APRU Enterprise Conference 2003
Bringing together specialists on university entrepreneurship activities from APRU universities, an APRU Enterprise Conference was held on October 30, 2003 at Singapore. The conference saw some 31 participants from 19 APRU member universities exchanging knowledge on a range of issues such as technology licensing and commercialization, intellectual property management and entrepreneurship education. Possible collaborative projects explored included a continuation of APRU's multi-university study on technology transfer in member universities, an APRU business plan competition and staff exchange program.

APRU Enterprise is a strategic initiative which aims to enhance technology management and innovation efforts of member universities. Leveraging on the diverse and distinctive strengths of member universities in education, research and technology transfer and application, it provides a platform to promote best entrepreneurial programs and practices as well as to launch innovations.
 

International showcase of technologies of APRU universities
APRU Enterprise participated in a recent international exposition for leading edge technologies and innovations from October 27 to November 1, 2003. Organized by the Singapore Economic Development Board and IDG World Expo, Global Enterpolis@Singapore (GES) showcased leading technologies and product innovations. Some 11 APRU universities showcased their technologies and research expertise at the APRU Pavilion put up at the exposition.
 

APRU Secretary General in Berkeley for AAU-Go8 Meeting
APRU Secretary General Dr Lawrence Loh was in Berkeley from January 25-26, 2004 to participate in a meeting between the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Australian Group of Eight (Go8). Attended by presidents from the two groupings and hosted by the University of California, Berkeley, the meeting discussed ways to enhance the relationship and exchanges between university consortiums. APRU was invited by AAU to share APRU's experience and strategy for collaboration.
 

8th Annual Presidents' Meeting in June 2004
Hosted by University of Chile, APRU presidents will meet in Santiago, Chile from June 23-25, 2004 for the 8th Annual Presidents' Meeting. At this meeting, the presidents will address issues relating to APRU's governance and strategy, as well as review APRU's initiatives and programs.

Inaugural Senior Staff Meeting at Stanford in April 2004
The senior staff of APRU universities will meet at Stanford University from April 13-15, 2004 for the first APRU senior staff meeting. Besides reviewing APRU activities and strategizing on APRU's future directions, the senior staff will also be able to interact and share experiences with their counterparts in APRU universities. Senior staff representing their university in this meeting include high-level university management leaders with campus-wide responsibilities for international affairs, or leaders who assist the president in spearheading APRU initiatives.

Internationalization Workshop at Peking University
The results of the APRU research project on the internationalization of universities will be presented at a workshop at Peking University from February 25-27, 2004. The project is led by University of Southern California and Peking University. Some 113 schools from 19 APRU universities participated in the research survey.

Conference on Infectious Diseases to be held in Shanghai
Fudan University will be hosting an international conference on infectious diseases from July 7-9, 2004. Bringing together public health experts and others involved in community health, the conference theme on "Infectious Diseases and the Society" looks at the development of infectious diseases research as well as the impact and implications of infectious diseases on social and public health. More details will be available in due course.

5th Fellows Program in August 2004
University of California, Santa Barbara and Osaka University will co-host the 5th Fellows Program from August 15-28, 2004. Incorporating seminal discussions and field trip experiences, this year's program aims to bring together APRU fellows from various disciplines to focus on the program theme on "Globalization and the Environment: Multidisciplinary Perspectives". This year's participants will have an opportunity at winning a collaborative research paper award given out to the best paper submitted on the theme of the program.

University of Sydney to host APRU Doctoral Students Conference in 2004
The 5th Doctoral Students Conference will be hosted by University of Sydney from August 9-13, 2004. More information on the conference will be provided at a later date. Please check the APRU website for the latest update.

5th Distance Learning and the Internet Conference
The 5th Distance Learning and the Internet Conference will be held at Tsinghua University, Beijing from October 11-13, 2004. More information on the conference will be provided at a later date. Please check the APRU website for the latest update.
 

APRU Distance Learning Experts in Singapore
Hosted by the National University of Singapore, the 2003 Distance Learning and the Internet conference saw a convergence of some 71 distance learning experts from 26 APRU universities and other international participants from academia, business and public sectors.

Based on the theme of "Global Knowledge Enterprise -- Learning Without Walls", the two-day conference in December explored technological, pedagogical and business issues in distance and distributed learning. The conference was well-received as gleaned from the feedback of the delegates.
 

APRUNet-Internet2 Videoconferencing Workshop - A First in Asia Pacific
The first APRUNet-Internet2 videoconferencing workshop was held at National University of Singapore on December 3, 2003 in conjunction with the 4th Distance Learning and the Internet conference. Held for the first time in the Pacific Rim, the workshop brought together technical experts on videoconferencing technologies from APRU universities and the Internet2 group with participants from Australia, Canada, China, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, and the U.S.. 

For more information on future workshops, please contact Dr. Zita Wenzel, APRUNet coordinator at zita@isi.edu