This article was featured on University World News on May 21, 2025 and written by Jae Weon Choi, President of the Pusan National University. There’s something delightfully ironic about gathering university leaders, tech innovators and policymakers on an island well-known for vacationing and the art of slowing down to talk about accelerating the future with artificial intelligence. Yet for two days in Jeju, South Korea, under the banner of the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) University Leaders’ Forum, co-hosted by Pusan National University and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), that’s exactly what happened. And what emerged was more than just a conference. It was a collaborative call to action – a recognition that if AI is to serve humanity, then humanity must first decide what kind of intelligence we value most. This article is part of a series on Pacific Rim higher education and research issues published by University World News and supported by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. University World News is solely responsible for the editorial content. The conversations were urgent, bold and refreshingly honest. How do we ensure that AI doesn’t widen the digital divide but instead becomes a bridge? How do universities, industries and governments co-design systems that are not only intelligent but also just? And, perhaps most importantly, how do we teach our students to be better humans in a world increasingly shaped by machines? Fairness: A recurring theme Fairness was a recurring theme throughout the forum – fair access to AI tools, fair representation in data, and fair chances for regions with fewer resources. As I listened, it struck me that the conversation wasn’t just about machines or data but about how institutions like ours make decisions that shape people’s lives. Whether it’s university admissions, scholarship awards or job hiring, we like to believe that we’re choosing the “best” candidate. Enter the trusted principle of merit. What could be more fair than that? But merit, as it turns out, is a bit like an AI algorithm: it looks objective until you peek under the hood. Because merit, in practice, is often a proxy for privilege. It’s shaped by those who had access to a stable internet connection in 7th grade, who went to better-funded schools and who had the luxury of time for extracurriculars instead of part-time work. And those things are often closely tied to race, nationality, zip code and family wealth – none of which is earned. So when we say we’re selecting “the best”, we may actually be rewarding the luckiest. If that’s fairness, it needs a reboot. If fairness is a system, then education is its foundation – and right now, that foundation is uneven. No algorithm can fix the fact that a child born into poverty has fewer chances long before a résumé ever hits a desk. That’s why our work doesn’t end at identifying bias in AI models; it begins with confronting the structural inequities that feed them. This means continuing to educate – not just with more degrees, but with deeper awareness. Awareness of how socioeconomic status, race, gender and geography quietly gate-keep opportunities. Awareness that data reflects the world as it is, not as it should be. And awareness that fairness isn’t a setting you can toggle on. Tackling these issues requires more than good intentions. It requires action and cooperation. Universities can’t do this alone. Neither can industry nor government. But together – through communities like APEC – we can begin building systems that don’t just admire fairness as a value but embed it in practice. Regional platform One way forward could be the launch of a joint initiative with real reach and impact – “Campus APEC” – a regional platform for education, research and innovation, led by APRU universities and supported by governments and industry partners. The goal: to develop the next generation of AI experts while closing the AI literacy gap and advancing fairness. The idea is that member universities could jointly offer free, open access online courses covering everything from AI development and machine learning to ethics, governance and inclusive design. These courses could be translated into multiple languages and tailored for learners across socioeconomic contexts. Beyond education, Campus APEC could fund research on algorithmic bias, equitable AI deployment in public services and culturally sensitive data practices, with grants co-sponsored by governments and private-sector partners. In addition to offering open-access online courses in AI, Campus APEC could also support student exchange programmes that place students in short-term, AI-focused immersion experiences across the region – pairing technical training with exposure to diverse cultural and policy contexts. Faculty collaborations could be deepened through joint research labs, co-taught virtual courses and visiting scholar residences focused on interdisciplinary approaches to AI governance, fairness and application. Collaborative faculty working groups could also be tasked with producing open-access policy briefs and educational toolkits to guide ethical AI use in education, labour markets and public administration. And to keep the dialogue ongoing and inclusive, Campus APEC could host regular AI-for-Good hackathons, regional policy roundtables and student-led innovation forums, bringing together students, researchers, policymakers and civil society leaders from across the Pacific Rim. Campus APEC is just one example of how we can move from abstract ideals to concrete action. Through initiatives like this, we can begin addressing a deeper challenge: ensuring that AI innovation remains anchored in human values. We built AI. To make it work, we need to build a society that is human. Jae Weon Choi is president of Pusan National University, South Korea. PNU co-hosted the 2025 APEC University Leaders’ Forum (AULF) that took place from 12 to 13 May in Jeju, South Korea. This article is a commentary. Commentary articles are the opinion of the authors only and not their employer and do not necessarily reflect the views of University World News.

  This article was featured on University World News on May 14, 2025 and written by Yojana Sharma. Pacific Rim university leaders meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering of education ministers in Jeju, South Korea, this week focused on “leveraging artificial intelligence in higher education to address Asia-Pacific challenges”, stressing the need for collaboration between universities, public bodies and communities over the use of AI for public good. The APEC University Leaders Forum (AULF), made up of university heads from Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and North and South America, was jointly hosted by South Korea’s Pusan National University (PNU) and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) in partnership with the South Korean Ministry of Education. It took place from 12 to 13 May. Park Sung-min, deputy minister for planning and coordination at the ministry, said on 13 May: “Solving challenges in the Asia-Pacific region through the use of AI goes beyond mere technical issues and allows us to reflect on the essence of education and the importance of global cooperation”. This article is part of a series on Pacific Rim higher education and research issues published by University World News and supported by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. University World News is solely responsible for the editorial content. Pointing to the “huge wave of digital transformation”, in particular, the emergence of generative AI and the role of universities in “an era where the boundaries between academia and technology are blurring”, Park said: “AI technology is clearly a powerful tool for innovation in higher education. However, at the same time, we must find a direction for educational innovation that can achieve sustainable growth and inclusive prosperity.” AI: No longer a theory PNU President Jae Weon Choi told the forum AI was no longer confined to theory or the laboratory. “It is reshaping the way we think, learn, live and govern, while also raising pressing ethical and social questions. In this context, the role of universities must go beyond research and education. We must also take responsibility for helping students develop ethical reasoning, a sense of community and global citizenship. “The future of higher education we shape together must be global, ethical and human-centred,” he stressed. APEC Secretariat Executive Director Eduardo Pedrosa said that AI in higher education aimed at addressing Asia Pacific challenges resonates with the core priorities of APEC and its 21 members. “There is a clear consensus among APEC member economies, stakeholders and working groups that digital transformation with AI at its heart is a pivotal force reshaping our region’s economic and social landscape. “APEC leaders and ministers in recent years have consistently highlighted the urgency of seizing AI’s transformative potential to achieve shared prosperity for all walks of life during this uncertain global environment. “AI offers immense opportunities, driving productivity and innovation, streamlining trade and investment, enhancing public services and delivering data driven sustainability solutions,” he noted. Pedrosa stressed the importance of balancing AI’s benefits – such as productivity, innovation, and sustainability – with addressing associated risks, including job displacement, algorithmic bias, and the digital divide. “This is where the pivotal role of education becomes paramount,” he said, affirming APEC’s support for university-industry-government collaboration to ensure inclusive AI-driven growth. “APEC strongly believes in the power of collaboration,” he said, adding APEC would support APRU and universities “in their efforts to forge impactful partnerships with governments and business, ensuring that AI is harnessed for inclusive and sustainable growth across our diverse economies.” APRU Chief Executive Thomas Schneider said navigating the new higher education reality was complex and required institutions to rethink basic assumptions that have underpinned their value proposition as education providers and their institutional operations. Faced with an emerging technology “that still displays many uncertainties in terms of development, standardisation, regulations [and] usability, universities have not yet found common ground in how to balance opportunities and risks”, he said. “AI has a promise to contribute to the solving of global problems and to accelerate scientific discovery … At the same time, an increasing proportion of the world population is cognisant of the rising impact of AI on their lives. To many, it is a cause of increasing anxiety and concern,” Schneider acknowledged. “Many studies contemplate societal benefits and risks to society, uncharted territory in most respects, and this is what brings us together here at the APEC University Leaders Forum: the opportunity to offer stakeholders from higher education, industry and politics a platform to discuss the implications of AI and to enhance cross-sector understanding, to define frameworks for the use of AI and to chart ways in uncharted territory.” Radical collaboration Keynote speaker Padmanabhan Anandan, former CEO of the non-profit Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence, which focuses on developing AI applications for social good, a former director of Microsoft Research and current founder of the AI Matters for Development (AIM4DEV) consultancy, showcased the capacity of AI to calculate a baby’s weight in real time, based on the baby’s torso length, head circumference and other measures gleaned from a digital photograph. “This is the miracle of computer vision,” said Anandan, “but the fact that it can be done in a setting like … a village by a person who does not require any training is a very, very important thing. It doesn’t require spring balances [to weigh the baby]. It doesn’t require hardware.” He also highlighted an AI solution being used in India to limit pesticide overuse that is part of a national pest surveillance system launched last year. Based on pictures of crop leaves and insect traps, AI can guide optimal insect control measures. However, when it came to AI solutions for the public good, he said, no single organisation was capable of designing and delivering the full range of services required. “It requires technologists and scientists who develop the solution; professionals such as health or agriculture professionals; implementers – organisations on the ground that can work with the communities and with officials; and the officials themselves. “We need the ministers; we need the health secretaries; we need the administrators – both at the state and the central levels. “It really takes close collaboration between all four kinds of groups in order to get it done,” Anandan told the forum. “I call this ‘radical collaboration’, because …. [it is] a continuous co-creation process.” Anandan told University World News universities can play an important role in this collaboration. “If there is one place that we all consider to be a neutral place where all the different stakeholders will comfortably come and work, it’s a university,” he noted. “Governments will talk to universities. Technologists come from the university, so they will talk to universities. NGOs often work with universities, and domain specialists are also trained in universities. So the university can be a moderating voice and capable of creating these collaborative frameworks.” Technology as an ‘engine for progress’ Anandan argued that for poor and underserved communities, the risk of ‘bad AI’ is low. “It’s not technology that’s coming in the way of their livelihoods or problems, but social structures and so it’s socio-economic models, and those are not going to be influenced by AI,” he said. “The biggest factor that’s making lives difficult for poor communities is the lack of expertise in the medical domain or any other technological domain, even in agriculture. It may be possible that AI can fill some of that expertise gap. “Typically, one may be worried about AI potentially taking jobs, but in this case we’re talking about situations where there are simply not enough humans out there able to solve the problems.” Panel member Dr Cormekki Whitley, chief operating officer of data.org, which is collaborating with universities in training AI professionals to work in the public good domain, told University World News: “When we think about social impact, there is a need for a cross-sector approach. You need academia for the rigour, to test some of these assumptions. But we also need to make sure universities also have a social impact lens.” Jisup Lee, Google’s head of government affairs and public policy in Korea (focused on platforms and devices), told the forum that technology had always been a powerful engine of progress. “Just as the internet and mobile devices expanded opportunities worldwide, AI is expected to accelerate that progress … and I believe that we do have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really unlock this human potential on a global scale.” She said the Google mission was to “organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” and described AI as “more than just a technological advancement”. “It is a transformative force with the potential to address some of humanity’s most pressing and difficult challenges. We believe that it should be a collaborative process … We make tools that empower others to harness AI for individual and collective benefits,” she noted. Starting locally Highlighting the capacity of AI to assist universities locally, keynote speaker Dr Ravi Pendse, vice-president for information technology and chief information officer at the University of Michigan, introduced the university’s MAISIE AI assistant, and its related mobile app for students, ‘Go Blue’. “What’s most interesting is that it is helping us find gaps in our information … and we are able to then react to that.” Pointing to the issue of food insecurity, he said: “There are poor students on campuses who struggle to make ends meet. So, when we saw a lot of questions being asked about where free food is available on campus … we partnered with some of our benefactors and donors and made sure the facility that provides free food to our students had more resources.” Pendse said some 4,000 AI applications were in use across the university. However, Pendse cautioned: “We do need to have humans in the loop. We do need to have human supervision because that human empathy, that human touch … AI will never replace it.” Development assistance PNU’s Choi told University World News the forum’s focus was on “using AI to revolutionise or revitalise education and higher education, as well as addressing socio-economic issues in the Asia-Pacific region”. “Specific topics we’re interested in examining are things like climate change, poverty and medical services — issues that are prevalent in many of APEC’s societies,” he said, adding that the university’s own focus was AI applications. He said PNU was engaging with official development aid (ODA) to transfer the scientific capacities of Korea and the Pusan National University to societies around the APEC region. “We have ODA programmes related to Korean medicine, farming and engineering and some of our ODA partners include Mongolia, Kazakhstan and various countries in Southeast Asia.” He pointed to South Korea’s particular strengths in industry-university cooperation. “In engineering we are very much involved in transferring knowledge about how universities can facilitate industry-academic collaboration in ODA projects.” PNU, situated on the Korean coast, opened the APEC-APRU Marine Climate Tech Centre last year. “It provided us with a basis to conduct leading climate change research and protect marine environments. We’re hoping we can use APRU as a platform to engage in closer collaboration in research in ODA, with universities and in countries across the region.” Choi said the hope was that the AULF event would “open up a channel” to enable APEC universities and leaders in the APEC region to come together to talk about AI and what it can do. It could also be an opportunity for the region’s leaders to improve the application and use of AI in their respective countries.  

