Malaysia has won the bid to host the 2018 Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) Asia Conference at Sunway City and Sunway University is the partner host university for the Conference which will be held in August next year.
At the heart of Southeast Asia, Sunway City has established itself as one of the best hosting destinations for this well-renowned and global-scale conference. The conference bid was led by a team of 18 HPAIR alumni working individuals and students.
“The KL HPAIR Committee is committed to deliver the best ever HPAIR Asia Conference with the support of Harvard Organising Committee and Sunway. We thank the Sunway Education Group for stepping forward with their contributions in the bidding process and providing their expertise’, said Angeline Seah, Executive Director, KL Organising Committee.
“Winning the 2018 bid is an extraordinary feat for Malaysia as the country last hosted HPAIR in 2008. Sunway Education Group is pleased to host the 2018 HPAIR Asia Conference at Sunway University and we look forward to working closely with the Harvard and the KL Organising Committee”, said Dr Elizabeth Lee, Senior Executive Director, Sunway Education Group and Sunway University.
“The Harvard Project for Asian International Relations is very excited to be returning to Malaysia for the first time in ten years. Malaysia’s cultural diversity, emphasis on education, and rapid rate of development exemplify the potential of the Asia-Pacific region in the 21st century, and provide an ideal setting for engaging and fruitful discussions during the 2018 HPAIR Asia Conference”, said Scott Xiao, Executive Director, Harvard Organising Committee.
The HPAIR, a Harvard University student-run non-profit organization established in 1991, holds two annual conferences – one in Harvard University and one in a different Asian city each year. HPAIR’s Asia Conference is a 5-day academic program encompassing panels, keynotes, workshops, and case study challenges on the most pressing issues facing the Asia-Pacific region.
Open to university students or young working professionals, HPAIR’s conferences involve a rigorous selection process and admit only the most accomplished delegates. The 2017 HPAIR Asia Conference in Sydney, Australia accepted only 600 delegates out of thousands of applicants from more than 70 countries worldwide. Past notable speakers have included Nobel Peace Prize winner, Brad Bass and former Secretary General of United Nations, the Honorable Ban Ki-moon.