyan Xiong, Research Assistant Professors of School of Graduate Studies, presented at the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts University (AALAU) Symposium at National Chengchi University (NCCU) on 6 September 2019. The Symposium was co-organized by NCCU, Lingnan University, Tunghai University and Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT). It was part of the research collaborative projects of AALAU, with the support of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The theme of the symposium was "Economic Globalization and Regionalization: Implications for Higher Education, Graduate Employment and Intergenerational Equality”. The event attracted scholars from Singapore, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, Haiti and Taiwan. During the meeting, the Lingnan University research team developed stronger links with experts in education and social policy.

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Promoting regional and international research collaboration among the partnering institutions of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities (AALAU), Lingnan University organised the Research Collaboration Workshop on 4 to 5 July 2019. The event addressed issues surrounding Comparative Asian Studies, the central theme of research collaboration. Under this overarching theme, a few research workshops were held, with each focusing on a given subject, namely: (1) Liberal Arts Education: Asian and Comparative Perspectives; (2) Comparative Culture and Literature; (3) Ageing Studies in Asian Countries; and (4) Smart Cities, Digital Culture and Urban Governance. Academics from Duke Kunshan University, China, and National Chengchi University, Taiwan, came to Lingnan University for the event. The Research Collaboration Workshop provided a great platform for Lingnan’s academics to explore and develop research projects, publication plans and learning enhancement programmes designed for research students.

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With the support from the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities, Prof. Taisaku Ikeshima, Dean of School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University was invited to visit Lingnan University in the week of 7 May 2019.

Prof. Ikeshima delivered an inspiring seminar on the topic of “Japan’s Foreign Policy to Overcome Its War Legacies: Is International Law Useful in Resolving Japan’s Territorial Issues with Its Neighbouring States?”. Japan’s controversial issues with her neighboring states were illustrated and shared with over 30 students and faculty members. Through this interactive seminar, the participants could have an in-depth exploration on whether the International Law is useful to resolve Japan’s territorial disputes with her neighbors. There were active interactions between the floor and the speaker.

In order to explore collaboration opportunities between Waseda University and Lingnan University as well as among the Alliance members, Prof. Ikeshima attended meetings with Prof. Shalendra Sharma, Associate Vice-President (Academic Quality Assurance and Internationalisation), Mr. Edward Shen, Registrar, Prof. Mark Alan Mc Ginley, Director of Core Curriculum & General Education Office, Prof. Pang Kwong Li, Head of Department of Political Science and Ms. Joanne Lai, Director of Office of Global Education.

Prof. Sharma and Prof. Ikeshima agreed to deepen the collaborations between the two universities, and they commented that the visit consolidated the connection and partnership between Waseda University and Lingnan University.

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Alliance members are cordially invited to The Asian Conference on the Liberal Arts (ACLA), held concurrently with The IAFOR Conference for Higher Education Research – Hong Kong (CHER–HongKong), at Lingnan University, Hong Kong’s only public liberal arts university, with the combined theme of "Uncertain Futures". Please click HERE for the details of the Call for Papers.

Venue & Location: Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Conference Dates: Friday, November 08, 2019 to Sunday, November 10, 2019
Conference Theme: "Uncertain Futures: The Role of Liberal Arts Education"

Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: June 28, 2019*
Final Abstract Submission Deadline: August 29, 2019

ACLA is organised by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Lingnan University (Hong Kong), in association with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) in Osaka University, Japan.

Join the conversation with #IAFOR
*Submit early to take advantage of the discounted registration rates.

 

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Division of Graduate Studies of Lingnan University, Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership (APHERP), School of Public Administration of South China University of Technology and School of Education of Guangzhou University plan to co-organize a research symposium with researchers and postgraduate students in the field of international higher education to promote inter-university collaboration. Alliance members are cordially invited to present at the Symposium on Internationalization and Quality Management in Higher Education at Lingnan University, details are as below:

Date: 26 February 2019
Time: 9:30am to 5:00pm
Venue: Lingnan University

Your presentation topics could cover the following specific areas:

• Internationalization of higher education: regional trends
• Managing student mobility
• Managing tensions between internationalization and localization
• Managing quality assurance issues
• Managing changing expectations of students and job market
• Internationalization and research development
• Critical reflections of pros and cons of internationalization of education
• Or any topics relate to the symposium theme

If you are able to come, please indicate to Ms. Prudence Lee (prudencelee@ln.edu.hk). Meanwhile, please prepare your paper title with a short abstract (200 words) and send to Prudence by 15 January 2019. You may also consider inviting your postgraduate students to present in the symposium. High quality papers will be selected for publication.

