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26 Apr 2023

Himalayan University Consortium Steering Committee meeting 2023

published date
Date
26 April 2023
Contact
Contact
Chi Huyen Truong (Shachi)
Venue
Venue
Lanzhou, China
Background

The Steering Committee is the Himalayan University Consortium’s (HUC) highest governing body. The committee’s meetings set the course of action for the consortium for the calendar year and track the progress of the implementation of HUC Strategy 2018–2025.

The 2023 meeting is critical for the committee to receive updates on ICIMOD’s Medium-Term Action Plan V (2023–2026) and the independent review commissioned by ICIMOD of its networks, including HUC. Apart from members’ business agenda items, the HUC Steering Committee will deliberate possible pathways for the sustainability of the consortium from 2025 onwards. This meeting will amplify across the HUC community the consortium’s vibrance and increased ownership.

The committee met in New Delhi in 2016, Canberra in 2017, and New York City in 2018. Following the key principle of HUC operation, all of the consortium’s activities will only take place on a resource-sharing basis. Lanzhou University has offered to host this Steering Committee meeting in April 2023, in conjunction with the International Forum of the Belt and Road University Alliance. 

 

Objectives
  • HUC Steering Committee members will provide updates on the state of higher education for sustainability and the HUC Country Chapter formation process in their home country and post-COVID 19 challenges and opportunities for education for sustainable development
  • The HUC Secretariat will provide updates on the consortium’s collaborative capacity building, research, and publication
  • ICIMOD will provide updates on its Medium-Term Action Plan V (2023–2026) and the independent review it has commissioned of its networks
  • The Steering Committee will discuss major directions for the remaining two years of the HUC Strategy 2018–2025 and the pathway towards HUC’s sustainability from 2025 onwards

 

Proposed agenda

All timings are in China Standard Time (CST). 

Time Programme
18:30–20:00 Welcome dinner

Chair: Pema Gyamtsho, Director General, ICIMOD
Rapporteur: Achala Sharma, Programme Associate, ICIMOD

All timings are in China Standard Time (CST). 

Time Programme
08:00 Bus departing for Lanzhou University
08:30–09:00 Registration
09:00–10:30 Member business session I – Reports and updates Facilitator: Chi H Truong (Shachi), HUC Secretariat Lead
  • Approval of the proposed agenda
  • Approval of summary and key decisions of the online Steering Committee meeting of 13 July 2022
  • Introduction of Steering Committee members and updates on education for sustainable development in Hindu Kush Himalaya countries, the Western hemisphere, and the Asia Pacific (3 min each)
  • ICIMOD’s Medium-Term Action Plan V and the roles of networks – Pema Gyamtsho, ICIMOD
  • Report on HUC activities between July 2022 and April 2023 – Chi H Truong (Shachi), HUC
  • Review of HUC membership applications – Achala Sharma, ICIMOD
  • Consolidate HUC Steering Committee governance
Parallel sessions
  • The development of higher education in Afghanistan – Mohammad Shafi Sharifi, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Kabul University, Afghanistan
  • Climate change adaptation and the role of mountain universities in the HKH region: A case study of Karakoram International University – Attaullah Shah, Vice Chancellor, Karakoram International University, Pakistan
  • About the University of Forestry and Environmental Sciences – Rosy Ne Win, Pro-Rector, University of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Myanmar
10:30–11:00 Tea break and group picture
11:00–12:00 Member business session II – HUC’s sustainability Session chair: Rosalind Cornforth, Director, The Walker Institute, UK
  • Discussion on the final two years of HUC Strategy 2018–2025
  • Membership structure, extension of membership, quality of membership, membership fees, and other forms of members’ contribution
  • Review of the ICIMOD Mountain Chair Programme
12:00–13:30 Lunch break
13:30–14:30 Member business session III and Closing Session chair: Tri Ratna Bajracharya, Professor – Renewable Energy Applications and Development, IoE Pulchowk, Tribhuvan University
  Steering Committee members continue to deliberate on issues of HUC sustainability:
  • Resource mobilisation
  • Hosting of the Secretariat
  • Pathways for 2025–2030
Summary of key decisions and action points – Nidup Dorji, Vice Chancellor, Royal University of Bhutan Concluding remarks – Pema Gyamtsho, ICIMOD Vote of thanks – Xu Jun, Executive Chair, Himalaya Multimedia Database Project, Cambridge Rivers Project Station, Sichuan University End of formal HUC Steering Committee meeting
14:30–14:30 Tea break
15:00–16:30 Open interaction with Departments of Science and Technology and Education, Gansu and Qinghai Provinces
  • Short talk by Pema Gyamtsho, ICIMOD
  • Short talk by Rosalind Cornforth, The Walker Institute
Facilitator: Long Ruijun, Lanzhou University
17:00-17:30
  • Official meeting between the Director General, ICIMOD and the President, Lanzhou University President
  • MoU signing between ICIMOD and Lanzhou University
  • Conferring the Title of Guest Professor to Pema Gyamtsho
  • Inaugural of the Northwest Office of the China -ICIMOD Committee
Group photo
17:30–18:00
  • Official meeting between the four Vice Chancellors from Kenya and Pakistan with the President, Lanzhou University
  • MoU signing ceremony between Lanzhou University and Universities from Kenya and Pakistan
Group photo
18:30-20:00 Reception dinner

 

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