UNAIR NEWS – Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) intensifies its internationalization efforts as a World Class University. One form of this effort is demonstrated in UNAIR’s participation in international events, including the QS Higher Ed Summit: Asia Pacific. In 2023, the QS Higher Ed Summit: Asia Pacific is held in Malaysia, at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, November 7-9, 2023. This is the third time Malaysia hosted this event, as stated by Prof. Nigel Healey, QS Global Conference Chair, in his opening remarks in front of all QS APAC delegates.
This Asia Pacific higher education conference is held regularly by QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a world-class university ranking agency. “This year is the 19th edition of the QS Asia Pacific Higher Education Summit and the third time in Malaysia. The first was in 2009 here, KLCC. At that time, the host was the University of Malaya and UKM,” said Prof. Healey.
He considers this summit important because of two major trends. The first is the demographic gap in East Asia, namely the decline in birth rates, which has an impact on the decline in the number of young people of productive and college age. The second is the rapid acceleration of Artificial Intelligence and its impacts on all aspects of human life.
“East Asia is at the leading edge of demographic trends, and these trends will eventually spread within this century, forcing us to rethink how we organize our lives and work,” he added.
HH Tunku Ali Redhauddin Ibni Tuanku Muhriz, Tunku Besar of Seri Menanti, officially opened the QS APAC 2023 event. Various activities such as panel discussions, live presentations, expert forums and exhibitions were held at the conference themed: Creating the Right Outcomes: Universities and the Future of Work in the Asia Pacific. This time, apart from being a sponsor and exhibitor at QS APAC, UNAIR will also lead a panel discussion scheduled on November 8, 2023.
UNAIR has sent a delegation of 37 people to take part in the conference. They are representatives from faculties, schools and work units within Universitas Airlangga. Director of Airlangga Global Engagement, Prof. Iman Harymawan, PhD, also attended this conference. He said this activity will be a networking event for all higher education academics.
“What we do here is of course a networking event. Networking events are meetings with various partners from Asia Pacific. They gathered here to inform each other about their activities and explore the potential for existing collaboration,” he explained.
This summit is expected to strengthen ties between academics and researchers at the university level to create good collaboration in various fields of the tri dharma of higher education.
“Hopefully, this event we get us closer to existing partners and build up an even greater diversity of partners in the future. Not only to invest in collaboration between two countries but also perhaps to develop a larger community so that we can naturally develop academic, research and community service activities to make a better global civilization,” he concluded.
For your information, this conference was attended by more than 1100 delegates, both in person and online. On the first day of QS APAC, UNAIR’s exhibition stand was crowded with delegations from partner universities from Indonesia, international partners, and even stakeholders from industry in Malaysia. Visitors can get information about faculties, researchers and international programs at Airlangga University at the exhibition stand.
Author: Andi Pramono
Editor: Martha Kurnia Kusumawardani