 

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The Annual Presidents’ Forum of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities  was held on 15 and 16 November at Lingnan University. 

The two-day forum was attended by 50 participants, including representatives of alliance members, potential new member, the senior management and faculty members of Lingnan University. The forum offered a good opportunity to discuss matters of importance to the Alliance and to shape the forthcoming years’ agenda. It also provided a platform for member institutions to identify major issues and challenges with reference to international best practices in higher education, search for innovative approaches to liberal arts education given the current and future landscape in higher education in Asia and join efforts in addressing the new challenges and opportunities in liberal arts education.

In the welcoming address, Prof Leonard K CHENG, President of Lingnan University expressed his gratitude for having altogether 22 member institutions from Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and India to join the Alliance. President CHENG remarked that “Providing quality liberal arts education is our common mission and passion. We need to share information and insights, in particular best practices of what works and what does not.” He also shared with participants the important achievements of the Alliance made this year in the areas of student mobility, faculty exchange and research collaboration.  

During the Forum, members discussed possible collaborations in the areas of programme development, entrepreneurship, research and civic engagement and developed the AALAU common theme of 2018-19 – “Asian Comparative Studies”. Members will work concertedly on collaborations promoting the theme and engage faculty members and students in related projects and activities.     

The Forum was supported by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust as lead sponsor and the Lingnan Foundation as key partner and sponsor.

For photos of the event, please visit HERE.

Press coverage of the Annual Presidents' Forum 2018

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Supported by the Alliance funds for scholar visits between members of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities, Prof. Stephen Yong-Seung Park, Professor of Human Resource Management and Director of Institute for Peace through Commerce of Kyung Hee University visited Lingnan University in the week of 23 April 2018.

In the workshop delivered by Prof. Park at Lingnan University, the new model of management education in Kyung Hee University was illustrated and shared with the audience. It provided a precious opportunity for participants to have an in-depth exploration on the new paradigm. Followed by reflections from the floor, direct interactions with Prof. Park served as a platform to review the integrated transformational model of Responsible Management Education in the contemporary business education system.

Following the workshop, Prof. Park had a meeting with Prof. Alfred Wong, Head of Department of Management of Lingnan University, and faculty members from the Department to explore further collaboration opportunities.

The visit tightened the connection and partnership between Kyung Hee University and Lingnan University.

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The Launch Conference of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities organised by Lingnan University in Hong Kong was held on 20 and 21 November 2017. With the theme of Liberal Arts Education in an Asian Context: Achievements, Challenges and Perspectives, the two-day Conference brought together educators from all over the world to appraise liberal arts education from an Asian perspective.

The Conference also marks the launch of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities and is a major activity organised by Lingnan University in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of its re-establishment in Hong Kong.

The objectives of setting up the Alliance are to enable universities with similar features and missions to learn from each other, through benchmarking, best practices that can collectively enhance their quality of teaching, learning and research. It can also raise the image and profile of the member universities by increasing their international presence, and will help to promote liberal arts education and its benefits and importance in Asia.

Professor Leonard K Cheng, President of Lingnan University suggested it was time to appraise liberal arts education and rethink its positioning in the Asian context in view of the challenges and opportunities for the coming decades. “In recent years, we have witnessed in many Asian countries a significant interest in liberal arts education. Major investment has been made in the development of liberal arts institutions as an alternative to their traditional higher education counterparts where highly specialised, technical or career-oriented undergraduate programmes are offered.”

Apart from the Launch Conference, the Alliance will explore cooperation in different aspects such as student and staff exchange, programme development, as well as academic and research collaborations.

Recap of the Launch Conference of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities:

For video of the event: please visit HERE.

For photos of the event, please visit HERE.

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