The Atlas is a biennial event sponsored jointly by Asia Univesity and the Academy of Transdisciplinary Learning & Advanced Studies (TheATLAS). The theme for this year is the Science, Applications, and Transdisciplinary Education andaims to address the increasingly complex impacts diverse cultural backgrounds have on education today. During the conference this year, 65 multicultural researchers, practitioners, and educators from all over the world shared their experiences and thoughts emphasizing transdisciplinary, transnational and transcultural approaches for dealing with global problems. Plenary sessions and keynote panels were presented by prominent speakers.

         During the first day of the conference, the ATLAS issued the Academy Gold Medal of Honor to Barry Lam, the chairman and CEO of Quanta Computer Inc. in recognition for his accomplishments and dedication to technological innovation and education.

In his award-acceptance speech, Barry Lam urged the educators to re-think the objectives of education. He quoted the world-famous educationist Ken Robinsons idea and indicated that, as the Internet has greatly impacted the ways we learn and teach, the educators need to keep three principles in mind, that is, (1) people are different and diverse, indicating they should learn from one another; (2) human beings flourish because of curiosity which need be triggered by education; and (3) creativity is the goal of education, with which human beings capabilities can be exploited to the full. CEO Lam indicated that it is crucial for the educators to re-consider the roles of learners as the core value of education.

    Dr. Jeffrey J. P. Tsai, the president of AU, stated that the Asia University, although a comparatively young university, has endeavored to promote a transdisciplinary education in science, arts, and humanities. AU claims the 53^rd place in the current university ranking of BRICS & Emerging Economies released by the Times Higher Education (UK). In the ranking list just released in April 2014, Asia University ranks the 99th in Times Higher Education Worlds top 100 universities under 50 years old, and is the only private institution among four universities. President Tsai emphasized that AU has achieved outstanding performances in diversified fields of research and education, such as biotechnology, medical care, medical cloud computing, semi- conductor simulation technology, long-term care system, as well as art management and leisure and recreation management.