Washington DC Staged the First Lingnan Global Forum

In order to increase its international recognition and academic reputation in North America, Lingnan (University) College of Sun Yat-sen University launched the first "Lingnan Global Forum" in Washington, DC, USA on January 22, 2020. This forum, focusing on “Global Partnership,Economic Development and Higher Education”, brought together Chinese and American higher-education devotees, and sparked visions for these three aspects. The Lingnan Global Forum, as a pre-meeting forum for the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), attracted a good number of principals, deans, scholars, and guests from American universities and colleges. Participants exchanged opinions on the collaboration and development of China – US economy and higher education.
 

The forum invited professionals of higher-education communities from all over the world, including:

• Ms. Lynn Pasquerella, President of American Association of Colleges and Universities
• Professor Kenyon Chan, President of Washington University
• Professor Craig Calhoun, Former President of the London School of Economics
• Professor Leslie Wong, Former president of San Francisco State University
• Professor Lenord Cheng, President of Lingnan University (Hong Kong)
• Professor Josep Franch, Dean of ESADE Business School of Spain
• Professor Carl P. Zeithaml, Dean of the McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia
• Professor Sri Zaheer, Dean of the Carlson School of Management, the University of Minnesota
• Professor Mary Hinton, President of St. Benedict College
• Dr. Ding-Jo Currie, President of the Lingnan Foundation, USA

In addition,quite a few outstanding Lingnan alumni entrepreneurs and scholars attended the forum and participated in the discussions, which fully demonstrated the attention and contribution that SYSU alumni gave to the innovation and development of higher education. The participated alumni were:

• Mr. MO Hengyong, Chief Economist, American International Group (AIG)
• Mr. CHEN Guangzhe, Global Director for Transport Global Practice, Regional Director for Infrastructure, South Asia Region, the World Bank
• Mr. CHEN Feng, Senior Simultaneous Interpreter for the United Nations
• Ms. LUO Xubei, Senior Economist, the World Bank
• Mr. HONG Han, Professor of Economics, Stanford University
• Mr. CHEN Hui, Professor of Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management
• Ms. XU Xiaoqing, Professor, Seton Hall University, USA

This global forum, composed of three sections:keynote speeches, panel discussions, and group discussion, was chaired by Professor LU Jun, Dean of Lingnan (University) College of Sun Yat-sen University.

At the beginning of the forum, Dean LU introduced the guests, academics, and alumni representatives, and expressed his sincere welcome to them. On behalf of all the faculty, staff,and students of the college, Dean LU extended his heartfelt thanks to the American Association of Colleges and Universities, Lingnan Foundation, scholars and alumni who had provided great support during the preparation of the forum.

Dean LU mentioned that in recent years, the global economy and finance had undergone tremendous changes, and the global economic integration had become remarkably evident. As the two largest economies in the world, the United States and China should collaborate more closely to pursue mutual benefits. Other than that, how to adapt to this new economic environment was becoming a common topic for all business schools across the globe.

Keynote Speeches

Dean LU then delivered a presentation on "US/China Greater Bays Economic & Higher Education Developments – A Comparative Analysis", of which the extensive analysis, specific comparison and contrast, as well as the precise data drew attention from the auditorium and sparked active discussions. Former president Craig Calhoun shared his opinions on the future of higher education in the global economic context. Professor Craig Calhoun’s profound understanding and professional interpretation was applauded by the academics and guests. 

Penal Discussions

The forum also had three panel discussions on the topics of "US/China Economic Development Collaboratives – Impacts & Risks", "US/China Higher Education Collaboratives – Strengths & Opportunities", and "Higher Education 2040 with Vision 2020". The participating scholars and entrepreneurs disgussed in good faith and shared their profound views on the respective topics.

Group Discussion

The group discussion, chaired by Ding-Jo Currie, the President of the Lingnan Foundation, divided the audience, scholars and business representatives into small groups for them to have in-depth exchanges on critical issues such as the problems facing by thehigher educational institutions in the two countries (U.S. and China), the direction of the future research as well as the formulated action plan. Academic experts and corporate representatives presented their unique views while giving appropriate suggestions from both academic and management perspectives.

Association of American Colleges & Universities，AAC&U

Established in 1915, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) is dedicated inpromoting the development of liberal arts education in universities. The members of AAC&U include Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University, University of Toronto, and other well-known universities. Every year, the association holds a annual conference in different cities across the United States. Around 2,000 managers of colleges and universities in the country are invited to attend the conference.Various workshops are conducted for discussing the urgent problems in higher education systems along with the promotion of liberal arts education.

Lingnan Foundation

In 1893, the Lingnan Foundation was established as an independent legal entity in New York State. Being a non-profit organization, its board members are mainly professionals. The goal of Lingnan Foundation is to support the higher educational development in Lingnan region (including Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau), promoting high-quality education, academic diversity and innovation, and social services while encouraging the exchanges and cooperation between China and the United Statesin areas ofacademic information and ideologies.