This article was featured on University World News on May 14, 2025 and written by Yojana Sharma. Universities need to become more flexible, adaptable and agile to ensure that students are prepared for a fast-moving, disruptive world impacted by evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence, sweeping trade disruptions, and significant demographic changes, a meeting of Pacific Rim university leaders heard. Meeting on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) education ministers meeting in Jeju, South Korea, the APEC University Leaders Forum (AULF) focused on the theme: “Leveraging AI in higher education to address Asia Pacific challenges”. A panel of experts specifically examined universities’ role in producing graduates with skills relevant to a future disrupted by AI and other dramatic changes. The AULF is made up of university heads from Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and North and South America representing APEC’s 21 members. The forum, held from 12 to 13 May, was jointly hosted by South Korea’s Pusan National University (PNU) and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) in partnership with the South Korean Ministry of Education. This article is part of a series on Pacific Rim higher education and research issues published by University World News and supported by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. University World News is solely responsible for the editorial content. In welcoming remarks on the opening day, APRU chief executive Thomas Schneider described the world as “hyperconnected through trade, finance, modern communication and a mobility of people unseen in earlier phases of history”. Simultaneously, the globe is politically increasingly fragmented, he said. “We have witnessed a global diffusion of power to new national and institutional stakeholders. Major demographic shifts, environmental degradation, and socioeconomic inequality, in addition to crises of the past years, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and wars, have fundamentally impacted the world. “The unprecedented pace of technological development calls into question the very foundations of how life will be lived in the future,” Schneider noted. Dr Michael Fung, executive director of the Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnológico de Monterrey (Monterrey Tech), Mexico, told the forum that despite increased awareness about AI in education, universities are still at the “beginning stage” of transformation. He noted that institutions have faced multiple disruptions, including COVID-19, global supply chain shifts – more pronounced in recent times – and demographic changes such as ageing populations in the West. HE is slow to change Fung said traditional higher education was very slow to change. “But in recent years, we’ve seen acceleration in the pace of change and the needs of industry and society, so universities have to respond in a much more agile manner,” Fung told University World News. “In this new paradigm education also needs to be lifelong in nature and much more flexible to be able to respond to these sustained and rapid changes,” he noted. While COVID-19 showed that rapid changes were possible, Fung said: “When we look across the higher education sector, there is a lot of variation in the level of preparedness, in the level of experimentation and adoption of AI in education in general. I think we’re very far from the ideal state.” Yike Guo, provost and professor of computer science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and director of the Hong Kong Generative AI Research & Development Centre, pointed out that the difference between AI and past technologies was that the latter were passive tools controlled by people. AI, on the other hand, had become “more and more active”. “We are dealing with a machine and human symbiotic society, but our social order, our legal systems, and our values are not prepared for symbiosis,” he told the panel. “We need to think about social order, legal systems, everything, to accommodate this kind of human-machine coexistence.” HKUST had transformed from “a teaching institute to a learning community. Now it needed to transform into a “mutual learning community – a community where teachers and students learn together,” he said. High-demand human skills Anders Erik Karlsson, vice-president of global strategic networks at academic publishers Elsevier, speaking on the future of work, pointed to the kind of skills employers are looking for. “First of all, you have to be able to collaborate with other people, often in very large organisations, such as a university or a company … to get things done. So it’s those human skills.” “The second thing is to be able to act fast and pivot. If things are not working well, you pivot fast,” he said. Dong-il Cho, emeritus professor from Seoul National University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and president of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), which includes the fields of robotics, autonomous driving, smart factories, smart energy, and system technology, pointed to the need for students to have ‘AIQ’, not just IQ and EQ (emotional intelligence) or even AI literacy. “For our future work, we have to be trained in technical skills and social human skills, and we have to be adaptable,” Cho said, explaining what AIQ entailed. Fung pointed to past work in 2020 with Korean computer science professors to establish an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard on digital intelligence, or ‘DQ’, which also covered human elements related to digital literacy. “Digital intelligence doesn’t quite cover all the range of AI-related competencies, but maybe it’s something we should work towards – defining a framework that can be widely adopted to measure literacy maturity in different settings as AI becomes more important.” He told the panel: “What we are observing is rapid change in the knowledge, the competencies, and the skills needed by our students as they come into the workplace and as we think about the workforce and so on. But we all know as university leaders that our institutions are not well structured for rapid change.” A new approach to education Wanjuin Liao, executive vice-president of National Taiwan University (NTU), said AI would impact the job market in two ways: Plus-AI – existing companies utilising AI technologies to improve their existing business; and AI-plus – the automation of new business that may not have existed before. These include AI-powered content creation, AI-assisted software development and human-machine collaboration. “AI-plus innovation will dramatically change the way we teach and the content we are to teach our students,” she said. “Education is no longer a one-way knowledge transfer. Instead, professors are now expected to work to discover knowledge together with students and guide them in how to judge and comment on the information they have acquired,” she added. NTU Core, the digital learning platform for students, allows faculty members to put their courses into Core so students can learn from the systems. “These micro-credential systems, and this tool, will support continuous learning and career adaptivity in a developing job landscape at NTU,” said Liao. It enables students to design their own career through their degree pathways under the guidance of proper faculty advisors. “We believe this student-centred approach, when combined with modular micro-credential systems, will be an advantage for NTU, enabling it to navigate the paradigm shifts brought about by AI, and will get our students prepared for careers that may not even exist yet,” Liao said. She believes the future of education should be modular, flexible and include lifelong learning. “I think that the university is going to evolve into a lifetime talent platform, not just one-time education and ongoing education, but ongoing learning that will evolve with personal careers and industry demands,” she said. She pointed to the university’s current industry-university partnerships, which include partnerships with chip companies TSMC, MediaTek and other Taiwanese companies with global reach, which “create opportunities for our students to engage directly with real-world innovations”. “We are not just conducting research. We are also building ecosystems that connect academia, industry and also policy through the Taiwan AI College Alliance (Taica) [launched by the Ministry of Education],” she said. “AI is not just a challenge for the future of work; it’s a call for universities to lead with vision, responsibility and collaboration. At NTU, we are committed to building an agile and inclusive learning ecosystem.” Predicting future skills needs Mexico’s Tec de Monterrey has 30,000 undergraduate students in engineering alone. Fung believes that despite tariff disruption caused by US President Donald Trump, students will still find jobs in growing industries on the border with the US. But the university has also developed AI-assisted predictive tools to assess broader future skills demand, a process Fung calls “skills sensing”. Along these lines, a Tec de Monterrey team has launched a multi-year project to build “skills taxonomies”. The team scrapes and examines job postings in various sectors and constructs a taxonomy and dictionary of skills for jobs needed in these sectors in order to detect trends and growing skills needs. “With the taxonomy, we publish reports that are then shared with universities to be able to modify their curriculum,” explained Fung, who used similar methods in Singapore, where he was previously deputy chief executive of SkillsFuture Singapore, the Singaporean government’s lifelong learning agency. He explained how future skills trends could be predicted. “If we are trying to build on IT skills for a growing IT industry, we can look at centres of growth in IT that are leading the way,” he said. “If we look at the skills profile of jobs in Silicon Valley or in India, we start to get a sense of where the leading skills might go in the context of Mexico and Latin America,” he noted. The same could be applied to Germany in the case of advanced manufacturing. The ‘agility muscle’ Universities would have to equip themselves with this industry skills-sensing capability, whether directly, internally, or working in collaboration with others, said Fung. “They would then need the necessary structures to design learning opportunities that cater to the shifting needs of the workforce,” said Fung, adding that the university’s skill sensing approach currently covered Mexico but would be extended to cover Latin America. He stressed that the most important tool for dealing with a “changing order that’s also chaotic” was not prediction but rapid adaptation. “What is perhaps most important in the DNA of universities is to build that ‘agility muscle’. This includes ‘rapid sensing’ of what is going on and then having internal structures, culture and governance that allow for rapid adaptation, which sounds easy, but … it’s no mean feat from the perspective of higher education.”

