What did our participation in one of the biggest conferences on the internationalisation of higher education bring?
APAIE 2026 took place in Hong Kong and brought UCM new partnerships and negotiations with the tech giant.
The Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE 2026) event was held in Hong Kong on February 24-26. Andrea Čajková, Vice Rector for International Relations, and Andrej Brník, Vice Rector for Development and Public Relations, attended the conference on behalf of our alma mater.
Cooperation with top universities
During a series of bilateral negotiations, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed with CGC University Mohali in India. This Indian university is one of the dynamically growing institutions. In international rankings, it ranks around 575th, placing it among the top 600 universities in the world. "The new agreement opens up space for student and faculty exchanges, joint scientific and research projects or the preparation of double degree programmes," explains Andrej Brník.
According to UCM officials, this is an important step in the strategy of strengthening ties with the Asian region, which the university sees as one of the priorities of its international development.
The negotiations should also result in the signing of a memorandum of cooperation with INTI International University in Malaysia, which is one of the dynamically developing Asian universities. It is ranked 509th in the QS World University Rankings 2026 and 170th in the QS Asia Rankings 2025. The university is also strongly connected to the practice as it collaborates with more than 1,000 practice partners in Malaysia and abroad.
"This makes it an important partner for UCM, especially in the areas of research, knowledge transfer to practice and creating new opportunities for students," said Vice-Chancellor Cajkova. She also added that they are also preparing memorandums with other institutions.
Negotiations also at the headquarters of Huawei
The Slovak delegation's programme also included a visit to Huawei's headquarters in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. In addition to representatives of UCM, the delegation included representatives of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic and other Slovak universities.
The technology company presented its solutions in the field of digitalization, communication technologies and research. It was an opportunity for university representatives to discuss the possibilities of linking the academic environment with practice.
UCM focused on the West
During the conference, UCM representatives also had a series of working meetings with partners from universities from different parts of the world. Discussions were held with representatives of institutions from Europe, Asia, Australia and America, such as the University of California, Berkeley (USA), Waseda University (Japan), RWTH Aachen University (Germany), University of Waikato (New Zealand), Deakin University (Australia), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy), University of Twente (Netherlands) and Universidad de Monterrey (Mexico). Discussions focused in particular on the possibilities of new partnerships, the development of student and staff mobility and the expansion of the University's international cooperation.
Asia as a strategic region
According to the UCM management, participation in APAIE 2026 brought dozens of new contacts and concrete outcomes. In addition to the signed memorandum, it also confirmed the growing interest in cooperation between Slovak and Asian universities.
"The Hong Kong conference was thus not only about networking, but also about concrete steps that can strengthen UCM's international position in the coming years, especially towards India and the wider Asia-Pacific area," Brník concludes.
Photo: Min Edu SR and HUAWEI
