The forum aims to build and promote the links between governments, universities and businesses, as well as to turn tertiary education into one of the most important factors in sustainable development in each nation, contributing to regional and global prosperity.
President of the Vietnam National University-Hanoi, Nguyen Kim Son, said that the forum provides a venue for the university leaders to meet and their share experience in higher education administration in the digital era and internet of things, whilst contributing to enhancing the bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the leading universities in the region.
Vietnam is pushing ahead with economic restructuring and tertiary education reform, he said, adding that the forum creates a good opportunity for Vietnamese universities to gain experience in development reform.
He expressed his belief that with their 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 Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam National University-Hanoi, the forum consists of two sessions on “Sustainability, Big Data and Asia-Pacific Challenges” and “Employment, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence”.
The first session focused on promoting partnerships in order 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, among 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, as well as the challenges posed for tertiary education in providing the necessary skills for students so that they will meet the requirements of the fourth industrial revolution.
Established in 1989, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum comprises of 21 economies, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong-China, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam.
APEC represents approximately 39 percent of the world’s population and contributes 57 percent to the global GDP and 49 percent of international trade.
