APRU presidents have frequently discussed ways research universities could contribute to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the international community through the UN. These are now being evaluated and future objectives will move to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Ms. Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, is the Administrator of the UN Development Program, the third most senior official at the UN and the key UN leader for implementation of the MDGs. The day she returned from an official visit to Ebola-affected countries in West Africa, Secretary General Chris Tremewan met with her in the UN headquarters in New York on 19 February.  

Ms. Clark expressed considerable interest in APRU’s work and possible synergies with UNDP’s work in the Asia-Pacific region which focuses on

- Sustainable development
- Democratic governance and peacebuilding
- Climate and disaster resilience

She offered to assist APRU build relationships with the UNDP regional office in Bangkok and the UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence in Singapore.

Ms. Clark will attend the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai in March at which APRU’s Tohoku University-based program hub on Multi-Hazards will host three panel discussions and will share the reults of its recent survey. APRU will participate in a panel discussion and highlight the benefits of regional collaboration in education and research.

For more information on the United Nations Development Programme, please click here. 

Twenty APRU members met in the US capital on 16 February to be updated on the 2015 agenda of activities and to exchange news about their own universities. Secretary General Chris Tremewan hosted the occasion within the annual conference of AIEA attended by 700 US and international senior international officers. Dr Darla Deardorff, Executive Director, AIEA, and Assistant Director Dafina Blacksher Diabate, joined the APRU meeting, welcomed APRU participants and expressed their hopes for closer collaboration.

Dr. Tremewan briefed APRU colleagues on highlights including the innovative program for the Presidential Retreat and Annual Meeting in Osaka, June 28-30. IPAC Co-chair, Dennis Galvan, outlined the work plan for the next IPAC meeting in Singapore March 5-6. Vice Provost Jeff Riedinger, University of Washington, spoke on UW’s proposal for an APRU Teaching and Learning Program which will be further developed by UW’s hosting of the Provosts’ Forum in 2016.

All APRU colleagues spoke in turn about their priority activities and their engagement with APRU in the coming year. APRU’s new brochure and a news update were shared with the group.

For Monterry Institute of Technology and Higher Education research is a strategic activity; it is the engine that generates innovative solutions for the economic, social and environmental development of Mexico.

Click here to find out more on Monterry Institute of Technology and Higher Education's research commitment.

Drawing inspiration from a prestigious and diverse membership around the dynamic Asia-Pacific region, APRU’s Senior Staff, vice-provosts, directors and other university leaders and administrators, met in Jakarta to review the past year and plan for 2015.

Click here to view photographs from the meeting.

Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), an APRU member in Russia, hosted the 3rd APEC Conference on Cooperation in Higher Education in the Asia-Pacific Region on 25 September in Vladivostok. The conference was supported and co-organised by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and was attended by delegations from 10 APEC economies from Australia, Brunei Darussalam, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Peru, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and the U.S., in addition to Russia.

Other APRU members at the conference were Tohoku University and the University of Melbourne. Together with FEFU delegates, representatives of both institutions participated in the conference which stimulated a productive dialogue between governments and universities from across the region. APRU members contributed to the discussions on regional educational systems, coordination of educational policy and the proposed APEC Academic Mobility Card. Overall, the conference called for the promotion of academic mobility (students, researchers, providers) through short-term mobility programs, international student scholarships, scientific networks and the mapping of quality assessment systems across APEC economies, among others.

FEFU has also hosted past meetings since 2012 and is looking at hosting a fourth conference in 2015.

Government Chief Science Advisors from APEC member economies engaged with an APRU panel on “University Networks: A Resource for Chief Science Advisors” meeting in Auckland on 30 August 2014. The meeting was co-sponsored by APRU and Elsevier. 

Chaired by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb (formerly Vice- Chancellor of ANU and an APRU president), the panel included Professor Stuart McCutcheon, Vice-Chancellor, University of Auckland, Professor Zukri Abdul Hamid, Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Christopher Tremewan, Secretary General, APRU, and Dr. Brad Fenwick, Senior Vice President for Global Strategic Alliances, Elsevier. 

Dr. Fenwick, Elsevier, stated, "It would be a lost opportunity for the emerging network of APEC Chief Science Advisors to not intersect with the well established network of leading APEC research universities who make up APRU." 

The panel members each addressed how APRU could interact with the Chief Science Advisors and act as a resource within APEC. It was pointed out that APRU is the only non-government member of the APEC Policy Partnership on Science, Technology and Innovation (PPSTI), which meets twice annually.

Dr. Tremewan drew attention to APRU’s origins in 1997 as a response by four leading research universities in California to the formation of APEC in order to provide policy advice to governments on higher education and research.

He said that three years ago APRU faced three challenges:

- How should it aggregate and leverage the extraordinary capability of its members into the public policy space?
- How should it respond to the increasing pressure for engagement from other international organisations to address global issues?
- How could it develop mechanisms that took account of the cross-disciplinary nature of the challenges the Asia-Pacific region faces?

Underlying these questions were the shifts in economic power, public investment in higher education and research, and public perceptions of ins...

Dr John Green (Imperial College and Cambridge University) is a key leader in developing the Snowball Metrics which enable more accurate comparisons between research universities, better data within each institution on which to base investment decisions and which may develop into a global standard.  UK and US universities are already engaged in joint development and research universities in Japan, Australia and NZ are also expressing interest.  APRU is encouraging members to examine this model to see if it can benefit them. 

Dr Green will be a keynote speaker at the APRU Provosts' Forum hosted by the University of Malaya, 3-5 November 2014. The following is a link to a recent article on Dr Green and Snowball Metrics: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/snowball-metrics-no-pinch-of-salt-needed/2014496.article

APRU elected its 7th chair, President C. L. Max Nikias of University of Southern California, at the 18th APRU Annual Presidents Meeting (APM 2014) held in Canberra, Australia. President Nikias takes over from Chancellor Henry Yang of UC Santa Barbara who has served two terms as chair of the association since 2010.

President Nikias said, “The greatest problems we face today are global and there is no doubt that the solutions will require the combined resources and intellectual might of our leading academic institutions. This is why the work we do as part of APRU is so important. I am honored that my peers have appointed me as the association’s Chairman and look forward to collaborating with all of APRU’s members to maintain the momentum of our collective efforts throughout my term.”

USC was one of four founding member universities when APRU was established in 1997. Back then, APRU’s founding chair, former USC President Steven Sample, together with the president and chancellors of Caltech, UC Berkeley and UC Los Angeles, envisioned a premier alliance of leading research universities focused on the advancement of the Pacific Rim. APRU comes full circle with President Nikias’ leadership where he heads not only the association but its Steering Committee comprising members from China, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and the United States. The Steering Committee provides leadership and overall vision for the association and its strategic direction. 

APRU today comprises 45 premier research universities in the Asia Pacific where member universities play an active and important role in shaping the policy environment for higher education and research, enhancing global leadership capabilities, and working with partners from government, business and international organizations on solutions to regional and global challenges.

APRU provides the international architecture linking leading universities on the Pacific Rim and among the dynamic APEC ec...