"The Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) is a consortium of 35 leading universities from 16 economies in the Pacific Rim. Formed in 1997, it aims to foster cooperation in teaching and research thereby contributing to the economic, scientific and cultural advancement in the Pacific Rim."  Keio joins APRU Keio University, one of the oldest and well-regarded universities in Japan, is the latest member to join APRU. This brings the total APRU membership to 35.  New Chairman for APRU President Shih, Choon Fong of National University of Singapore was elected as APRU's new Chairman in June 2002. He takes over from President Steven Sample of University of Southern California, who will remain as Chairman Emeritus. Read Professor Shih's acceptance speech.     Seed Grants Awarded for APRU Research Collaborations 3 teams of APRU fellows have successfully received APRU seed grants to do collaborative studies on environmental sustainability. It is the first time such collaborative seed awards have been given by APRU Fellows Program. The awards aim at promoting long term cross-national and multi-disciplinary research collaborations between APRU Fellows. These awards were made possible by the contributions of Nike, the corporate sponsor, and the University of Oregon and Seoul National University who were the hosts for this year's Fellows Program (see story on 4th Fellows Program 2002). More details on the teams' proposals will be provided at the APRU website.   The 6th Annual Presidents’ Meeting was held at University of California, Berkeley on June 20-22, 2002. Besides the election of the new Chairman and Secretary General, the meeting also endorsed the membership criteria for new members, agreed on the incorporation plan of APRU and reviewed projects completed in the year. Read more New Membership Criteria APRU Presidents endorsed the membership policy for admission of new members. Potential institutions are evaluated on their academic excellence, research intensity, global outlook and innovative dimension. Read more Incorporation of APRU APRU Presidents agreed to the incorporation of APRU. This is to provide continuity to APRU as it expands its role. More information on this will be provided in future. Technology Transfer and Wealth Creation (T2WC) Project Co-sponsored by the University of Southern California and the National University of Singapore, the T2WC project studies how universities transfer and apply new knowledge and technologies from research. The inaugural conference was held at University of Southern California in May 2002. Read more on T2WC conference. Following from this study, "APRU Enterprise" will be further developed to put in place some of the ideas from the study. Proposals on initiatives under APRU Enterprise are welcome. Please contact the for more details. New Research Project "Internationalization of APRU Universities: Local Practices and Future Developments" A new research project looking at how to help APRU universities internationalize their activities will be undertaken by Peking University and University of Southern California. Expected to be completed by June 2003, the project will include a survey of "best practices" of internationalization activities by APRU members. Please contact the for more details.   4th Fellows Program, August 2002 The recently concluded Fellows Program was held at University of Oregon and Seoul National University in August. This year's topic looked at environmental sustainability within the regional contexts of South Korea and the Pacific Northwest of North America. Read more on program     3rd Annual Distance Learning and Internet Conference, April/May 2002 Attracting some 96 participants from the region, the 3rd Annual Distance Learning and Internet Conference was held at the Australian National University and University of Sydney in April/May 2002. Read more on conference     APEC Grant for Distance Learning Partnership Project An innovative distance learning partnership between 8 APRU member universities and 10 high schools, the project team recently received an APEC grant for their conference.     3rd Doctoral Students Conference, March 2002 Hosted by National Taiwan University, the 2002 Doctoral Students Conference saw the participation of 42 students from 14 APRU universities. Read more on conference   Click here to see full list of APRU calendar of events for 2003 New President at SNU Professor Un-Chan, Chung was inaugurated as President for Seoul National University in July 2002. He takes over from Professor Ki-Jun, Lee. Professor Chung, formerly dean of social science, has worked as professor of Economics at SNU since 1978. He studied at SNU and worked as assistant professor at Columbia University in US after receiving his PhD from Princeton University. New Rector at UI Professor Usman Chatib Warsa was inaugurated as Rector of the University of Indonesia in August 2002, taking over from Professor A. Boedisantoso Ranakusuma.   APRU Secretariat Moves to NUS Dr Lawrence Loh of National University of Singapore is appointed as the new APRU Secretary General. With his appointment, APRU Secretariat has also moved to NUS. Dr Richard Drobnick of University of Southern California will remain as Secretary General Emeritus. Secretariat new contact details: APRU Secretariat National University of Singapore University Hall, Level 6 10 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119260 Tel: (65) 6874 1187 Fax: (65) 6774 8255 E-mail: APRU Website APRU website has a new look and address. Please visit us at www.apru.org.   Comments, suggestions and contributions to e-newsletter are welcome. Please send them to apru@apru.org.