QS Asia Pacific Professional Leaders in Education Conference - QS-APPLE - took yet another giant step forward with its fourth annual appearance, which took place on the impressive Seoul Sinchon campus of Yonsei University, 9 - 11 July 2008. A record participation of 620 from 42 countries applauded an even more vibrant and stimulating speaking programme which was chaired, for the first time and with an immediate upward impact on standards, by Professor Nigel Healey, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) and Dean of its College of Business and Economics. Nigel dynamically led the formation of the speaking programme, blending his EAIE Conference organising experience with his strong intellectual and leadership skills and his deep understanding of cultural issues. Interviewed after the Conference, Professor Healey said: "The Academic Conference Committee and I passionately believe in the mission of QS-APPLE which is to help build world-class universities for Asia-Pacific communities through global partnership and collaboration. We are delighted that the fourth annual conference was so successful, bringing together over 600 university presidents, academics and administrators to share knowledge and best practice." “Seeing like-minded people, from throughout Asia and beyond" Mandy Mok, QS-APPLE co-founder and Asia Regional Director for QS, sums up the vital networking aspects of 4th QS-APPLE: "The most heart-warming part of organising QS-APPLE is seeing like-minded people, from throughout Asia and beyond, sharing their challenges and their experiences in the internationalisation of their institutions. Over the few years of our existence, many new bonds of partnership have been formed as a result of meetings in QS-APPLE's sessions, at its exhibition, on its conference buses and at its social events. This year in Seoul, we felt a tremendous uplift in networking spirit, inspired by the careful planning and continuous innovation of the QS team, the Academic Conference Committee and our dynamic host, Yonsei University". 2008 has seen a number of important developments for QS-APPLE: The decision has been made to change the calendar slot for QS-APPLE from early July to November. This will enable northern hemisphere participants to attend without impacting on their summer vacations and will coincide with the peak travel season for international educators. This move should help accelerate QS-APPLE attendance to the 1,000 mark within two years. World University Rankings Workshop was successfully held A Times Higher-QS World University Rankings Workshop was successfully held as a self-contained whole-day event on Tuesday 8 July, before the main conference. Eight-five senior university officers, including presidents, vice-presidents, vice-chancellors and other strategists, registered specially to hear the Rankings experts and some key partners describe, in considerable depth, developments and important processes in the most important global evaluation of universities. This dedicated event will be repeated on 24 November 2009 in Kuala Lumpur. Increased participation by the vocational and technical education sector (VET) was met with approval by the many delegates who acknowledge the importance of the teaching and learning of such skills alongside the traditional academic values in degree programmes. VET content will be brought into more sessions in future QS-APPLE speaking programmes. The QS-APPLE Creative Awards were introduced to help stimulate best practice in Asian universities' external communications. Four categories - website, corporate video, student recruitment brochure, and print advertisement were judged by conference delegates and the top three in each received an award during the closing plenary from Peter Cunningham, director of UK international education marketing specialist, Footprint. Many Asian institutions are waking up to the need for clear, modern and well-branded presentation of their courses, their history, their philosophy and their facilities. The QS-APPLE Creative Awards have already made a contribution to improvement in this area and will continue to do so in future conferences. Quality and global comparabilty are key motivators Tony Martin, QS-APPLE Co-founder and QS Director for Universities, adds, "Internationalisation of Asian higher education is moving forward at break-neck speed. Quality and global comparabilty are key motivators in the bid by many universities to advance from their current status as good local higher education providers and to become world class institutions competing. It is gratifying to see QS-APPLE provide the platform for the debate that is helping to 'raise the bar' of higher education standards in Asia for the ultimate benefit of both students and institutions." The 5th QS APPLE will take place at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre 25 - 27 November 2009,co-hosted by University of Malaya and by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The 6th QS-APPLE wil take place in Bangkok in November 2010, locally hosted by Mahidol University Thailand. Courtesy of www.qsapple.com