Peking University, Dec. 19, 2013: PKU President Wang Enge and his delegation visited Korea and Hong Kong from December 4 to December 11 for educational exchange, attending the 13th BESETOHA University Presidents' Forum at Seoul National University in Korea, Golden Jubilee University Presidents' Forum at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the founding ceremony of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)-Peking University (PKU)-University System of Taiwan (UST) Joint Research Centre for Language and Human Complexity in Hong Kong.
President Wang Enge delivered a keynote speech titled "Asia Consensus for Education—University's Cultural and Social Responsibility in 21st Century" on the 13th BESETOHA University Presidents' Forum on December 6. He put forward that Asian universities should play a more important role on international exchange and cultural prosperity, and introduced what PKU had done to achieve that goal.
Scholars from four representative East Asian universities—PKU, Seoul National University, the University of Tokyo and Vietnam National University, Hanoi made an in-depth discussion on the topic of Chinese Studies, Korean Studies, Japanese Studies, Vietnamese Studies and Classics in Liberal Arts Education. Five PKU professors from School of International Studies, School of Foreign Languages and Department of Philosophy attended Sub-Forums (Parallel Workshops) as presenters.
Opening ceremony of the 13th BESETOHA University Presidents' Forum
On December 7, President Wang Enge attended Golden Jubilee University Presidents' Forum at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The Forum attracted some 40 leaders of higher learning from 14 countries and regions to engage in a high-level dialogue to promote multicultural exchanges in universities. Participants included heads from the University of Cambridge, the University of Sydney, ETH Zurich, PKU and Fudan University.
During the Forum, university heads exchanged views on keynote addresses given by world-renowned leaders of seats of learning. As an invited commentator, President Wang Enge made a comment on the keynote speech "Global Citizenship: the Role of University Education" delivered by Dr. Phyllis Wise, Chancellor of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Participants in the Golden Jubilee University Presidents' Forum
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)-Peking University (PKU)-University System of Taiwan (UST) Joint Research Centre for Language and Human Complexity was founded at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on December 8, representing a concerted effort of three partners to examine human complexity from the perspective of language. President Wang Enge signed the cooperation agreement with the heads of UST and CUHK at the founding ceremony. Partners of the Joint Research Center will work together to build an interdisciplinary platform to develop neuroscience of language across the straits in three different Chinese-speaking communities.
Founding ceremony of the Joint Research Centre for Language and Human Complexity
During the visit in Korea and Hong Kong, President Wang Enge had meetings with the leaders of universities, research institutes, enterprises and foundations who had long-term friendly and cooperative relations with PKU, exchanging ideas and opinions on academic communication and further development.
Background Info
BESETOHA is a forum in which four representative East Asian universities—Peking University, Seoul National University, the University of Tokyo and Vietnam National University, Hanoi—meet to discuss the future directions of education, research and social responsibility of universities. The forum was initiated by the University of Tokyo in 1995, and formally set up in 2000 after Vietnam National University, Hanoi joined. Now it becomes one of the most influential university organizations in Asia and the world. Celebrating its 13th year, the BESETOHA Forum strives to take an exciting new step towards creating an Asian-wide understanding under the theme of "Asian Consensus for Education".
Written by: Meng Yiran
Edited by: Zhu Wenjia
Source: PKU News (Chinese)
