On December 1, the Conference of Asian University Presidents (the Conference) was successfully held online. Professor Gong Ke, director of the Academic Committee of Nankai University and dean of the Institute of Ecological Civilization attended the Conference on behalf of the University.

Hosted by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), the Conference has invited 81 university presidents from 20 Asia-Pacific countries and regions including China, Australia, and South Korea to discuss over the theme the Contribution of Universities to the UN Decade of Action for Sustainable Development. Leaders from 11 Chinese universities including Tsinghua University, Nankai University, and University of Macau, etc. attended the Conference. The Conference was chaired by Jeffrey Sachs, an advocate of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and professor of economics at Columbia University. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Nadiem Makarim, minister of Education and Culture of Indonesia, delivered opening speeches.

Gong Ke introduced the practice of Nankai in promoting multi-disciplinary cooperation, inter-university cooperation (China Ecological Civilization Education Alliance), and international cooperation in sustainable development education. He called on universities to expand the coverage of sustainable development education, incorporate sustainable development into the teaching system, carry out teacher training, and improve the ability of the students to address practical problems of sustainable development.

The SDSN was launched by the UN Secretary-General in 2012 to mobilize global scientific and technological professional resources for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

(Reported by Wang Xisi, edited and translated by Nankai News Team)