More than a hundred guests participated in the reception. Attendees were the international education leaders in higher education from 20 countries around the world. They included leaders from the Mainland's higher education institutes and participants of Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE). The reception provided a good opportunity for the guests to exchange views and administrative experiences with their counterparts and to expand future collaborative opportunity.

APAIE was found in 2004 with a goal to activate and reinforce the internationalisation of higher education in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world. CUHK is one of its 13 founding members. The 2009 APAIE conference and exhibition was held on 15-17 April in Renmin University of China. During the conference, the CUHK delegation met with potential and existing partners to develop and strengthen ties. Mr. Thomas Wu, Director of Academic Links gave a presentation on "Building an Internationalization Strategy". The Conference was well attended with about 1,000 people from hundreds of education institutes around the world.