The APRU APEC University Leaders’ Forum 2023 was successfully held in San Francisco this week – a big thank you to all the wonderful speakers, participants and our dedicated organizing committee members, for their invaluable contributions to making it a truly memorable event. In the meantime, we were delighted to welcome many old and new media friends coming from across the world to show their support for the Forum – check out the latest media coverage listed below.   KTVU FOX 2: APEC University and SF Startup CEO Look at Ways to Help Sustainability Policies CCTV+: TODAY USA – APEC University Leaders’ Forum/Biodiversity Xinhua News and China Daily: APEC University Leaders’ Forum Boosts Cooperation on Biodiversity

Sustaining and strengthening biodiversity amid climate change requires broad collaboration, strong leadership, and innovative approaches. To meet this major global challenge, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), together with the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) and the University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), organized the daylong APEC University Leaders’ Forum (AULF) 2023 on November 13 at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco, which revolved around the important theme of “Investing in Tomorrow’s Biodiversity.” Taking place alongside the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, AULF 2023 brought together over 100 leaders for a high-level dialogue between CEOs, policy leaders, presidents, and top researchers from government agencies, universities, research centers, international NGOs, and civil society to collaborate on developing and disseminating innovative, sustainable solutions to biodiversity loss. AULF 2023’s more than 30 speakers covered a range of issues spanning four panel discussions: Responding to Changing Biodiversity, Mitigating Climate Change Impacts on Coastal Communities, Optimizing Water Resources for a Sustainable Planet, and Creating a Sustainable Future through Food Systems Innovation. The Forum’s diverse range of participants enabled an in-depth conversation and discussion about sustainable endeavors, including innovations in food science, water protection, and climate change, that can contribute to the region’s economic development. Central to this regional cooperation and shared responsibility are universities, which have the scientific expertise and talent to make vital contributions to the development of the region. AULF 2023 highlighted several examples of the important work being done by APRU member universities. Echoing UC Santa Cruz’s commitment to the important of broad-based cooperation, Professor Cynthia Larive, Chancellor of UC Santa Cruz, spoke about UC Santa Cruz’s efforts to build resilience and sustainability to address increasing global hazards, including through its Coastal Resilience Lab. In his remarks, Professor Gary May, Chancellor of UC Davis, said, “It’s our responsibility to take action in the face of devastating global biodiversity loss and climate change. As leaders, we must continue to drive breakthrough scientific research and collaborate on innovative solutions to preserve the health of our planet. By working together, we can mitigate the impact of biodiversity loss and protect our ecosystems for generations to come.” This cooperation between government, universities, and NGOs is further reflected in the work done by Food Systems of the Future, an NGO that aims to develop and foster innovative, market-driven agrifood system businesses to provide access to affordable, healthy food for all people. In her keynote address, Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, CEO and Managing Director of Food Systems of the Future, spoke about the possibilities of transforming our food system into a more just, sustainable system through better access to financing, especially for the smallholder farmers around the world who produce the majority of the food in the countries where they operate. In her opening remarks, Dr. Tan Sri Datuk Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat, said, “Striving for a balance between economic growth and sustainability of our environment is a challenge for policymakers, although we are all increasingly aware that the decision cannot be binary.” Pointing to APEC’s Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy concept as an example of regional cooperation across multiple sectors, Dr. Sta Maria noted, “Science, innovation, and technology are applied to promote the efficient use of resources, maintain and restore our ecosystems, and reduce waste to build a system where government and business can thrive. It aims to contribute to the global efforts of comprehensively addressing environmental challenges for a sustainable planet.” In his keynote address, Dr. Scott Sampson, Executive Director of the California Academy of Sciences, spoke about Reimagining San Francisco, a new nature alliance of nonprofit, city, state, and educational organizations committed to working together to improve the ecological health of San Francisco. This unique urban nature alliance, spearheaded by the California Academy of Sciences, showcases the power of collaboration in making cities healthier places for people and nature. In his welcoming remarks, Gene Block, Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and former Chair of APRU, emphasized the advantages of APRU’s collaborative, cross-border approach, as well as the important role AULF 2023 played in bringing together business, political, and academic leaders from around the world. The Forum offered a unique and critical platform for leaders across geographies and sectors to share their strategies, views, and innovations, and to discuss collective, collaborative solutions to the global issue of biodiversity loss.   Read more: Worldwide Leaders Convene to Protect and Advance Global Biodiversity – UC Davis Hosts APEC University Leaders’ Forum Worldwide leaders convene to protect, advance global biodiversity – UC Santa Cruz hosted the APEC University Leaders’ Forum with UC Davis and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities

