From June 9-10, the WLSA Summit for Top American Universities was held at XJTU Affiliated High School. Nearly 200 participants, including delegates from 9 top American universities, WLSA and the Chinese membership schools, and schools in and out of Shaanxi, and faculty, students and their parents, gathered at Xi’an for this summit. Principal Wang Peidong of XJTU Affiliated High School addressed on the welcome ceremony.

The summit was sponsored by World Leading Schools Association (WLSA) and organized by its membership schools and XJTU Affiliated High School. The summit comprised two sessions on the evening of May 9 and on the morning of May 10.The theme of the summit is universities’ new requirements for talents and the interface of Chinese and western education to explore issues on the contemporary trend in the global educational community and talent education etc.

The summit gathered a number of American participants, including Douglas Christiansen, president of the College Board and Vice Provost of Vanderbilt University, Kelly Walter, co-president of WLSA Higher Learning Institutions Advisory Committee and vice president of Boston University, as well as vice presidents or officers of academic affairs from prestigious institutions like Northwestern University, Purdue University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Washington, University of Chicago, Southern Methodist University and Drexel University etc. On the summit, they introduced the American talent selection criteria and the related universities, providing references for the Chinese secondary educators on fostering and enhancing the students’ integrated competence as well as guidance and suggestions for students to succeed in the international education system. The summit also engaged participating students, parents and faculty in positive interactions with the American participants.

The successful organization of the summit created a platform for strengthening communication and cooperation on Sino-western education, promoting the Chinese basic education’s interface to the international higher education community, exploring educational reforms and fostering further development.