Asian University Alliance Youth Forum is a project-based program hosted annually with the key intention to empower the youth community in the region. Student representatives from the AUA member universities will gather and interact each year to address the developmental issues and to promote cultural and academic exchange. This year AUAYF is to be held on 25th – 29th November 2019 at UCSC auditorium, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka under the theme of “Wellbeing beyond health”
What is AUA?
Asian University Alliance (AUA) is an academic alliance established between 15 selected universities in the Asian region. This had been formulated in 2017 with a mission to facilitate the collaborations between member universities that will serve as a common platform to address regional and global challenges. The AUA member universities are Chulalongkorn University, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, King Saud University, the National University of Singapore, Nazarbayev University, Peking University, the Seoul National University, Tsinghua University, the United Arab Emirates University, the University of Indonesia, the University of Colombo, the University of Malaya, the University of Tokyo, and the University of Yangon. The governance body of AUA comprises of 15 chief executive members from the respective universities. The presidency institute is selected by the board, for a term of three years and the presidency is currently held by Tsinghua University. In addition, the AUA secretariat is permanently hosted by Tsinghua University The executive presidency is offered for 1-year term and executive presidency for year 2019/2020 is held by Prof. Chandrika Wijeyaratne, the Vice Chancellor of University of Colombo.
More about AUA http://www.asianuniversities.org/
AUAEM and AUAYF
Given the fact that the current executive presidency is held by Prof. Chandrika Wijeyaratne, the Vice Chancellor of University of Colombo, University of Colombo will be the host university for Asian University Alliance Youth Forum (AUAYF) and Asian University Alliance Executive Meeting (AUAEM) in 2019.
AUAEM is highly enclosed panel discussion for the vice chancellors and major academic professionals in the respective member universities where they gather and acknowledge the challenges faced in the academic and research fields and thrive to formulate joint solutions. It will be held on 21st – 22nd November at Senate hall, University of Colombo.
AUAYF is the direct student body involvement in the AUA member universities. 50 student participants are expected for the youth forum where each university is represented by 3 student ambassadors. This year main theme “Arogya Parama Laba”: Wellbeing beyond health is selected considering the exponential rise of the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Asia which pauses the greatest health threats and creates social and economic risks among the regional communities. The theme aligns with the 3rd sustainable development goal which focuses the health and wellbeing. In lining with the main theme, the forum is lined up with several surfacing sub themes as
- Unhealthy diet and nutrition
- Insufficient physical activity
- Sexual health and risky behavior
- Mental health and cyber age
- Community empowerment
- Regional policy changes to achieve wellbeing
Amidst of formal sessions and discussions organizing committee expects to have a fun filled open day at Sri Palee Campus including traditional items such as contemporary drumming, Angan pora, mask painting etc. This will serve as a magnificent opportunity for the student ambassadors to experience bit of traditional and cultural heritage of Sri Lanka.
Parallel to these two flagship events, University of Colombo will hoist their Annual Research Symposium which will showcase the ongoing research of its academia on 22nd November at New Arts Theatre under the same theme “Wellbeing beyond health”.
The clock is ticking and few more hours are left for the inauguration of the most awaited events in the AUA calendar. We hope it to become a successful gathering where participants gain the opportunity to collect life long memories in Sri Lanka.
More about AUAYF – https://auayf.cmb.ac.lk/