The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) organized the "2017 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau-Hainan Forum for Academic Exchange Heads" on March 14 in CUHK. Guests officiating at the opening ceremony included Mr. Wang Zhiwei, Deputy Director of the Office for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Affairs of the State Ministry of Education; Mr. Zhang Zongming, Deputy Inspector of the Education, Science and Technology Department, Liaison Office of The Central People's Government in the HKSAR; Mr. Li Jinjun, Director of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Office of the Education Department of Guangdong Province; Mr. Zhang Chao, Director of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Office of the Education Department of Hainan Province; and Prof. Wong Suk-ying, Associate Vice-President of CUHK.

A total of 80 participants attended the forum, which included representatives from 56 institutes from the four regions: nine from Hong Kong, 39 from Guangdong, two from Macau and six from Hainan province.  The theme of the forum this year was "Grasping the national and regional opportunities to enhance collaboration in higher education in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau and Hainan". Participating representatives exchanged ideas on the recent developments of internationalization, and explored opportunities and challenges arising from the Belt and Road Initiative, particularly in areas of scientific research, building up of think tanks, nurturing talents and student interflow programmes.  The forum provided valuable opportunity for participants to acquire knowledge of the updated developments in the four regions and to establish stronger links for future cooperation.