University Alliance of the Silk Road

The University Alliance of the Silk Road (UASR) is an academic arm to the People's Republic of China's One Belt, One Road foreign policy initiative. The UASR is a non-profit university alliance based at Xi'an Jiaotong University, a C9 League university in Western China. The mission of the UASR is to build educational collaboration and promote economic growth in countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt.

History
The UASR was founded in 2015 with approximately 100 universities from 22 countries. It currently includes 132 universities across 32 countries and regions on 5 continents. The program has become a central part of the 2016 plan of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China for educational development along the Belt and Road region via student exchange and joint research.

Scope
The UASR was charged with supporting training, research, policy, cross-cultural understanding, and medical service. The UASR includes an international alliance of law schools, which Xi'an Jiaotong president Wang Shuguo notes aims "to promote the exchanges of law among the alliance member countries and focus on legal consensus, in order to serve the Belt and Road development with legal spirit and legal culture." In addition, the UASR sponsors international cultural events including the UASR Educational Exhibition and Cultural Festival.

Members
Notable member universities include the following:

Physical location
The UASR is headquartered in the Xi'an Jiaotong University's China Western Science and Technology Innovation Harbor, with space designed to promote collaborations with partner universities in university-level exchanges, talent education, and scientific research, and of building international think-tanks.