History

The Academic Consortium 21 (AC21) was established on June 24, 2002 at the International Forum 2002 at Nagoya University, Japan under the initiative of Nagoya University's President Minoru Matsuo. The Nagoya University International Forum brought together presidents and representatives from 25 of the world's leading universities, research and educational institutions at the start of the 21st century, the dawn of a new millennium, and led to the establishment of the international Academic Consortium AC21.

The participating universities came from countries spanning the four continents Asia, Oceania, North America and Europe and ranging economically from maturely developed to developing. In spite of the common status all the participating institutions held as hubs of education and research in their respective countries, this background variety showed itself in a great diversity of character. Yet one characteristic remained that was common to all: in an era of changes, all institutions are facing demands, both internationally and locally, to transform their roles in response to social needs.

The Forum with keynote addresses and a panel discussion among representatives of the participating universities and institutions led to the emergence of a number of theme ideas of common concern: In the area of education, these included cross-cultural and international understanding; a more balanced acquisition of skills between the human and the scientific; more global standards of assessment for knowledge and employment aptitude; and the need for lifelong education. In the area of research, common concerns were the attainment of competitive levels in industrial innovation; transfer of basic technologies; promotion of collaborative international research; and the nurturing of outstanding researchers.

For concretizing and implementing ideas and particular activity plans, Nagoya University established the AC21 General Secretariat on October 15, 2002 as the head office of AC21. The permanent staff of the General Secretariat will be constantly available as a mutual support system with back-up from the AC21 website channeling information from all members.