The welcome performance by students of USSH.

The 3^rd General Assembly gathered representatives from 25 countries, including Heads of 80 Universities in the Network. On behalf of the host, Prof. Vo Van Sen – President, and Dr. Ngo Thi Phuong Lan – Vice-President of USSH welcomed delegates to the meeting.

Prof. Vo Van Sen welcomed Heads of participating Universities to attend SUN 2017 meeting.

On behalf of SUN’s President, Prof. Sang Yeop Yoo delivered opening remarks to all participating universities at The 3^rd General Assembly. Following that, Prof. Vo Van Sen, on behalf of USSH, sincerely welcomed all delegates from the consortium of universities attending the meeting as well as workshops and student cultural exchange activities. As the theme “Beauty of Diversity in Harmony along the Silk-road”, Prof. Vo Van Sen expressed that the 3^rd General Assembly will be the opportunities for scholars, researchers to exchange knowledge and enhance the mutual understandings between diverse cultures of nations along the silk-road network. The theme also goes along with long-term goals of SUN as well as USSH, which aims to train students to respect the diversity of different cultures and to work towards the peace and prosperity for the regions.

 Dr. Sungdon Hwang - Secretary General of SUN officiated the meeting of 200 Committee Members at the 3^rd General Assembly in Ho Chi Minh City. On behalf of SUN, Dr. Sungdon Hwang sent this sincere appreciation to USSH, Prof. Vo Van Sen, staff and students for their great support, well-organized facilitation and high-esteem hospitality.

Dr. Sungdon Hwang - Secretary General of SUN officiated the meeting.

Prof. Michele Buglisei from Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italy) presented SUN agenda for 2018 in Italy.

Heads of Participating Universities took group photo to celebrate the successful meeting.

The working session of Heads of Participating Universities discussed about proposing the upcoming agendas focusing cultural, academic and sport exchanges activities for lecturers and students of member universities. 

At the meeting, the General Assembly approved some principal contents of a project proposed by from Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italy). Dr. Michele Buglisei presented Ca' Foscari University’s year 2018 proposal for organizing programs for cultural exchange activities, cooperation for scientific and technology as well as climate change and sustainable development in Italy. The discussions covered various topics, including sociology, anthropology, architectonics, cultural and architectural heritage conservation, and upcoming activities for students at Venice next year.

The participants also agreed to Prof. Sungdon Hwang’s suggestion to assign a professional staff who will be responsible for organizing SUN activities.

The primary purpose of SUN is to build a Silk-road community with mutual understanding, pursing peace and collective prosperity, security in the regions. The community aims to co-exist in harmony, to share the common values and prospect in the world’s security and peace.

On this occasion, SUN organized series of events at HCMC from November 8^th to11^th, including the Annual Conference and General Assembly of IASS and Silk Road Cultural Festival for Students on November 10^th, Gyeongju Cultural Expo 2017 on November 11^th, and Mekong Culture Tour on November 11^th.

Key notes on SUN’s missions:

Silk-road Universities Network (SUN) aims to (1) foster cross-countries exchange of ideas culminating into comprehensive understanding in cultures of Eurasian; (2) to build international brand for Gyeongju Cultural Expo through cultural exchange activities of countries along Silk-road network; (3) to create a forum for multi-countries cooperation to optimize effectiveness of exchange programs; (4) to build a Cyber University with shared training programs for SUN member universities, including multi-cultural, multi-language courses and cross-boundaries research. With this model, member universities may share and approach various resources for learning; (5) to develop Silk-road Network broader to a global network, which engages more universities from other regions.

Viet Thanh