Between October 23 and 24, the 2018 Cross-Strait University Presidents Forum was held at National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU). Zhang Yuanli, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Qingdao University of Science and Technology (QUST) was invited to attend the Forum and gave a keynote speech.

At the forum, 19 university presidents from both sides of the Taiwan Straits gave presentations on the theme of the forum on innovation and entrepreneurship education. Zhang Yuanli gave a keynote speech on the topic of "Building a University with Characteristics, Strengthening the University with Talents, and Promotingits Construction of ‘Double First-rate’", and expounded profound views on how a university maintains its own characteristics of university running and carries out innovation and entrepreneurship education. His speech hadstrong resonance for the participants.

During the forum,the QUST Delegation headed byZhang Yuanli visited the relevant laboratories ofNTOU and reached an agreement on cooperation and exchange between the two universities. They also visited Chinese Culture University(PCCU)and Ming Chuan University (MCU), andmetWang Shuyin, acting president ofPCCU, and Liu Guowei, vice president of MCU. Then they met with the teachers and students from QUST who are having academic visit in the two universities.