The Nov. 13 forum in San Francisco will feature high-level conversations between CEOs, policy leaders, university presidents and top researchers to drive investment in biodiversity   International environmental leaders will convene at the APEC University Leaders’ Forum on Nov. 13 in San Francisco for “Investing in Tomorrow’s Biodiversity,” a daylong event featuring keynotes and panel discussions about sustaining and strengthening biodiversity amid climate change. An opportunity for leadership to advance global biodiversity efforts, the APEC University Leaders’ Forum (AULF 2023) will produce new ideas and identify partnerships needed for investing in conservation and restoration of our biodiversity. Co-sponsored by the University of California, Davis, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the event will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club on the sidelines of the annual APEC CEO Summit. The Forum will be a catalyst for leading universities of APEC to exchange cutting-edge research innovations and explore collaborative initiatives that will shape strategic investment of biodiversity. “It’s our responsibility to take action in the face of devastating global biodiversity loss and climate change,” said UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May. “As leaders, we must continue to drive breakthrough scientific research and collaborate on innovative solutions to preserve the health of our planet. By working together, we can mitigate the impact of biodiversity loss and protect our ecosystem for generations to come.” “Successfully addressing the impacts of climate change requires deep and sustained collaboration to ensure discoveries and knowledge are transformed into solutions, equitable policy, and sustainable practices that will help our global communities adapt,” UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive said. “It is critical that we protect our planet and the incredible biodiversity that it supports. Our future depends on it.”   A Dynamic Program AULF 2023 will feature two keynote addresses by Food Systems for the Future CEO and Managing Director Ertharin Cousin, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, and by California Academy of Sciences Executive Director Scott Sampson. Four panel discussions will showcase expertise from leaders in business, nongovernment organizations, and higher education. The discussions will focus on sustaining the evolving biodiversity landscape, strengthening the resilience of coastal communities, protecting water and investing in economic opportunity, and innovating food systems for the survival of the planet. The event also features remarks by international leaders, including Tan Sri Datuk Rebecca Fatima St Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat and Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chancellor and President of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Chair of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. Cousin is a globally recognized leader in food security and international development. With a distinguished career that includes serving as the executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme and many other leadership roles, Cousin brings a wealth of expertise and a passionate commitment to addressing global challenges. Her insights on food security, sustainable development, and the pivotal role of education in driving positive change will inspire and enrich the discussions at the forum. Sampson, a renowned paleontologist who hosted the popular PBS Kids television series “Dinosaur Train,” will bring a wealth of knowledge and passion for science education to the Forum, offering a unique perspective on the intersection of education, sustainability, and the environment. With a lineup of distinguished speakers and panelists representing a diverse array of academic institutions, government bodies, policy organizations, and industry leaders, AULF 2023 promises to be a dynamic platform for shaping the future of education and research across the globe.   Panel I: Responding to Changing Biodiversity The opening panel will explore the most pressing challenges and promising solutions for restoring biodiversity in the face of a rapidly changing climate. Panelists will discuss recent advances in genomic technologies, biodiversity assessment tools, conservation approaches, policy advances, and funding mechanisms. Panelists include: ● Digeo Quiroga, Rector, Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador (Moderator) ● Rosie Alegado, Assistant Professor, Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Mänoa ● Rahimi Kandahari, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science, Technology, and Space Affairs, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs ● Lauren Ferstandig, Managing Director, NatureVest, The Nature Conservancy ● Carol Folt, President, University of Southern California ● Natalia Ocampo-Penuela, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Department, UC Santa Cruz   Panel II: Mitigating Climate Change Impacts on Coastal Communities The second panel focus on strategies to tackle climate change’s effects on coastal regions and includes: ● Emma Johnston, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Professor, The University of Sydney (moderator) ● Michael Beck, Director, Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, UC Santa Cruz ● Karen Fisher, Associate Professor, Faculty of Science, Environment, The University of Auckland ● Guillermo Franco, Managing Director, Guy Carpenter Co. ● Nuin-Tara Key, Director, North America Public Sector Lead, Climate and Resilience Hub, Willis Towers Watson   Panel III: Optimizing Water Resources for a Sustainable Planet Water resources and their importance in achieving a sustainable future will take center stage in the first afternoon panel. ● Helene Dillard, Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis (moderator) ● Benjamin Horton, Director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore ● Charles Iceland, Director, Freshwater Initiatives, World Resources Institute ● Jay Lund, Vice Director, Center for Watershed Sciences, UC Davis ● Maria Angelica Sotomayor, Practice Manager, East Asia and the Pacific Water Global Practice, World Bank   Panel IV: Creating a Sustainable Future through Food Systems Innovation The final panel will explore sustainable solutions and how we can meet escalating food demand without compromising the well-being of our planet. Panelists include: ● Tamar Haspel, Columnist, The Washington Post (moderator) ● Eduardo Blumwald, Distinguished Professor and Will W. Lester Endowed Chair, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis ● Jack Bobo, Director, Food Systems Institute, University of Nottingham ● Rebecca Chesney, Director of Sustainability Innovation, ISS Gunkenheimer ● Rebecca Shaw, Chief Scientist, World Wildlife Fund Closing remarks will be provided by Angelo Jimenez, President of the University of the Philippines; John MacMillian, Vice Chancellor for Research at UC Santa Cruz; and Jonna Mazet, Vice-Provost of Grand Challenges at UC Davis. As universities continue to adapt and evolve in a rapidly changing world, this forum promises to be a crucial platform for fostering global leadership and innovation. For the latest program and speakers, please visit the event website at https://www.apru.org/event/aulf-2023/.   About UC Davis Ranked as one of the top research universities in the nation, the University of California, Davis is recognized worldwide for how it transforms students’ lives, the impact of its research, the excellence of its academic programs, and its service to the public. With more than 40,000 students enrolled annually in undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs, UC Davis provides the highest quality of education from world-class faculty experts while offering the resources to ensure that students succeed in school and beyond. A global leader in sustainability and environmental research—on campus, in the classroom, and abroad—UC Davis is a living laboratory dedicated to developing, testing and providing solutions to address the world’s most pressing issues, including in areas related to climate change, biodiversity protection and conservation efforts, human and animal health, sustainable food systems and much more. For the seventh year in a row, UC Davis was ranked first in North America for sustainability in the 2022 GreenMetric rankings.   About UC Santa Cruz A global research university, UC Santa Cruz, is part of the world’s most celebrated system of public higher education, and stands among the most renowned institutions of higher learning. Leading at the intersection of innovation and social justice, UC Santa Cruz faculty and students conduct transformative research and scholarship that serves society. Undergraduate students experience a small liberal arts college environment with the depth and rigor of a major research university through the pairing of high-impact research with 10 tight-knit residential colleges – a rare combination among U.S. public universities. UC Santa Cruz shares the distinction of being the youngest member of the Association of American Universities and one of only eight members that is also a Hispanic-serving institution.   About APRU As a network of leading universities linking the Americas, Asia, and Australasia, APRU (the Association of Pacific Rim Universities) brings together thought leaders, researchers, and policy-makers to exchange ideas and collaborate on practical solutions to the challenges of the 21st century. APRU leverages its members’ collective education and research capabilities into the international public policy process. In the post-pandemic era, our strategic priorities focus on: ● providing a neutral platform for high-level policy dialogue, ● exploring innovative solutions for a sustainable future, and ● supporting diversity, inclusion, and minorities. APRU’s primary activities support these strategic priorities, focusing on critical areas such as biodiversity, disaster risk reduction, women in leadership, indigenous knowledge, global health, sustainable cities, artificial intelligence, waste management, and more. APRU collaborates with Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on initiatives that aim to solve the challenges of the Asia Pacific. APRU has guest membership status with APEC working groups and participates in a number of high-level discussions to ensure that universities have a voice in shaping policy across the region.

In August APRU Chief Executive, Thomas Schneider and APRU Director (Network Management) Jackie Wong had the opportunity to learn first-hand about UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz’ efforts to build up their research capacity in a wide range of fields to the benefit of the Asia Pacific region. The APRU delegation was impressed by the vast expertise that the two APRU member universities hold within biodiversity, food security, data science and AI, and how they systematically address key topics, such as gender, equity, climate change, and social justice. On the agenda were also exchanges on APRU’s future strategic objectives and the next APEC University Leaders’ Forum, which will be hosted by UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz in November. UC Davis is also leading the APRU Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) Program, making the visit a good opportunity to discuss activities that could be shaped together for the coming year. “I am impressed by the scale of UC Davis’ research enterprise and its transformative power in higher education, and I am proud that APRU and the UC Davis have established a shared vision of university collaboration across the Pacific,” Schneider said thanking UC Davis Chancellor Gary May. “UC Davis’ advocacy of women’s leadership in higher education is transformative, and we at APRU look forward to giving it our fullest support.” Schneider also thanked UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive, and emphasized his appreciation to learn about UC Santa Cruz’s focus areas, including its positioning as a leader within the UC System on Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) initiatives. Schneider also highly appreciated the feedback UC Santa Cruz provided, particularly the suggestion to develop APRU initiatives in art and music. “Since UC Santa Cruz joined APRU in 2020, we have noticed the positive response of its community to many of the student focus areas, such as the Virtual Student Exchange, Quarantunes, and program-related courses, particularly inasmuch it would allow for increased student engagement,” Schneider said. “We are looking forward to building on this foundation in the years to come and will make sure to keep UC Santa Cruz involved in our ongoing strategic process.”  

The recent annual APEC Future Education Forum (AFEF) served as an opportunity for APRU to share its future-oriented educational experiences in the APEC region. At the hybrid event held in Seoul November 10-11 as part of APEC 2022, APRU Senior Director (Policy and Research Programs) Christina Schönleber presented several APRU case studies related to skills and competencies for the future world of work. Schönleber described how APRU started supporting students and scholars from the start of the pandemic, when students were abruptly confined to their dorms spending much of the day in a virtual world. APRU developed several courses and activities tailored for that unprecedented situation, such as the Teaching in Virtual Environment webinar series; the Quarantunes – Student Competition (which encouraged to jointly create and enter music pieces with the aim to increase wellbeing and combat increasing mental disorders); and the Esports Fellowship. “Fairly quickly we realised that skills and competencies which were very important in a world where we operate mainly face to face had been superceded by new and different aptitudes,” Schönleber said. “Being able to cope quickly and continuously to an increasingly uncertain world required new core competencies, as suddenly the most important skills for students and academics were resilience and the ability to adapt to challenges and overcome these and importantly technical understanding,” she added. Schönleber went on to illustrate that challenges related to Climate Change and the transition to a green economy have also become a focus for students, which APRU responded to by creating the APRU Student Global Climate Change Simulation; APRU Global Sustainability: Waste & The City; the SDG 4 Global Citizens Program; and the Carbon Neutral Society – Action Month. Other panelists and speakers addressed a wide range of questions, including about the competencies that future generations should have and about how human factors, such perception, emotion, and passion, affect the changing educational situation. The 18th APEC Future Education Forum was organized by the Daegu, South Korea-based Institute APEC Collaborative Education (IACE). APRU has close links to IACE Chairman Professor Dong Sung Park, who serves as the Lead Sheepherder of the Human Resource Development Working Group (HRDWG). APRU has been a HRDWG guest member for several years and has recently renewed its guest member status with the HRDWG to the end of 2023. APEC 2022 concluded on November 19 with the APEC University Leaders Forum hosted by Chulalongkorn University in partnership with APRU on the margins of the APEC CEO Summit. The APEC CEO Summit is the APEC premier meeting of business and government leaders in the Asia Pacific.

