Cross-border Education in ASEAN Countries

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Cross-border Education in ASEAN Countries
7th CRISU-CUPT Conference Challenges of ASEAN
Higher Education in Globalized World

• Dr. Libing Wang
• APEID Coordinator Senior Programme Specialist
  in Higher Education
• UNESCO Bangkok

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Contents

• Trends of Regional Integration
• Education Harmonization in ASEAN Countries
• Cross-border Higher Education
• UNESCOs Work
• Concluding Remarks

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Part 1

• Trends of Regional Integration

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1.1 Regional Integration for Peace and Development

• Regional integration (RI) is the high level of
  international cooperation, covering all aspects
  of social life, including education
• Lessons from the two World Wars suggest that war
  comes from clear separation and narrow conception
  of nation state and exclusive pursuit of the
  so-called national interests
• RI is an important way to achieve peace and
  development in a region

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1.2 Story of European Integration

• The integration process in Europe started with
  the establishment of three supranational
  institutions
• - European Coal and Steel Community
  (1951-2002)
• - European Economic Community (1958-)
• - European Atomic Energy Community (1958-)
• Make war not only unthinkable but materially
  impossible - Robert Shuman, ECSC advocator and
  then French Foreign Minister

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European Integration (Contd)
Source Wiki ????
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European Integration (Contd)

• RI is a multi-facet process with harmonization in
  different social and economic aspects
  supplementing each other to achieve the overall
  goal of peace and development
• Integration and harmonization should be based on
  consensus among member states, and should not be
  at the expenses of national traditions and
  identities

Unity within diversity
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1.3 Emerging ASEAN Integration

• Aims of ASEAN
• - Accelerating economic growth, social
  progress, cultural development among its members
• - Protecting regional peace and stability
• - Providing opportunities for member
  countries to discuss differences peacefully

Source
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Emerging ASEAN Integration (Contd)

• Bali Summit (1976), economic corporation
• The Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT,
  1992), ASEAN Free Trade Area
• Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone Treaty
  (1995)
• Agreements and partnerships in environment,
  democracy, investment, and trade in services
• ASEAN Charter (2008) with the aim of moving
  closer to an EU-style Community
• ASEAN Community by 2015. Three pillars including
  AEC, APSC, and ASCC

Source
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4. Implications for HE

• More active roles of education/HE as grounds of
  economic integrations
• Education as a determinant of human development
• HE as one of possible ways to facilitate mutual
  understanding and/or to nurture next generations
  with regional identity, etc.

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Part 2

• Educational Harmonization
• in ASEAN Countries

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2-1 Efforts towards Intl Cooperation in ASEAN
and beyond

• Discussion at ASEAN Education Ministers Meetings
• At the1st Meeting in 2006 building of ASEAN
  social and cultural community awareness and
  education quality for national development were
  discussed
• At the 2nd Meeting in 2007 discussed the
  fostering of ASEAN citizens, the importance of
  cultivating ASEAN identity and education, the
  continuation of the ASEAN Student Exchange
  Programme, the formation of high school networks
  on science and math, educational cooperation with
  participating nations of the East Asian Summit,
  cooperation with SEAMEO, fortifications of the
  AUN and the promotion of ASEANness among
  students

Source Miki Sugimura (2012), Possibility of East
Asian integration through the regional networks
and universities cooperation in higher education
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ASEAN ED Ministers Meeting and Other Regional
Networks

• ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting (Contd)
• At 3rd meeting in 2008 agreement was reached on
  progressing regional networks in HE, further
  strengthening the relationships between ASEAN and
  SEAMEO

• Multi-layered nature of regional networks
• e.g. ASEAN, SEAMEO RIHED, AUN (ASEAN University
  Network) and AUN SEED-Net, etc.
• Mutually intimate and overlapping networks
  supporting regional cooperation

Source Miki Sugimura (2012)
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Activities of Regional Networks in the Field of
HE in ASEAN and Beyond

