Dr. Peter P. Laurel is the new President of the Association of Universities of Asia and the Pacific (AUAP)
Lyceum of the Philippines – Davao President, Dr. Peter P. Laurel, took his oath as the new President of Association of Universities of Asia and the Pacific (AUAP) on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 during the 14th AUAP General Conference—becoming the 16th President of the said organization.
Dr. Laurel took his oath before the Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, Dr. J. Prospero De Vera III. In a Facebook livestream hosted by Lyceum of the Philippines University Batangas, Dr. Peter P. Laurel emphasized that AUAP has been a voice of unity and cooperation among higher education institution in the Asia and the Pacific region and beyond.
“It is my hope that during this two-year term, we will be able to make that voice more heard and that we continue to become an even more dynamic organization,” Dr. Laurel said during his inaugural speech.
One of the major thrusts for his tenure as the AUAP President, as Dr. Peter Laurel briefly shared, is to make AUAP a stronger platform for interaction and collaboration among members especially now in the time of pandemic and beyond the post-COVID-19 pandemic.
“Today, I reach out to our members to be more active. I reach out to the non-members to be part of the growing AUAP family. We have a huge talent pool and rich reservoir of talents, best practices that we have to unleash in our organization as we thrive in a post-COVID-19 environment,” he further expressed.
Dr. Peter P. Laurel is the second Filipino to be elected as President in the history of AUAP.
With the theme “Redefining the Future of HEIs”, the 14th AUAP General Conference was attended with over 300 participants from 15 countries which aimed to highlight and amplify the importance of research in the higher education institutions in the Asia and the Pacific region. This year also marks the silver founding anniversary or 25th anniversary of AUAP.
The Association of the Universities of Asia and the Pacific (AUAP) is a non-governmental organization (NGO), holding the highest formal consultative status with UNESCO. Its primary purpose is to be the main platform for interaction and collaboration between members, and to be the effective voice of universities in Asia and the Pacific region.