Foreword
to change. It was a highlight of our 60 th anniversary celebrations, themed “Where Great Minds Shine”. Higher education has always served as an engine that drives change and transformation. As leaders of established and accomplished universities from around the globe, we have the unique responsibility and power to shape the future of education, research and innovation to meet the changing needs of students, industry, society and the planet. The Forum’s focus on innovation and “edupreneurship” can be transformative in this regard. These approaches have the potential to revolutionise the way we teach, conduct research, collaborate with external stakeholders, and govern our universities. They can also equip us to meet the growing expectations from society to provide solutions to their needs. By embracing change and new directions, universities can take the lead in addressing the great challenges of our times. The Forum’s participants shared insights
Throughout the last 1,000 years, universities have been among the most stable institutions in society. But over the past 60 years – a period coinciding with the establishment and development of CUHK – we have seen unprecedented change. The moon landing, the development of robotics and home computing, advances in medicine, the lifting of hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and more, have all happened in our lifetimes. And now, with artificial intelligence, we are facing some of the most fundamental challenges ever. The CUHK Diamond Jubilee University Presidents’ Forum, titled “Innovation and Edupreneurship: The Shifting Research and Education Agenda”, brought together university presidents and leaders from 18 countries and regions in all inhabited continents to reimagine the evolving role of universities in the age of disruption, to consider the challenges and opportunities this presents to our education, research and engagement agenda, and to discuss how governance will need
and examples of how universities in different regions are adopting and adapting to the innovation imperative. This discussion is more important than ever because, as the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, we must work together to address global challenges in the global village. The Forum brought to mind the wisdom of the sages. Confucius famously said, “Is it not a delight and a pleasure to have friends coming from afar?” It most certainly was so in this case, as we welcomed friends old and new from across the world. Our gathering also reinforced an African proverb that comes from the Nguni term ubuntu , which roughly translates as human kindness and goes thus: “If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together!” It is my hope that the seeds sown at the Forum will take us very far indeed.
Rocky S Tuan Vice-Chancellor and President
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