• Regional education harmonization tools

Student Exchange Programs
M-I-T Program (AIMS) and other exchange programs
Credit Transfer System
ASEAN Credit Transfer System (ACTS), UCTS, etc.
Quality Assurance Guidelines
AUN-AQ Guideline, UNESCO-APQN Toolkit Regulating
the Quality of Cross-border Education, etc.
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ASEAN Framework Agreement on Trade in Services
(AFAS)

• AFAS adopted in Bangkok in 1995, resulting in
  commitments in service sectors liberalization
  after 6 rounds of negotiations

Limitation on market access Cross-border supply Consumption abroad Commercial presence Presence of natural persons
Cambodia None None None Unbound, except as indicated in the horizontal section
Myanmar None None As indicated in the horizontal commitments As indicated in the horizontal commitments
Brunei None None Only through a joint venture with foreign equity not exceeding 49 Unbound, except as indicated in the horizontal section
Indonesia None None As indicated in the horizontal commitments Unbound, except as indicated in the horizontal section
Lao PDR None None As indicated in the horizontal commitments Unbound, except as indicated in the horizontal section
Thailand None None At least half of its director(s), and if applicable its managing director, must be the person of Thai nationality Unbound
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Part 3

• Cross-border Higher Education

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3.1 Internationalization of HE Student Mobility
in the World

• Number of Tertiary Students studying abroad in
  1999 and 2007

Source UNESCO-UIS (2009), Global Education
Digest 2009
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Student Mobility in the Asia-Pacific
Major 15 sending countries account for 44 of
the worlds mobile students Largest outflow
China(421K), India(153K) and Korea(105K)
Source UNESCO-UIS (2009), Global Education
Digest 2009
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Flowing out more than flowing in
Region of origin, 1977 and 2007 and distribution
of the destination of mobile students by their
region
Share of mobile students Studying within their
region of origin
Share of mobile students Studying outside their
region of origin
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Increasing Mobile Students within the Region
Source UNESCO-UIS (2009), Global Education
Digest 2009
Composition of study destination by students
region of origin, 2007
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Students flow in 1997 and 2007 Between ASEAN,
China, Japan and Korea
Source Kazuo Kuroda (2010)
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3.2 Programme Mobility in the AP

• Franchise
• e.g. London External Degrees in many countries,
  Stanford Executive MBA in Singapore
• Twinning
• e.g. 21 Programme in many of the private
  colleges in Malaysia and 22 Programme in Korea
• Double or joint degrees
• e.g. many MBA degrees in private universities in
  Malaysia
• E-learning or distance learning
• e.g. U21 Global by Universitas 21

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3.3 Provider/Institution Mobility in the AP

• Branch campuses
• Provider in country A establishes a satellite
  campus in country B to deliver courses and
  programs to mainly local students in country B /
  qualification awarded is from provider in country
  A
• E.g. Monash University in Malaysia, RMIT
  University in Vietnam, Nottingham University in
  China
• Independent institution
• Foreign provider A (a traditional university, a
  network or commercial company) establishes in
  country B a stand-alone HEI to offer courses/
  programmes and awards
• E.g. Bright University in Cambodia

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3.4. Challenges

• Very diverse education systems in this region
• How to harmonize different systems not
  compromising diversity?
• Lack of trust and/or information-sharing among
  countries and institutions
• How to promote information-sharing and to build
  trust by establishing QA systems and other
  recognition tools?
• Students tend to destine to English-speaking/weste
  rn countries. Not so many interested in further
  studying within this region though this trend is
  changing slowly
• How to facilitate mobility within ASEAN
  countries?