The highly-anticipated side event of the APEC CEO Summit saw university presidents and policy-makers promote global partnerships for achieving effective research and future-proof strategies (18 November, 2022 – HONG KONG) – Business leaders, policy makers, and university presidents from APRU, a network of 60 leading research universities from 19 economies around the APEC region, convened at the Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, on 16 November for the APEC University Leaders’ Forum (AULF) 2022, under the theme: “Preventing the Next Pandemic.” As a selected side event of the APEC CEO Summit held this year in Thailand, the forum offered a rare opportunity for global leadership to gather and implement a plan through collaboration across sectors, institutions, and continents. After the world had experienced nearly three years of disruption due to Covid-19, this year’s AULF provided a much-needed platform for influential figures in politics, business, and higher education to gather and discuss ways to enhance global resilience should another pandemic happen. More than 20 high-profile speakers from the Asia-Pacific region came together to share their views on building joint research, strategies, and policies, including Prof. Bundhit Eua-arporn, President of Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and Prof. Gene D. Block, Chair of APRU and Chancellor of UCLA. Both gave welcome remarks at the opening ceremony. Chancellor Block said it was crucial for academic, business, and political leaders to convene at AULF 2022 to discuss ways to create a more robust, resourceful, and responsive world in the future. “On behalf of APRU, I am delighted to welcome distinguished guests, speakers, and participants from the Asia-Pacific region to the APRU APEC University Leaders’ Forum 2022. This year’s theme could not be more timely for our world, which has undergone nearly three years of profound changes due to the effects of Covid-19.” He continued: “The forum is a critical opportunity for leaders to come together across sectors and geographies to share views, strategies, and technologies that will strengthen our collective capacity to deal with another pandemic.” Prof. Bundhit Eua-arporn, President of Chulalongkorn University, said: “It has been our pleasure at Chulalongkorn University to bring together top minds in the Asia-Pacific region for talks and exchanges that would benefit citizens around the world. Chulalongkorn believes in the power of partnerships and is firmly committed to working with other institutes, APRU, and leaders to make progress on our common objectives.” His Excellency General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, also delivered a keynote speech. He was followed by Chancellor Block, who engaged the audience with a special plenary address on global partnership. Other forum highlights consisted of three thought-provoking panel discussions, which explored ways to foster collaborative efforts in researching, strategy-setting, and handling misinformation. The first session, titled “Partnering on Biomedical Research,” saw leaders from different sectors exchange ideas on improving biomedical responses, such as manufacturing and distributing biomedical and therapeutic assets effectively, in the state of global emergency. Panelists then focused on the socio-cultural aspect of a pandemic in the second session, titled “Partnering on Effective Socio-cultural Strategies,” which addressed opportunities and challenges in imposing public health strategies in a diverse yet connected world. The last session touched upon a topic at the heart of a digitalized world. Under the theme of “Partnering on Combatting the Infodemic,” panelists assessed the role false and misleading information plays in a pandemic and the urgency for countries to tackle the phenomenon as a team. Prof. Rocky S. Tuan, APRU Vice Chair and Vice-Chancellor and President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, underlined the urgency of promoting and facilitating cooperation in biomedical research in Asia-Pacific and beyond. He noted: “Although most of the world is emerging from the full shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, our shared experience over the past three years has enabled us to see the importance of working together as a team that combines governments, industry, academia, NGOs and the community, to address a global health crisis, especially in researching, manufacturing, assembling and distributing medical biomedical and therapeutic resources.” Prof. Deborah Terry, Vice-Chancellor and President of The University of Queensland, Australia, emphasized the importance of assessing sociocultural factors while formulating strategies for the future. She said: “Asia-Pacific is one of the most socially and culturally diverse regions worldwide. Assessing the role that socio-cultural context plays in different communities across the region, particularly in the face of a global medical emergency, is essential in ensuring that we can draw future-proof plans in a just, fair, and all-inclusive way.” Professor Dawn Freshwater, Vice-Chancellor of Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, New Zealand, explained her thoughts on infodemic. “Our world is more connected than ever. In this digital age, information is passed on and shared within milliseconds across borders, languages, and faiths,” she said. “Combating misinformation and disinformation will be vital to implement public health measures effectively. In this context, regional and international collaborations are paramount for achieving the goal.” For more information on APRU and its events, please visit https://www.apru.org.

Issued by the Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy Announced during the APEC Women and the Economy Forum on September 24, 2021, the winner and two runners-up for the 2021 APEC Healthy Women Healthy Economies Research Prize are listed here. The winning team is co-authored by Mr. Chen-Wei Hsiang, PhD student at University College London; Dr. Ming-Jen Lin, Distinguished Professor of Economics at National Taiwan University; Dr. Kuan-Ming Chen, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the United States’ National Bureau of Economic Research. Runner-up: Dr. Ying Yang, Associate Professor at China’s National Institute for Family Planning Runner-up: Ms. Nurliyana Binte Daros, Lecturer at Nanyang Technological University Find out the news release here and more information about the prize below. Applications are now open for the 2021 APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize. The prize rewards researchers who spur the creation of sex-disaggregated data and gender-based research in APEC. Launched in 2018 by President Sebastián Piñera of Chile with the support of Merck, the research prize seek for outstanding research work that will provide policymakers and business leaders with the tools they need to implement measures that improve women’s health and well-being so women can join, rise and thrive in the workforce. “Robust data and evidence are the foundation of sound policymaking,” said Renee Graham, New Zealand’s Secretary for Women and Chair of APEC’s Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy. “The gendered impacts of COVID-19 make the call for data and evidence all the more important, as we look to ensure women are fully incorporated into, and benefit from, the economic recovery from the pandemic.” Last year, the inaugural research prize was awarded to Dr Fanghui Zhao, a director at the National Cancer Center and Cancer Hospital with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, whose winning research looks at ways to make cervical cancer prevention more accessible and affordable for people in lower-middle income economies. Dr Lih Rong Wang of Chinese Taipei and Dr Dorothy Chan of Hong Kong, China were the two runners-up for the 2020 prize. Applicants to the 2021 APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize can be individuals or teams with one leader listed as official participant from an APEC member economy. Applications for the 2021 research prize are due on 31 May 2020. Applicants do not need to come from academia, as long as the research is evidence-based and addresses at least one of the pillars outlined in the Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Policy Toolkit, such as: workplace health and safety health awareness and access sexual and reproductive health gender-based violence work/life balance The prize winner will receive USD 20,000 and have the opportunity to present the research to APEC gender experts in the public and private sectors on the margins of the 2021 Women and the Economy Forum, hosted by New Zealand. Two runners-up will receive USD 5,000 each. “COVID-19 has exacerbated gender inequalities across a range of women’s health issues, making sex-disaggregated data and gender-based research essential for today’s policymakers,” said Liz Henderson,Regional Vice President, Merck Biopharma Asia Pacific. “To truly unlock the economic potential of women, we must first empower women by promoting policies that improve their health outcomes.” “It is important to make available sex-segregated data, especially in the services sector where women’s participation is high and which have been affected by the pandemic,” explained Dr Rebecca Sta Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat. “Good sex-segregated data will contribute to the development of policies that are effective, equitable and beneficial.” Since established in 2015 the Healthy Women, Healthy Economies initiative aims to identify and implement policies that advance women’s health and well-being to support their economic participation. To submit your application form, click here. The deadline to submit applications is 31 May 2020. For more information, please visit the APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies website or contact [email protected] with any questions. For further details, please contact: Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at [email protected] Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at [email protected]

APRU and Beijing-based mobile transportation platform Didi Chuxing (DiDi) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration and the development of activities and projects. Currently both organizations are contributing to the APEC Public-Private Dialogue on Sharing Economy and Digital Technology Connectivity for Inclusive Development, which aims to advance economic, financial, and social inclusion in the APEC member economies. APRU participated in the APEC Public-Private Dialogue’s latest seminar with the theme, “Capitalize on Research and Development.” Held on February 12 in Putrajaya, Malaysia, the seminar brought together stakeholders in the science and technology innovation sector to strengthen the ecosystem in promoting R&D and enhancing connectivity within the innovation value chain. “APRU’s large network of researchers, policy-makers and private sector representatives in the Asia-Pacific region makes it the ideal partner for us to jointly explore opportunities for collaborative research, joint projects, education and training, talent development, and academic exchanges, as well as technology transfer and innovation,” said Leju Ma, DiDi’s Senior Expert in International Industries. “We are looking forward to the significant input that APRU will provide for our projects,” he added. On the list of future projects to be explored and developed is the joint organization of side events at relevant UN conferences and cooperation on developing future APEC workshops. Other collaboration opportunities will be provided by the DiDi Engine Initiative, which includes international youth exchange and technology competitions, regional joint AI laboratories, women’s entrepreneurship and empowerment programs, as well as APRU’s support for DiDi’s engagements related to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). In view of the Covid-19 outbreak, APRU and DiDi will work together to share best practice on non-pharmaceutical prevention and control measures with entities outside China, especially in the mobility sector.   Find out the report published by APEC Policy Partnership on Science Technology and Innovation.  About DiDi https://www.didiglobal.com Didi offers on-demand taxi-hailing, private car-hailing, bike-sharing, automotive solutions and smart transportation services to over 550 million users across China, Japan, Latin America and Australia, delivering over 10 billion rides per year.

APRU and the University of Malaya have kicked-off planning for the APEC University Leaders’ Forum 2020. The forum is set to occur on November 9, 2020 in Kuala Lumpur as an official side meeting of the APEC CEO Summit and Leaders’ Week. APRU Secretary General, Dr Christopher Tremewan met with Vice Chancellor Datuk Dr Abdul Rahim Hashim, Professor Kamila Ghazali, Provost/ Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic & International), Professor Yong Zulina Zubairi, Associate Vice-Chancellor (International), Professor Yvonne Lim, Director, International Relations Office, and Ms. Rohaizan Ramli (International Relations Officer) to discuss the development of the Forum with the leadership of the University of Malaya. Dr Tremewan also met with Jukhee Hong (Executive Director) and Ungku Illya Zafri (Head of Secretariat) of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) 2020. APRU is looking forward to further collaboration.

