On Oct. 20, Southwest Jiaotong University was elected Vice-chair of the 1^st Session of the Alliance of China-Thailand Universities (ACTU) at the Forum on Higher Education Development in China and Thailand & ACTU Inaugural Conference held in Kunming. Focusing on “Innovating Models of Curriculum Collaboration in Higher Education”, the Conference was sponsored by the Department of Education of Yunnan Provincial Government and hosted by Kunming University of Science and Technology in collaboration with East and West International Education. Du Kewei, Director-General of China Center for International People-to-People Exchange, Ministry of Education of China, attended the opening ceremony and presented the welcome speech. Yao Faming, vice president of Southwest Jiaotong University, delivered a keynote speech entitled “Thoughts on Enhancing China-Thailand Educational Exchange with World Class Practices of International Education Cooperation as a Benchmark”. The presidents of universities such as Chiang Mai University and Siam University of Thailand, Jiangsu University, Kunming University of Science and Technology shared the latest progress on China-Thailand education cooperation with their counterparts and representatives from over 170 Chinese and Thai universities.

ACTU aims at building a platform for China-Thailand Higher Education Cooperation and promoting the cooperation among its members in areas such as inter-university exchanges, personnel training, scientific research cooperation, cultural communication, policy research and education services so as to enhance mutual understanding and strengthen ties for the common prosperity and development of the two countries.