Major Conclusions and Recommendations

In our view, this Report points to clear and specific actions to carry out the AUA mission: “to jointly address regional and global challenges, specifically related to higher education and economic, scientific and technological development, by strengthening collaboration among member institutions.” In particular, we make five recommendations to enhance AUA connectivity and raise AUA's regional and global visibility and impact:

(1) Promoting AUA co-authorship in academic publications: We recommend AUA to set a top priority in promoting collaborative publication. High quality research of major impact is often found in publications with co-authors across the universities, disciplines and countries and between the academy and the industry.

(2) Developing an AUA quality assurance code in student mobility programs: We recommend that AUA members develop an AUA quality assurance code for student mobility programs. The specific goal would be to promote quality assurance and enhancement for mobility programs across AUA. The broader goal would be to obtain national, regional and global recognition of AUA quality in transnational education and contribute to higher education harmonization in the world as a thought leader and practice innovator.

(3) Promoting an active public relations campaign for AUA: We recommend AUA to engage in active public relations development to “reach out” to targeted audiences, and to “speak out” about AUA's commitment and strength as well as the achievements jointly made by two or more AUA members.

(4) Ensuring active AUA policy consultation and communication on global issues: We recommend AUA to prioritize its responsibility in making proactive public policy consultation and communication in key sustainable development issues through mobilizing multidisciplinary task forces across AUA universities. In particular, we recommend two priority areas in which Asia has huge demand and AUA has global excellence: urban and environment studies, and engineering education.

(5) Deploying a big data approach to AUA activities and relations: We recommend AUA to develop and deploy a big data approach to discover and/ or create its collective strength, and also use evidence-based decision making to coordinate its collective actions. Just as big data has transformed the way in which universities conduct and evaluate research, big data has the potential to innovate the way the universities manage activities and relations. It poses both an opportunity and a challenge to act upon AUA's collective strength through smart academic networks of scholars and experts.

Overall, with appropriate ongoing commitment and implementation, the establishment of AUA will help its members and its countries achieve new heights by making a greater contribution to society and the economy in an increasingly connected Asia. This Report aims to contribute not only to the successful beginning, but also to the meaningful future growth and impact of AUA.