Asian Universities Alliance

The Asian Universities Alliance (AUA) is a university alliance comprising 15 member institutions across Asia. Initiated at Tsinghua University in March 2016 and founded on 29 April 2017,  through its platform AUA aims to cooperatively address regional and global challenges relating to higher education as well as economic, scientific and technological development. The Presidency is currently held by Tsinghua University and the current Executive Presidency for 2021-2022 is Universiti Malaya. The Secretariat is permanently hosted by Tsinghua University.

Members
Sources

Governance
The Board is the governing body of the AUA and consists of the heads of member institutions. There are currently 15 Board Members i.e. the heads of the 15 AUA member institutions.

AUA Scholars Award Program
In March 2018, the AUA Scholars Award Program (AUASAP) was launched with the purpose of increasing the mobility of scholars among the AUA member universities. The Award is open to all faculty members and researchers of AUA universities. AUA provides financial support to up to 60 Scholars each year who wish to conduct short-term academic visits at another overseas AUA university. Scholars are encouraged to take this opportunity to advance research, share knowledge, conduct field study or establish international academic links in the community of AUA.

AUA Staff Exchange Program
In order to enhance communications between staff of the AUA members, AUA established the AUA Staff Exchange Program (AUASEP) in April 2018. The program provides financial support to up to 15 staff per year from an AUA member university or the Secretariat to carry out a one-week visit to another overseas AUA member or the Secretariat.

Research Collaboration
Each year, AUA supports its member institutions to hold academic conferences on topics drawn from the AUA themes. The conferences aim to bring together peer scholars from AUA member institutions to meet, share and discuss their research of a particular academic domain. AUA also supports member institutions to develop joint research initiatives as well as a document delivery service among libraries of member institutions.

Strategy and Policy
The AUA Presidents Forum (AUAPF) is held annually during the AUA Summit, university leaders congregate for high-level dialogues on the development of strategic plans, the improvement of management systems, and to address problems related to higher education. AUA also encourages developing dialogues and platforms for exchange among senior managers and staff of specific departments with the purpose of sharing best practices.