On the evening of October 13th Beijing time, the China-US University Presidents’ Online Forum, jointly organized by Tsinghua University and Yale University, was held, bringing together leaders from 20 leading Chinese and American universities to explore the development of higher education and to strengthen the post-pandemic resilience of university collaborations and network. Jianguo Chen, vice president of HUST, attended the forum.

Chinese Vice-Premier Chunlan Sun delivered her congratulatory remarks via video during the opening session of the online forum held under the theme “Fostering More Open, Integrative and Resilient Universities.” Sun said, higher education represents a space of advanced collaborative exchange between China and the US, enhancing the mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of China and the US, and promoting the development of China-US relations. Sun said she was hopeful that universities of China and the US will, under the principles of openness and inclusiveness, leverage their complementarities and broaden the space for cooperation in education, research and joint programs. “It is hoped that universities enhance mutual learning through communication, and mutual trust through cooperation, and contribute to the building of a community of shared future for mankind.” she added.

Vice-Premier Chunlan Sun in the video

Yong Qiu, the president of Tsinghua University and Peter Salovey, the president of Yale University respectively delivered opening remarks, followed by three keynote speech sessions which was “Fostering More Open Universities”, “Fostering More Integrative Universities” and “Fostering More Resilient Universities.”

the main conference hall at Tsinghua University

Jianguo Chen delivered a speech entitled “Rise up to common challenges and foster more open universities” at the first session. He said, for the past 9 months, both HUST and Wuhan have regained full vigor to restart. It was the solidarity of the whole society that sustained us through the virus outbreak. HUST devoted the most medical workers in the battle against COVID-19 in China. The past months witnessed how we recovered and how the extraordinary synergy can pull us together as one. The affiliated hospitals of HUST organized more than 70 video conferences with partners at home and abroad to share knowledge regarding the epidemic; Scholars maintained their medical research online with international counterparts, such as colleagues from Yale University and Saint Louis University. Tsinghua University has shared nearly 20 online courses with students of HUST. Chen said that if the pandemic is a test of international collaboration, then our lesson from it would be: the more open a university is, the more momentum it will release, especially when confronting challenges we globally face.

Vice President Jianguo Chen

Chen underscored that opening-up is core to university development and is the source of its vitality and creativity. Therefore, HUST has implemented a series of cooperation programs to promote global engagement. He pointed out that under the new situation, HUST is committed to building a community with a shared future for mankind. “Together with our partners, we will address the major common challenges, promote a global innovative governance structure, and eventually make greater contributions to the advancement of human society and civilization.”

participants of the forum

20 universities attended this forum including Columbia University in the City of New York, Cornell University, Fudan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Indiana University, Jilin University, Lanzhou University, Nankai University, Rice University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sun Yat-sen University, Syracuse University, The University of Utah, The New School, Tsinghua University, University of Macau, Washington University (St. Louis), Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Yale University, and Zhejiang University.

Written by: Shengyuan Ma

Edited by: Yumeng Peng