The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) hosted the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau University Alliance Annual Meeting and Presidents Forum on 6 June at CUHK Shenzhen Research Institute.  The meeting brought about 100 delegates comprising university leaders and government officials to assess the development of the Alliance.  Discussions were held to explore ways of further collaboration among the members.

Officiating guests joining the opening ceremony included Dr. Tan Tieniu, Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR; Mr. Wang Weizhong, Party Secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Government; Mr. Zhao Lingshan, Deputy Director of the Office for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Affairs, Ministry of Education; Mr. Pu Hailong, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Education, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macau Special Administrative Region; Mr. Eddie Ng, Secretary for Education in the HKSAR; Mr. Xing Feng, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Education of Guangdong Province; Mr. Zeng Guanxiong, Deputy Director of the Supplementary Office of Higher Education in the Macau Special Administrative Region; and Ms. Ye Weiyuan, Deputy Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of Guangdong Provincial Government, who expressed their support and commitment to the Alliance. During the Annual Meeting, a collaboration agreement on Library Alliance among the member universities was also signed, which aims to promote collaboration and resource sharing among the university libraries in the three regions.

In his keynote speech at the meeting, Dr. Tan Tieniu gave a brief on the future developments of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Big Bay Area.  He hoped that the growth of the Alliance would bolster the regions' influence to bring about significant advances in cooperation, believing that GHM (Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau) will achieve Greater Human Mobility.  Prof. Luo Jun, Chair of the Executive Board of the Alliance and President of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), pointed out that the alliance member institutions bear the important responsibility to serve the needs in the regions under the current national Belt and Road and Big Bay Area Initiatives.

In the Presidents Forum, presidents of the member universities discussed the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Big Bay Area plan for higher education.  Prof. Sung remarked, 'The changes and initiatives in the region have provided us with unprecedented opportunities for research and education development.  The Alliance brings our members together for strategic partnership by drawing on our complementary strengths.'

Established in November 2016 and initiated by CUHK together with SYSU and the University of Macau (UM), the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau University Alliance is a higher education platform which aspires to extend the current efforts of elite universities in promoting academic cooperation in the three regions.  The partnership fosters collaboration in various areas including scientific research, student interflow, cultural and innovation exchange as well as policy study.  Members of the Alliance include ten universities from the Guangdong Province, nine universities from Hong Kong, as well as seven institutions from Macau.