APRU helped to shape the education framework across the Asia Pacific through its contribution to the 15th APEC Future Education Forum (AFEF) held 25 -27 September in Seoul, South Korea. APRU Director for Policy and Programs, Christina Schönleber, moderated an AFEF session on innovation and connectivity for future education. Craig Walker, Senior Fellow, FutureEd, Georgetown University, and Professor Sunhee Paik, Gyeongin National University of Education, presented on “Teacher Mindsets: How Teachers’ Perspectives Shape Student Success” and “APEC CEIDI Joint Research Outcomes: Analysis on School Leadership Framework and Development” respectively. “APRU has a long history of working with the APEC Human Resources Working Group supporting important development and initiatives in relation to development of human resources and education in the region,” Schönleber said. “Thus, we are delighted to be able to support and contribute to this important forum,” she added. The 2019 AFEF was held under the theme “Enhancing ICT Utilization, Social Integration, and People-to-People Connectivity for Future Education.” With approximately 200 participants from thirteen countries and four international organizations, the AFEF opened diverse and in-depth thematic discussion related to education in the digital age in alignment with the APEC 2019 theme “Connecting People, Building the Future.” The International APEC Learning Community Builders (ALCoB) Conference accompanied the AFEF as a sister event. The AFEF is a forum held annually since 2004. It is initiated by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea with the aim to share innovative cases and form discourses on future education. The AFEF has become one of the largest annual international education forums in the APEC region.

Leading marine science expert of APRU’s Pacific Ocean Program on advancing UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Life Below Water informed policymakers on early findings of the program at the Third Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM3) in Puerto Varas, Chile, in August. APRU’s Inaugural Pacific Ocean Cluster Project: Advancing SDG 14 for the sustainable future of the Pacific Ocean focuses on enhancing sustainable development of coastal states, communities, and economies around the Pacific-Rim region. The overall aim is to provide policy pathways to advance SDG 14. A team of experts from The University of British Columbia and University of Washington have conducted economy-specific analysis of the ways that all SDG goals contribute or detract from SDG 14 throughout the Pacific, with the initial results indicating a potential asymmetry in SDG alignment and achievements. From this team, Gerald Singh, now an assistant professor at the Department of Geography of the Memorial University of Newfoundland indicates that these initial results means that while making progress to achieve SDG 14 there are benefits to SDGs 1 and 2 of ending poverty and hunger (though not fully achieve these goals). However, fully achieving the goals of eliminating poverty and hunger by the 2020-2030 achievement dates may prevent the achievement of SDG 14 in the Pacific. Singh furthermore explained that the achievement of the SDG 14 in the Pacific is also being complicated by the economies not clustering according to classic development categories such as “developed”, “developing”, and “transitioning” but instead including a mix of fully developed and developed economies. In view of these findings, it is the project team’s key objective to collaborate and explore ideas with the OFWG [APEC’s Oceans and Fisheries Working Group] more closely. “One area for collaboration can be through data sharing across projects to support comparison and verifying project results,” he added. Singh’s presentation to APEC OFWG and initiated and supported through the APRU Pacific Ocean Program generated great interest by some member economies as well as non-member guests. Next steps included discussions of the possibility of future collaboration with the delegations of China; the Philippines; the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security; the Ocean Conservation Administration Ocean Affairs Council (in Chinese Taipei); as well as The Nature Conservancy. The SOM3 is the last senior officials’ preparatory meeting before the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM) in November. Held under the theme “Connecting people, building the future,” it facilitated fruitful discussion surrounding the priority areas of digital economy, regional economic integration, connectivity, marine cooperation, and women and inclusive growth.

By APEC Human Resources Development Working Group           Issued by the APEC Human Resources Development Working Group Singapore     Job seekers today lack the skills needed to work in the digital economy, says a survey on digital skills in the workforce. According to the Closing the Digital Skills Gap survey, 75 per cent of respondents – comprised of employers, government officials, and academics – report a significant skills mismatch. Without more upskilling programs to improve digital expertise, the survey warns, many workers may lose their jobs to automation. “Skills mismatches hurt workers and the broader economy. Productivity declines when key jobs remain vacant. APEC requires more skills training programs to reduce the global shortage of highly-skilled workers, which may soon exceed 38 million people,” said Professor Dong Sun Park. Professor Park, Chair of the APEC Human Resources Development Working Group, speaking at the 2019 APEC Closing the Digital Skills Gap Forum, which launched the survey prepared by Wiley, an education and professional training solutions provider. The forum, taking place in Singapore, gathered representatives from 16 APEC economies to explore policy options that can strengthen digital skills and the digital economy – a key priority set by APEC 2019 host Chile. The digital economy is rapidly evolving but education systems are not adapting at the same pace. Many companies and organizations across many sectors, from healthcare to financial services and retail, are unable to fill positions requiring skills in data collection and analytics – and the vacancies cost billions of dollars of lost revenue annually. Yet more than half of survey respondents admit that curricula at many academic institutions do not sufficiently bring digital skills into classrooms. More than 50 per cent of respondents also report that government agencies have a weak understanding of the digital skills landscape. “It was eye-opening to learn that up to 45 per cent of survey respondents said that they do not update job requirements every year,” said Andrew Tein, Chief of Staff to the CEO at Wiley and co-chair of the forum. “Let’s track these insights so we can prepare the right strategies to close the skills gap and foster more growth and prosperity across the region.”. At the forum, participants finalized a roadmap to support and scale up upskilling and reskilling programs carried out by employers, governments, and educational institutions across APEC. Implementation of the roadmap builds upon the work of APEC’s Data Analytics and Raising Employment initiative, or Project DARE, which developed and implemented a set of industry-driven recommended actions to strengthen data science and analytics competencies, or DSA. The Project DARE framework has informed the work of eight universities, companies and associations to date, including the Analytics Association of the Philippines, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and Ho Chi Minh University of Technology and Education (HCMUTE). “With the imminent need to facilitate the transition of workforce in the age of disruption, ProjectDARE provides a tripartite platform for governments, academia and business across the APEC economies to discuss human capital development in data science and analytics,” said Kar Yan Tam, Dean of HKUST’s School of Business  and Management. “This platform connects all of us closely together to manage the transformation wisely” Added Associate Prof. Dr Ngo Van Thuyen, Chairman of HCMUTE’s University Council, “The research of Project DARE on the demand of human resources in data analytics and its proposed competencies helped HCMUTE to be more confident on the decision to establish the Bachelor’s program in Data Engineering in 2017.” Another initiative from the Analytics Association of the Philippines is collaborating with employers, government agencies and academic institutions to train 30,000 workers over the next three years. The ‘whole-of-government’ approach will utilize Project DARE competencies. The roadmap also recommends the sharing of government statistical methodologies and best practices, as information on how governments track and organize data on their workforce is insufficient. More sharing of information and best practices can enable the establishment of a more standardized approach to upskilling. # # # For further details, please contact: Dini Sari Djalal +65 9137 3886 at [email protected] Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at [email protected] More on APEC meetings, events, projects and publications can be found on www.apec.org. You can also follow APEC on Twitter and join us on Facebook, LinkedIn. This news release can also be viewed on the APEC website: https://www.apec.org/Press/News-Releases/2019/0719_Digital

APRU Director for Policy & Programs, Christina Schönleber, presented findings and policy recommendations of APRU’s Transformation of Work in Asia Pacific in the 21st Century report at the Second Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM2) held in Vina Del Mare, Chile, in May. The wide range of key insights presented by Schönleber includes the key point that exponential growth of standardization and adoption of technological advances will continue worldwide. This translates into the gradual automation of repetitive physical and cognitive jobs on the one hand and the creation of new jobs with higher pay on the other. Illustrating that APRU succeeds in its core objective of widely disseminating a data-driven studies with key focus on APEC region, there has been great interest from delegates to download the report findings and share these with political decision-makers. “In the face of a skill shift in the labor market leading to income disparity between workers with high and low skill levels, it is imperative to prepare a new generation that is adaptive to technology changes by incorporating STEM/STEAM education across primary and secondary school curriculums,” Schönleber said. “An adequate supply of talent in technology, engineering and science can be facilitated by attracting more female students with a lifelong interest in STEM as well as by encouraging interdisciplinary knowledge studies across science, engineering, business, and social science,” she added. SOM2 took place alongside the 44th APEC Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG) meeting. Key discussions points following Schönleber’s presentations were how findings forming the project can feed into future focus areas of APEC working groups. SOM2 panel discussions also focused on the identification of the best ways to develop the skills required of workers by the digital economy, as well as on the promotion of continuous lifelong learning to ensure that APEC economies’ workforce can keep up with rapidly changing technologies and technical skills. APRU’s Transformation of Work in Asia Pacific in the 21st Century report is based on a joint project with The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology connecting ten scholars from leading universities across the APRU network to examine the changes presented by rapid digitalization in our society.  