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Part 4

• UNESCOs Work

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UNESCOs Work

• Standards Setting
• UNESCO-OECD guideline on the provision of CBE
• Convention on the recognition of HE
  qualifications
• Capacity Building
• Workshops to raise awareness of Regional
  Convention etc.
• Clearing house Filling the knowledge gap
• ERI-net (Educational Research Institute
  Networking in the AP) established by UNESCO BKK
  in 2009
• International cooperation

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Standards Setting in Cross-border HE
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• UNESCO-OECD Guidelines on Quality Provision of
  Cross-border Education (2005)
• Voluntary and non-binding document
• Guidelines for governments, HE institutions,
  student bodies, quality assurance and
  accreditation bodies, and academic recognition
  bodies

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Standards Setting (Contd)
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• UNESCO-APQN Toolkit Regulating the Quality of
  Cross-border Education (2006)
• UNESCO Bangkok cooperated with Asia-Pacific
  Quality Network (APQN) to support the
  implementation of UNESCO/OECD guidelines
• A reference tool to assist governments and policy
  makers in the development of regulatory
  frameworks for quality assurance in cross-border
  education
• Partnerships and dialogue between sending and
  receiving countries emphasized

http//www2.unescobkk.org/elib/publications/087/AP
QN_Toolkit.pdf
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UNESCO Regional Conventions
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• UNESCO Regional Conventions on the Recognition of
  Academic Qualifications in Higher Education
• 5 regional 1 inter-regional Asia-Pacific,
  Africa, Arab States, Latin America, Europe and
  North America, Mediterranean
• The only legally binding instrument in the world

• Revision of Asia-Pacific Regional Convention
• Current Regional Convention adopted in 1983 and
  21 states ratified to date
• Revision to address challenges such as new modes
  of HE and increasing cross-border education, with
  need for consideration of quality assurance, etc.
  (Working Group meetings since 2005)

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State Parties to 1983 AP Convention
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The Revised Convention

• Revised AP Convention adopted in the
  International Conference of States held in Tokyo,
  Japan in Nov 2011

• Main changes includes
• Competent recognition authorities
• Basic principles related to assessment of
  qualifications
• Partial studies
• Recognition of qualifications held by refugees,
  displaced persons, and persons in similar
  situation
• And implementation mechanisms etc.

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Follow-ups to Revised AP Convention and
Discussion on a Global Convention (GC)
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• 11th Asia-Pacific Regional Committee meeting in
  conjunction with expert seminar on National
  Information Center (Seoul, May 2012)
• To facilitate dialogue among Member States and to
  discuss follow-up actions related to the revised
  AP Convention
• Decided to establish AP Working Group and to
  revitalize the Asia-Pacific Academic Recognition
  Network (APARNET, http//www.aparnet.org)
• 1st Regional Expert Meeting on the Feasibility of
  a Global Convention (China, Oct 2012)
• Possibility of the GC raised at Conference in
  Tokyo in 2011
• Regional experts to discuss the feasibilities of
  GC based on the comments from the regions

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Clearinghouse Filling the knowledge Gap

• Educational Research Institute Network in
  Asia-Pacific (ERI-Net) since 2009
• Established managed by UNESCO BKK to facilitate
  regional collaboration in conducting analytical
  work pertinent to the region
• 17 institutions from 15 countries and economies
  participate
• Regional seminars to share research findings
• The Impact of Economic Crisis on HE and the Use
  of ICT in HE (2010)
• International Student Mobility (2011)
• Public-private partnerships in HE TVET and
  Youth Employment (2012)

For more information http//www.unescobkk.org/ed
ucation/epr/epr-partnerships/eri-net/
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Part 5

• Concluding Remarks

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• It may be time to think about harmonization of
  higher education systems in ASEAN countries as
  there are mounting increase of students and
  academic mobility in this region. The adoption of
  the A-P revised regional convention can serve as
  important platform for regional cooperation.

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• The convention mainly focuses on academic
  recognition for further studies and employment
  opportunities. Recognition of professional
  qualifications remains untouched and will be
  subject to separate efforts in which UNESCO can
  also have a role to play with the collaboration
  of member states and professional bodies.

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• Information-based comparison is the main
  principle for academic recognition.
  Policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers can
  work together to provide reliable, transparent,
  and comparable information for the purpose of
  academic recognition.

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• The nature of quality assurance mechanisms is
  very important for the promotion of mutual trusts
  between different countries. More efforts should
  be made to work out a common quality assurance
  framework in Asia and the Pacific, so that the
  convention can attract the participation of more
  member states in this region.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
l.wang_at_unesco.org