The 2026 Times Higher Education (THE) Asia Universities Summit recently opened at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Held under the theme “Igniting global transformation: Asia’s leadership”, the summit explored Asia’s leadership in reshaping the global innovation landscape and charting future development directions, encouraging collaborative efforts to address pressing global challenges. The event brought together over 600 participants from across Asia and beyond, including more than 50 university presidents, policymakers, and academic and industry leaders, marking the largest edition to date. Prof. Jun Liu, rector of City University of Macau (CityU), was invited to attend the summit and participated in the closed-door Presidential Roundtable and the Country Pavilion showcase activities.
The summit was structured around three core themes: Innovate: Asia’s innovations for tomorrow; Impact: Asia’s engine of scalable solutions; and Influence: Asia’s rulebook for the future. The discussions focused on reshaping Asia’s development paradigm, covering cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, entrepreneurial momentum, and systemic solutions to climate change, public health, and urban resilience. Participants also deliberated on Asia’s growing influence in setting standards in fields such as artificial intelligence and educational innovation, and its increasingly pivotal role in steering the global innovation landscape in a transformative era. The summit aimed to showcase how universities can translate innovative ideas into impactful solutions.
Rector Liu was invited to join the closed-door Presidents’ Roundtable themed “how higher education leads the sustainable development and human empowerment of next-generation smart cities”. The session was co-moderated by Phil Baty, THE’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, and Sophia Li, THE’s Senior Regional Director for Greater China. It brought together university presidents from Sun Yat-sen University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Ningbo Eastern University of Technology, HKUST, CityU, Woosong University (South Korea), and Taejae University (South Korea) to discuss the leading role of higher education institutions in urban transformation and development. As the representative from Macao, Rector Liu highlighted the deep symbiotic relationship between universities and urban development, emphasizing that higher education institutions should actively integrate into regional innovation systems and drive social progress through academic excellence and educational practice. He shared CityU’s concrete initiatives in continuously optimizing disciplinary innovation, promoting industry-academia-research commercialization, and serving societal needs in alignment with the Macao SAR Government’s “1+4” economic diversification strategy. He further advocated that universities should lead regional transformation through collaborative innovation, foster knowledge co-creation and sustainable development across the Asia-Pacific and beyond, and achieve deep integration and mutual empowerment between higher education and urban progress.
During the regional pavilion activities, the summit featured a special focus on universities from China and India. Rector Liu was invited to present CityU’s educational philosophy, disciplinary strengths, talent cultivation models, and international collaboration programs, vividly demonstrating the University’s distinctive characteristics and exploring strategic cooperation opportunities both within and beyond Asia. In addition, CityU set up an exhibition booth to strengthen engagement and networking with attendees.
During the summit, Rector Liu gave an exclusive interview with Times Higher Education. He extended his congratulations on the 10th anniversary of the THE Asia Summit and the 35th anniversary of HKUST. He noted that in the face of the wave of challenges brought by artificial intelligence, higher education must remain steadfast in its core mission of nurturing talent. While embracing technological transformation, universities should place equal emphasis on cultivating students’ humanistic literacy, critical thinking, and innovative spirit, thereby meeting society’s expectations for future-ready talent.