With youth unemployed rising in the Asia Pacific in 2017, policymakers have to bridge the gap between a critically low supply of highly skilled professionals and the urgent demand among employers for a skilled workforce. By 2020, the global shortage of highly-skilled workers is expected to reach 38-40 million. Current advances in the digital age require the collection and interpretation of big data. Employees with the ability to gather, analyze and draw practical conclusions from big data, as well as communicate these findings to others are forecasted to be among the most in demand. Labor markets are in dire need of professionals trained in data science and analytics, and shortages are severe enough to constrain economic growth. In response to APEC’s policy goals on human capital development, Project DARE – Data Analytics Raising Employment – was created to address the current shortage of employees skilled in data science and analytics, which has resulted in billions of dollars in lost revenue annually. The project brought together business, government and academic leaders to develop a set of ten Recommended APEC Data Science and Analytics Competencies to serve as a resource to equip academic institutions and training providers across APEC economies to align curricula, courses and programs to fill this gap between skills and employer demand. APRU Experts joined the Project Advisory Group Meeting taking place in Singapore to actively supported the development of the APEC Data analytics Competencies. At the inaugural APEC University Leaders’ Forum, in Dan Nang, Vietnam, Dr. Christopher Tremewan, APRU Secretary General, and Mr. Clay Stobaugh, Vice President of The Wiley Network and Co-Chair of APEC Project DARE announced a new partnership committed to bridge the projected skills-gap in the Asia Pacific. See more details about the here recommended APEC DAS Competencies here Find out more about the project here Download attachments: APEC_Project_DARE_2018_Workshop_Agenda_2_October  

Real Solutions Are Found in Innovation and Collaboration As part of the Third APEC Senior Official’s Meeting (SOM3), held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in August, APRU provided insights and recommendations regarding the development of Innovation Networks and contributed to the discourse on policy needs to support healthy aging at a series of Policy Partnership on Science, Technology, and Innovation (PPSTI) workshops and discussions. Christina Schönleber, APRU Director of Policy and Programs, gave a keynote address on the principles for establishing and maintaining productive innovation networks as part of the Workshop on Domestic Innovation Systems and Networks. Government research and development structures, innovation funding, and institutional frameworks for innovation networks were themes of the event. The workshop, organised by the Papua New Guinea Science and Technology Council & Secretariat, showcased best practices in the APEC region on how to create and grow scientific and technology production and enhance domestic capacity with the aim to inform the development of an APEC Manual on Domestic Innovation Systems and Networks. Using APRU as an example, Schönleber emphasized the importance of transdisciplinary collaboration, external industry engagement, and research partnerships in not only domestic innovation systems and networks, but also the establishment and maintenance of a cross-border resource-sharing community. She highlighted that “this capacity provides APRU with the ability to initiative impactful collaborations and projects that tap into latest scientific knowledge enabling policy foresight to initiate creative solutions to the Asia-Pacific region’s challenges”. The following PPSTI policy sharing roundtable discussion explored policy needs to support viable innovation, facilitating resilient living and healthy aging. Schönleber presented findings from the collaboration with the Asian Development Bank, exploring the potential of new technologies to maintain and enhance productivity by extending the productive working life of an aging workforce and better equipping a young workforce for future work to contribute greatly to higher economic growth. The policy dialogue provided valuable insights to shape the APEC 2018 Leaders Statement. While in Port Moresby, Schönleber also presented to APEC delegates at the 12thAPEC PPSTI Meeting a preview of APRU’s 2018 Impact Report “Amplifying Impact: Transformative Solutions to Asia-Pacific Challenges.” Built on the first report in 2016, the 2018 Impact Report demonstrates various models of cooperation that actively inform policy and practice that encourages partnership and innovation. The report reflects the positive impact of bringing together the social sciences and humanities with science and technology disciplines to address global challenges. Additionally, it demonstrates the necessity of doing so if real solutions are to be found that are tailored to a wide diversity of contexts, which further exemplifies APRU’s commitment to interdisciplinary interaction and building an innovative network rooted in partnership, collaboration and industry engagement. According to the BBC, Papua New Guinea is one of the world’s most linguistically diverse countries with 80% of its population living in a non-monetarized economy.  As a guest member of APEC Working Groups, APRU is a regular participant in a number of its high-level discussions with the objective to ensure universities have a voice in shaping policies across the Asia-Pacific.  The PPSTI working group brings together experts in higher education, business, and policy to serve as a forum, in which the best minds within the APEC region convene to share innovative ideas and discuss matters of interest in science and technology. Download the APRU 2018 Impact Report “Amplifying Impact: Transformative Solutions to Asia-Pacific Challenges: http://apru.org/resource/2018-impact-report-transformative-solutions-to-asia-pacific-challenges/

APRU provided valuable recommendations to shape APEC’s health-related agenda at the third Senior Official Meetings (SOM3) held in mid-August in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. At the APEC “Healthy Women, Healthy Economies” workshop,” Mellissa Withers, Director of the APRU Global Health Program and Associate Professor at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, presented on the assessment of workplace wellness programs implemented by universities in the Asia-Pacific region with a specific focus on gender. The assessment is based on a recent survey of APRU members, who represent collectively more than 140,000 staff and approx. 2 million students, regarding their range and scope of employee health and wellness programs. Withers pointed out that the survey showed the top priority was chronic diseases, with violence prevention being last priority. Among the other findings cited were low employee engagement in programs, lack of budget, and programs often being regarded as low priority. Many programs were “token” as opposed to comprehensively or strategically designed, and data is not being routinely collected. “We recommend regular, in-depth, mandatory sexual harassment trainings and more formal protocols for handling complaints,” Withers said. “Universities should implement specific, written policies on discrimination, and workplace culture should be more supportive of women and less tolerant of violence and abuse,” she added. Withers went on to represent the APRU Global Health Program at the 8th APEC High Level Meeting on Health and the Economy (APEC HLM8). Her presentation at APEC HLM8 addressed the wide-reaching consequences when primary health care does not adequately support women with a focus on economic loss. Among Withers’ recommendations were routine screenings, more victims services, shelters and hotlines, as well as the establishment of sexual violence units in police, hospitals and primary care facilities. “The availability of counseling and support services with collaborative, multi-disciplinary teams must be ensured, and there should be workplace support programs for women experiencing intimate partner violence,” Withers urged. “There also is a need for more relevant national policy and formal legislation with designated budget,” she added. The APEC HLM8’s keynote addresses were held by Honorable Sir Dr. Puka Temu, Minister of Health and Chair-APEC HLM8, Papua New Guinea, and Dr. Shin Young-soo, Regional Director, World Health Organization – Western Pacific Region. A ministerial panel on putting people at the center of health care through primary health care included panelists: Honorable Michiyo Takagi, State Minister of Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan; Honorable Shih-Chung Chen, Minister of Health and Welfare, Chinese Taipei; and Honorable Dr. Puka Temu. APRU’s contributions to the SOM3 reflects its strong commitment to continue actively feeding into APEC’s health-related agenda. The aim is to inform policy makers and collaborate on activities supporting economic development of the region.

The issue of marine debris has received high attention from economies, international organizations and multiple fora. The Workshop on Best Practices Sharing on Marine Debris Management in Coastal Cities of APEC Region was held in Xiamen on Nov 4-5th, 2017. The workshop outputs were put into the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on “Oceans and the law of the Sea” as Article 215. This forthcoming workshop taking place July 26-27, 2018 proposes to collect innovative approaches and to share best practice to address marine debris in the APEC region. Click here to see the proposal. The workshop objectives are to: 1) collect innovative approaches addressing marine debris; 2) share best practice, information, and technologies to reduce marine debris in the APEC region; 3) encourage and promote Public Private Partnerships. The event, hosted in partnership with Peking University, is aimed at managers/policy makers, researchers, and private-sector participants and will feature a 1-day meeting and 1-day scientific tour. The APEC Marine Sustainable Development Center China is making funding available for one APRU scholar to contribute to the session addressing new research advances on marine debris and micro-plastics. See a post-event report from Peking University here.

APRU Director of Policy and Programs, Christina Schönleber, was quoted in a CIPD article contributing to the conversation about creating workforces fit for the challenge of digitisation and demographic change. Sharing best practice and harnessing cross-border co-operation will help Pacific Rim countries overcome the challenges of creating workforces fit for the future, experts said – as they endorsed a recent initiative focusing on HR development amid increasing technological change. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Framework on Human Resource Development in the Digital Age was adopted by the 21 APEC member countries at the Asia Pacific Economic Forum, in Vietnam, in May 2017. Its policies are now being rolled out by APEC governments. The framework’s declared aim is to assist member economies provide their local companies with the ability to cope with the HR challenges and opportunities in present and future work. “This acknowledges the fundamental changes the world of work will be facing and also acknowledges that the Asia Pacific region is incredibly diverse,” said Christina Schönleber, director for policy and programmes at the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, a network of leading universities in the APEC region. Speaking to People Management, she added: “Through this framework, APEC will be able to harness co-operation across its member economies, while best practice sharing and drawing on the latest expertise and research from scholars across the Asia Pacific region will allow policymakers and industry to gain new knowledge and understanding of the societal and economic impact of these technological developments.” Schönleber added that HR professionals will then be able to collectively address challenges and capitalise effectively on new opportunities. Warning that automation could deny poorer economies the opportunities for economic development that have in the past been grasped by countries offering cheaper labour, the framework seeks to put forward an appropriate set of policy directions and measures. These would support economies at risk of ending up on the wrong side of the digital divide, preparing their workforces for the challenges and opportunities in the digitalised and tech-enabled world of work today and beyond. The framework commits APEC governments to spending money on joint and regional research activities to provide member economies with a good indication of where, when and how digitalisation and new technology will change production processes. And the policy agreement lays the basis for the development of joint programmes, projects and initiatives to promote cooperation and exchanges of best practice regarding labour market information systems and data management. It will also encourage APEC governments to develop guidance on the role of public and private employment services in addressing the challenges and opportunities caused by globalisation and digitalisation, as well as the way these institutions can be improved through information and communication technologies. “Advancement in technology has led to a pressing need for human resources development, including research into the implications for the labour market, education, training and reskilling,” the framework states. “This, coupled with ongoing labour market analyses, will support targeted investment consistent with economic needs. Evidence-based policy is required to ensure that labour market participants are employable and prepared for the challenges and opportunities in the new digital age,” it adds. The proposed timeframe for implementation of the framework is 2017 to 2025, with progress to be reviewed in 2022 by APEC ministers responsible for human resources development. The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) employment specialist, Phu Huynh, is also supportive of the framework, stressing that digitisation and automation put jobs across Asian countries at all stages of economic development at risk, making efforts by governments and international organisations to help address the challenges critical. “Digitisation and workplace automation will impact jobs regardless of the level of economic development, although the risks may vary, with the concerns about digitisation in less developed economies being mostly associated with the initial risk of replacing low-end manufacturing jobs which have been critical for past growth strategies,” Huynh said. “However, given lower skill and wage levels in these countries, there may be a comparative lag in terms of adopting new technologies and the consequent impacts. And conversely, the advanced economies, where higher wages make technology absorption more economically feasible sooner, also face an initial risk to medium-skill jobs, such as in accounting, office administration and bookkeeping,” he added. Huynh explained that although efforts by governments and international organisations such as the APEC framework are critical, basic national employment rights still play a role. “These include better protection for workers during the technology transition and revamping education and training systems to be more responsive to rapidly changing labour markets,” he said. Similarly, Ian Grundy, head of marketing and communications, Asia Pacific, at The Adecco Group, pointed out that today interconnected factors of digitisation, automation and changing demographics are redefining “where we work, how we work and what is work itself,” and that “what we do every day in our jobs, no matter in what role,” is being redesigned, to a greater or lesser extent. “These redesigned jobs and roles require new skillsets which means that we need to reskill or upskill and we need to do it fast and at scale,” Grundy said. “For that to happen, governments, academia, companies and other institutions such as APEC, the UN and the ILO need to work together on multiple fronts including regulatory reforms, encouraging vocational training and updating HR practices,” he said.

