The first 2015 ASAIHL Conference was recently hosted in the historical city of Isfahan by the Islamic Azad University (IAU), Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch.
The Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning (ASAIHL) was founded in 1956 as a non-governmental organization at a meeting of the heads of eight state universities in Southeast Asia in Bangkok. IAU along with 196 other universities from 22 countries is a member of ASAIHL.
Director of the organizing committee, Dr. Javad Angaji, told IRNA that around 100 deans and deputies of universities in addition to 20 diplomats from China, Korea, Singapore, France, Belgium, and the UK attended the conference.
ASAIHL’s objective is to assist member institutions through “mutual self-help” and help achieve international distinction in teaching, research and public service. It serves as a clearing-house of information providing regular opportunities for discussion of academic and general university development, and seeks to assists member institutions in recruitment and placement of faculty and staff, professors and student exchange programs, and cooperation in specific projects.
ASAIHL also provides advisory services, strengthens ties between regional and international bodies and keeps member institutions updated.
The Isfahan conference aimed to create a forum to foster closer collaboration in education and research among member universities, and engage national industry and organizations in member states to develop transnational knowledge and partnership with emphasis on providing students with career and business opportunities on a global scale.
The theme of the conference was “International and Regional Collaboration in Research, Curriculum and Student Experience.”
The IAU is one of the largest universities in the world with more than 400 teaching campuses and research centers in Iran and 4 campuses abroad. It offers a wide range of undergraduate, master and PhD programs at its multiple campuses in medicine, engineering, sciences, agriculture, social sciences, arts and humanities. IAU was established in 1982 and currently has around 1.7 million students and over 5 million alumni.
