The 3rd South & Southeast Asian University Presidents Forum – a series of activities from the 6th Kunming Forum on Education Cooperation in South and Southeast Asia – was held on Dec 15 in Kunming.

The 3rd President Forum, themed "Opportunities and Paths for Cooperation among China and South & Southeast Asian Universities under the New Situation" is consisted of five parts – work reports, the S&SE Asian UN New Members Initiation Ceremony, keynote speeches, roundtable dialogues, and a Mountain Focus Session.

Over 50 representatives attended the forum, including education departments of 9 South Asia Southeast Asia countries, the Himalayan University Consortium/ICIMOD, Yunnan Education Association for International Exchange , and member universities of the S&SE Asian UN. Collectively, they explored matters related to the construction of the network.

Participants agreed that the S&SE Asian UN had conducted practical work in discipline construction, academic exchanges, joint talent training, public diplomacy, and other aspects. It has demonstrated a multi-level, wide-ranging character, forging a path towards constructing a comprehensive regional higher education community with diverse themes, new ideas, new models, and new paths for the development of regional higher education.

Regarding the S&SE Asian UN as a platform and adhering to the principles of "strengthening collaboration, complementary advantages, and common development," attendees agreed to explore further and integrate high-quality resources, share experiences in internationalizing higher education, expand the scope of educational cooperation, and better serve the development of regional higher education.

Zhou Xuebin, the Secretary of the CPC Yunnan University Committee, took over as the Secretary General of the S&SE Asian UN at the Forum.

He expressed the commitment to further construct the S&SE Asian UN, and outlined four aspects to focus on – improving communication and decision-making mechanisms, promoting the sharing of disciplinary resources, facilitating the flow of intellectual resources, and fostering cross-border student exchanges.