Membership Review Task Force, 2017 – 2018
At the HUC Steering Group meeting held in Kathmandu in March 2017, a special task force was established, consisting of three members, Professor Ashok Gurung (Senior Director, India China Institute, The New School, New York; Steering Group member), Professor Xu Jun (Executive Chair, Himalaya Multimedia Database Project, Center for Tibetan Studies, Sichuan University; Steering Group member), and Dr Chi H Truong (Programme Coordinator, ICIMOD; HUC Secretariat Lead). The aim was to review the HUC membership policies and provide recommendations to the Steering Group.
During an exposure visit to the International Secretariat of the UArctic in Rovaniemi (Finland), July 2017, selected members of the Steering Group and the Task Force learned from the experience of the UArctic, a 185-member consortium from eight countries of almost three decades of development in service of circumpolar communities. At the Steering Group meeting in Sichuan University in Chengdu in November 2017, Professor Xu Jun presented an overview and comprehensive assessment of higher education institutions in China concerning the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. On behalf of the Membership Review Task Force, Professor Ashok Gurung presented lessons learned from the UArctic visit and recommendations. Upon the briefing by the Steering Group at the Annual Meeting, the General Assembly requested to incorporate these recommendations in the consultative process for the Strategy and Action Plan 2025.
The Strategy Drafting Committee, led by Dr Bahardar Nawab Khattak (COMSAT, Abbotabat, Steering Group Member), endorsed the recommendation of the Task Force and drafted the Bylaws. These Bylaws incorporated inputs from heads of member institutions and senior scholars and faculty members in a series of consultative meetings in New Delhi, Islamabad, Thimphu, Australia, Nay Pyi Taw, and Pokhara in 2017 and 2018.
