The APEC University Leaders’ Forum took place in Da Nang on Wednesday with the participation of about 60 representatives in total from universities, businesses and State management agencies in Asia-Pacific region.

Delegates at the forum (Source: VNU-Hanoi)

Amongst the participants at the event were representatives from 5 Vietnamese universities, namely the national universities of Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City, the University of Da Nang, the University of Science and Technology and the University of Economics and Business in Ha Noi.

The forum aims to build and promote links between governments, universities and businesses as well as turn tertiary education into one of the important factors in sustainable development in each nation, contributing to regional and global prosperity.

The President of the Viet Nam National University-Ha Noi, Nguyen Kim Son, said the forum provides a venue for university leaders to meet and share experience in higher education administration in the digital era and internet of things, and contributes to enhancing bilateral and multilateral cooperation between leading universities in the region.

Viet Nam is pushing ahead with economic restructuring and tertiary education reform, he said, adding that the forum creates a good chance for Vietnamese universities to learn experience in development reform.

He expressed his belief that with the intellectuality and creativity, APEC universities will create a new driving force for APEC cooperation and become an important pillar alongside those in economics, politics and trade.

Jointly organised by Viet Nam’s Ministry of Education and Training and the Viet Nam National University-Ha Noi, the forum consists of 2 sessions on ‘Sustainability, Big Data and Asia-Pacific Challenges’ and ‘Employment, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence’.

The first session focused on promoting partnership to create innovative and sustainable measures to tackle climate change, mitigate risks from natural disasters, and address the social gap and aging population in the Asia-Pacific region, amongst other issues.

Meanwhile, the second session looked into how to develop labour forces which are capable of analysing data science to support sustainable economic development and prosperity in the region and challenges posed for tertiary education in providing necessary skills for students to meet the requirements of the fourth industrial revolution.

(Source: VNA)