Dialogues on Asian Universities is an independent platform for university leaders, policymakers, industry partners, and researchers worldwide to understand the historic rise of Asian higher education and its wide-ranging impacts.

Dialogues on
Asian Universities.

In the context of global education reform, it is imperative to engage critically with the experiences and trajectories of Asian higher education. By creating space for dialogue, analysis, and collaboration, we aim to foreground Asian perspectives and contribute meaningfully to the evolving discourse on the future of universities.

Featured institutions

DAU Participants

Meet our co-founder

Da Hsuan Feng

Former Vice President for Research
University of Texas at Dallas

Former Senior Vice President
National Tsing Hua University

The genesis of DAU arose serendipitously. In 2020, I read a fascinating book on higher education written by Tony Chan about his experiences as the president of HKUST. The book struck a chord with me, especially about the robust intellectual growth of Asian higher education. I started an email thread on this topic with Tony and my other good friend, Tan Eng Chye, the President of National University of Singapore. Our conversation quickly evolved into an exciting idea to build an international platform to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Asian higher education. Since we felt it is important to have the younger generation perspective, I pulled in my friend Max Lu from Bloomberg, now at Harvard University. With the four of us having different perspectives of Asian higher education, DAU was born!

Meet our co-founder

Max Lu

Doctoral Student

Harvard University

Technology Fellow
USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP)

When Da Hsuan, Tony, and Eng Chye invited me to join DAU, I knew it was an opportunity of a lifetime. Higher education holds the key to many challenges in our society. For me, beyond ensuring high-quality operations and potential growth for DAU, I aim to incorporate the perspectives of younger generations into the conversation, without which the dialogues would be incomplete.

Tan Eng Chye

President
National University of Singapore
Immediate Former Chair
Universitas 21

It started as a casual exchange between Da Hsuan and Tony, both long-time friends of mine. We are cognizant of the interest in the development of Asian universities, in parallel with the global shift of economics towards Asia. We thought sharing ideas and practices through a platform would be useful, especially when covid had restricted face-to-face interactions. Hence, the DAU, which grew very quickly. It's been fulfilling working with Da Hsuan, Tony, Max, and his wonderful team. We hope this platform will be of benefit to many universities working hard towards excellence.

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Meet the Team Behind DAU

DAU is driven by a talented and committed team working across design, content, communications, and strategy. Their creativity and insight shape how we connect with our global community and elevate critical conversations in Asian higher education. We’re proud of the work they do—and always excited to welcome new contributors who share our vision.

Meet our co-founder

Tony F Chan

President
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Former President
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Over the past few years, Da Hsuan and I have been exchanging articles we wrote on higher education and other topics. In one of the exchanges that our good friend Eng Chye also joined, we shared our concern that the evolution of Asian higher education had not been properly discussed on a global platform. This idea evolved into DAU. In fact, the first DAU started as an "internal affair" with Da Hsuan interviewing Eng Chye and me. Through Da Hsuan, we are fortunate to bring in Max, whose contribution goes beyond providing technical support but also, more importantly, giving his perspective as a next generation.