Speaking at the opening ceremony, VNU President Nguyễn Kim Sơn said that, the Rectors’ Meeting was a policy forum where education policies, strategic development plans and other topics related to education quality enhancement and education cooperation networking were proposed, discussed and acknowledged. It was the Rectors’ meeting that provided the member Universities’ Rectors with an opportunity to evaluate the current cooperative activities within the AUN as well as to plan its future cooperation and development.

The 9^th AUN Rectors’ Meeting was organized on a very special occasion when the ASEAN was reaching the momentous milestone of its 50th Anniversary. Over the past 50 years, ASEAN higher education has made significant contribution to the promoting of mutual understanding as well as regional solidarity and unity. As a member of the AUN Board of Trustees, VNU always strives to participate in the activities that contribute to the developing of the network into a high quality education community as well as the promoting of the regional prosperity.

At the meeting, AUN Executive Director Nantana Gajaseni delivered her eight-year term of office (2009–2017) report. In her report, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nantana Gajaseni presented the outstanding results of the AUN over the last eight years in such areas as AUN Quality Assurance (AUN-QA); ASEAN Credit transfer system (ACTS) to promote academic and students exchange in the region; Youth activities expansion including AUN and ASEAN+3 Educational Forum and Young Speakers Contest, AUN and ASEAN+3 Youth Cultural Forum, ASEAN Students Leaders Forum; the AUN Rectors ASEAN+3 Meeting...

Also at the meeting, the newly appointed AUN Executive Director Choltis Dhirathiti presented the updates on the new AUN Charter in line with the future directions of ASEAN before submitting it to the ASEAN Education Ministers for approval. Subsequently, the delegates discussed the plan to expand the network, expand ASEAN + 3 membership and a number of network operation and cooperation projects.

On the sidelines of this year's Conference, a forum on “Economic growth and graduate employability: the challenges in meeting the regional quality standards of AUN” was also held. The forum was designed to promote linkages and mutual understanding between universities and enterprises, thereby contributing to the improvement of the quality of university-level training to meet the increasing demand of the business.

On July 19, the AUN development strategy plan for the 2017-2021 period was presented at the Conference.