Pan-Asian Student Forum

The Pan-Asian Student Forum aims to provide a platform for students from universities in Asia to meet regularly and share views on topics that impact countries in the region and around the world.

The forum was first held in Beijing in 2013 and involved Peking University (Yuanpei College), Seoul National University (College of Liberal Studies) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (S. H. Ho College). The University of Tokyo (College of Arts & Sciences) joined the second iteration of the forum held in Seoul in 2014. NUS (USP) was added to the consortium in 2015.

The 4-day forum focuses on a particular theme and involves student presentations, group discussions, field work and informal networking opportunities. Participants are divided into smaller groups to allow close-knit discussions on a particular sub-topic related to the overarching theme.

Past forums have focused on themes such as ‘The City in Asia’ and ‘Building Age‐friendly Communities in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Singapore’.

Back

 Before participating in the forum, I had a more stereotypical view of Asian countries but I soon realised these stereotypes simply do not hold in today’s world. The clashing and discussion of views, and even seeing how different countries present their topics, resulted in an interesting mashup of styles and ideas.

JEREMY JEE DE SHENG (Computer Science + USP) I was extremely surprised at how we [the participants] had so many things in common, even if we came from different backgrounds, with different perspectives or lenses. It was particularly encouraging to know there are students from other countries with similar thoughts, passions and a desire to contribute back to the societies we live in.

GLORIA PANG XIU JING (Geography + USP)