Universities Can Help Overcome Economic Nationalism Yojana Sharma 23 November 2017 Issue No: 484 Find the full article from University World News. In an era when economic and trade nationalism is disrupting the multilateral world order, universities have a role to play in driving multinational cross-border collaborations, and preparing for a future thrown into uncertainty by the so-called fourth industrial revolution. University presidents, policymakers and business leaders in the Asia-Pacific region came together in a University Leaders Forum just before the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC summit in Vietnam earlier this month to talk about joint strategies and policies to keep pace with disruptive technologies – digitisation, robotics and artificial intelligence. The rise of economic nationalism and decline of the multilateral trade system, particularly since US president Donald Trump entered office this year, was a major focus of the main Summit of APEC heads of state from the 21 member countries in Danang, Vietnam. Early in his presidency Trump announced his country’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP, a multilateral trade pact with 11 other Asian and Pacific Rim countries in Australasia, North America and Latin America, sparking consternation in the region. Many governments are fearful of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which “has created hopes for higher productivity but also anxiety about its transformative implications”, said Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, Co-Chair of the APEC ministerial meeting on 9 November, which preceded the leaders’ summit on 10-11 November. Universities can inform policy makers on how to prepare for disruption, particularly understanding what is happening with students, who are in the cutting edge of innovation, delegates from business, government and universities heard at the University Leaders Forum in Danang on 8 November, organised by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities or APRU. With many universities already collaborating in cross-border and multidisciplinary research, “we can see many opportunities and an emancipation from the national context,” said APRU secretary general Christopher Tremewan. Referring to disruptive technologies, Chi Youngsuk chairman of Elsevier, a science information and analytics company, told the forum, “the issues that we approach today are too big for one nation to tackle, too complex to understand concretely in one discipline, it runs across all disciplines.” Resisting economic nationalism Chi added universities were the one place where economic nationalism could be resisted. “Collectively APRU has the most powerful set of universities with (an) incredible voice to overcome this period of turning our back (away) from multilateralism,” Chi said. “We want to see more collaboration because the problems are just too damn big. We cannot solve this alone.” Multilateralism is giving way to bilateral conversations which does not accomplish as much for the world as it accomplishes for individual countries,” said Chi. While major companies cannot resist the trend for many governments to move towards more inward looking economic and trade policies, universities can try to promote multilateral discussion, as well as understand the pace of change and challenges at a time when governments are focused on short-term initiatives, he said. He called on universities “to stick your neck out and resist this (nationalism) trend, which is dangerous for all of us.” Though there is much talk about cross-sector innovation, “there are still a lot of barriers against innovation, especially in relation to partnerships between governments and universities”, said Wang Yan, coordinator of the Education Network (EDNET) of the APEC Human Resource Development Working Group. She pointed to the APEC Education Strategy Action Plan endorsed at the APEC Summit – the first educational blueprint up to 2030 since the inception of APEC in 1989 – as a new example for multilateral education collaboration, including in delivering the skills required for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “It is increasingly important that education and training deliver competencies that reflect the current and future needs of the regional labour market and that these competencies be commonly understood and recognised across borders, and system,” according to the policy document drawn up earlier this year on APEC’s education strategy and submitted to the Summit by APEC’s Human Resources Development Working Group. International trade lawyer and digital trade expert Robert Holleyman, previously deputy US trade representative during the administration of former US president Barack Obama and now CEO of C&M International, a trade and public affairs consultancy, told the forum that university collaboration with the private sector and policy makers in APEC can produce the next generation of leaders who will understand how better to collaborate. Government officials are focused on short term initiatives,” Holleyman said, and this can be as short as their own term in office. Yet the disruptive changes of the fourth industrial revolution can seem threatening because of the pace of change and extensive global competition. Universities bring to the table, especially in APEC, things that policy makers are looking for “in some cases before the policy makers know what the questions are,” including understanding what is happening in a fast-changing technological and research environment, Holleyman said. “Artificial intelligence poses opportunities for more quality jobs in the future,” said Huang Dinglong, founder and CEO of China’s Malong Technologies, which focuses on artificial intelligence. Companies will need more people to do interesting work in these areas. “The best job has not been created yet, it is still coming,” he told the forum. Skills mismatch APEC economies have identified structural unemployment and a skills mismatch as major concerns for the region. There is a gap between the skills of workers looking for work and the skills required for emerging job opportunities according the 2017 APEC Economic Policy Report on structural Reform and Human Capital Development. In Danang, APRU announced a partnership with the APEC’s project DARE on Data Science, Analytics and Raising Employment to bridge the skills gap in the region. “Higher education institutions will play a critical role in addressing the future DSA (data science and analytics) skills shortages,” said Nguyen Kim Son, president of Vietnam National University, Hanoi. “The lack of DSA skills currently sits on top of the skills shortage in the APEC region, not just in terms of the size of the gap but also its essential role in driving artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems that are at the centre of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the future of work and the future of global prosperity,” said DARE co-chair Clay Stobaugh, executive vice-president of Wiley, a global publishing and research company. “One million jobs will go unfilled in APEC because the skills sets won’t be able to provide for data analytics are required by employers,” Stobaugh told the university leaders’ forum. Project DARE was launched by APEC earlier this year to develop the competencies required for future DSA workers. “DSA-enabled knowledge workers will have skills not easily replaced by automation; instead they will be better prepared to unlock the promise and potential of data and the technologies that depend on it,” according to APEC’s HRD working group in a June communication in preparation for the November Summit. The competencies were developed by a 50-person Advisory Group from 14 APEC member economies, co-chaired by Wiley and the Business Higher Education Forum or BHEF. Advisors included business leaders who oversee data science and analytics within their companies, academics involved with inter-disciplinary data science initiatives and curricula; and government officials involved in human resources development.

Dear Senior Staff: Please find attached an invitation from Dr Vladimir Kurilov, Vice-President for International Relations, Far Eastern Federal University, to the 6th APEC Conference on Cooperation in Higher Education (APEC CCHE’ 17). If you have queries, please contact Ms. Anastasia Sviridova, Head of APEC Study Center of Far Eastern Federal University at [email protected].

Member economies of the APEC Forum need to do a lot more to promote economic growth to combat population aging, according to a paper presented at the Workshop on the Development of an APEC Labor Mobility Framework in Nha Trang, Viet Nam on February 18. Representatives from APEC member economies and global experts convened at the Workshop in Viet Nam to share views on the diverse factors which affect mobility of labor and skills in the region and to develop a way forward for the general APEC membership. The report by APRU experts Rafal Chomik, John Piggottand Peter McDonald, which was commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Employment to APRU, aims to influence a regional framework on labor mobility issues. The report suggests that cooperation in migration policy, education, and technology transfer would allow emerging economies within APEC to increase rates of growth, countering the “headwinds” of population aging. APRU Population Aging Research Hub Chair and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR), UNSW Sydney, Dr. John Piggott said that there appeared to be good opportunities for cooperating in the area of education and labour migration. Economies such as the US, Japan and Australia have large student cohorts from a range of APEC jurisdictions,” he said. Simplifying the process of deciding whether students from APEC countries meet specific criteria for admission to educational institutions, and also visas and associated documentation, would help in developing a better educated and globally mobile workforce for APEC”, he said. Professor Albert Park, HKUST and APRU Population Aging Research Steering Group member, also took part in a panel discussion that took place at the Workshop which was held alongside the 1st APEC Senior Official Meeting hosted by Viet Nam in Nha Trang. Experts from the Australian National University also contributed to the Workshop. APRU experts will continue to be actively involved in the next phase of the development of the APEC labour mobility framework, providing a foundation for policy making in APEC economies. UNSW Sydney, The University of Melbourne, HKUST and Australian National University are members of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, a network of 45 leading research universities that aims to address key social, environmental and economic challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. APEC SOM1 2017 photos at: https://flic.kr/s/aHskS3u8Kg Download attachements below. Download attachments: Working Paper: The impact of demographic change on labour supply and economic growth PROGRAMME_Final1.pdf