2011 Asia/Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE) Annual Conference and Exhibition Held in NTU

A grand event in Asia Pacific higher education—the 2011 Asia Pacific Association for International Education’s annual conference will be held in National Taiwan University for the first time, from March 9th to March 12th. More than 800 domestic and foreign university presidents, supervisors of higher education and international affairs personnel are expected to attend this event. The agenda of the Conference will include presentation and exhibition of papers, presidents’ round table forums, workshops, special topic discussions, and guided tours to the universities in the Central and Southern part of Taiwan. In the International Higher Education Exhibition held on March 12th, first hand studying abroad information will be provided to Taiwan’s college and high school students. Mr. Kenichi Ohmae, an internationally renowned master on coming trends, will be invited to give a speech at the Conference, and his speech will be open to all free of charge.

The Asia Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE) was established in 2004. It ranks with NAFSA (The National Association of Foreign Student Advisors) and EAIE European Association for International Education) as the three leading education associations in the world, and aims to promote development and cooperation among higher education institutions in the Asia/Pacific region. The theme of this year’s annual conference (the sixth) is:”Asia/Pacific Education: Impacting the World”, which manifests that the 21st century is a stage dominated by Asian performers, and higher education plays a pivotal role in this phenomenon. Under the encouragement of the Ministry of Education, National Taiwan University acquired the hosting right of the 2011 annual conference of APAIE. We hope that through this important conference we can promote international higher education, while improving Taiwan’s international visibility at the same time.

For this year’s conference, we invited Academia Sinica academician, Dr. Chung Laung Liu, who is the former President of National Tsing Hua Univeristy, and Dr. Kenichi Ohmae, the internationally renowned guru on mega-trends, to deliver speeches. Dr. Liu’s topic is: “From Confucius to Modern Times: Education at the Core of Asia/Pacific’s Dynamism,” in which he introduces Oriental and Occidental cultures and the metamorphosis and influence of education systems. With the rise of Asia, the axis of the world is shifting, so Taiwan’s students need to understand their competitive advantages. Thus, we invited the famous international strategist Dr. Kenichi Ohmae to give a speech on “The Rise of Asia and the Role of Higher Education: New Platforms of Economic Growth.” In this speech, Dr. Ohmae will analyze and predict the influence that higher education has on international economy and on the revitalization of businesses. This is the first time that Dr. Ohmae gives a speech on higher education and its relation to business revitalization, so his audience looks forward to it with great expectations!!

The APAIE annual conference is held in Taiwan for the first time. It not only gives us a rare opportunity to promote higher education in Taiwan, but also allows us to introduce to the world Taiwan’s overall cultural attainments and natural beauty. In sum, the APAIE conference exerts a highly positive influence on raising Taiwan’s international visibility. In addition, this grand event of international higher education is bound to bring many international friends to NTU campus. In the cool breeze of March, when the azaleas are in full blossom, our international guests will encounter the warmest Spring sunshine and the friendliest smiles!!