Rector Jun Liu attends QS APAC Summit 2025, discussing regional collaboration and talent development

 

The QS Higher Ed Summit: Asia Pacific 2025 (QS APAC Summit 2025) officially opened yesterday at Korea University (KU) in Seoul. With the theme of “Advancing Generational Potential: Skills and Partnerships in the Asia Pacific”, the three-day summit has brought together nearly 2,000 experts, scholars, government representatives and industry leaders from the higher education sector across the Asia Pacific region. Participants engaged in in-depth, multi-dimensional and forward-looking discussions on the future development of education.

 

 

Prof. Jun Liu, rector of City University of Macau (CityU), was invited to attend the President’s Roundtable, where he engaged in constructive dialogue with leaders from several international higher education institutions. The discussions focused on key issues such as the opportunities and challenges facing higher education in the new era, as well as collaborative innovation in industry-academia integration.

 

The President’s Roundtable was co-chaired by Patrick Brothers, executive director of Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), and KU President Kim Dong-one. During the session, Rector Jun Liu engaged in in-depth discussions with university leaders from institutions including the University of California, Riverside, the Polytechnic Institute of Paris, the Sunway University, the INTI International University, Széchenyi István Egyetem, Nihon University, and Tsing Hua University. The presidents shared insights from their respective institutional practices and explored common challenges currently facing higher education, such as declining birth rates, student employment pressures and the educational transformation driven by artificial intelligence.

 

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Additionally, the discussions highlighted the critical role of industry-academia collaboration in advancing technological innovation, as well as effective strategies for expanding global partnerships. Participants expressed a shared aspiration to strengthen cooperation among higher education institutions in the Asia Pacific region, aiming to provide students with richer learning experiences, jointly tackle scientific research challenges and actively respond to the evolving needs of society and the times.

 

To further advance the internationalization of higher education, CityU signed cooperation agreements with BINUS University, Virginia Commonwealth University and SEGi University during the summit. The agreements cover multiple areas of collaboration, including academic research, faculty and student exchanges and joint research projects. These partnerships lay a solid foundation for future in-depth cooperation, expand academic network and provide CityU’s faculty and students with richer and more diverse overseas learning and research opportunities, thereby further enhancing the quality of education and the scope of research and innovation.

 

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During the summit, Rector Liu met with Zhang Mengyu, a CityU’s alumna currently pursuing a master’s degree in humanities and East Asian cultural industry at KU. Zhang shared that the diverse curriculum, rich interdisciplinary resources and overseas study and internship opportunities she experienced during her undergraduate studies at CityU had laid a solid foundation for her current master’s program and significantly enhanced her cross-cultural communication skills. Rector Liu encouraged Zhang to continue advancing on her academic path, explore the ocean of knowledge with courage and strive for higher achievements.

 

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At this year’s summit, CityU set up a promotional booth, which attracted many students and scholars for inquiries. The on-site interactions were lively, with attendees not only sharing their academic experiences but also discussing their future development plans. Through this in-depth engagement, CityU further enhanced its international profile. Many students showed keen interest in international exchange and academic cooperation, and CityU representatives patiently answered their questions, providing detailed guidance and information on further studies.