Cross-border Education in ASEAN Countries

1. 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

2. Contents • Trends of Regional Integration • Education Harmonization in ASEAN Countries • Cross-border Higher Education • UNESCO’s Work • Concluding Remarks

3. Part 1 Trends of Regional Integration

4. 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

5. 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

6. European Integration (Cont’d) Source: Wiki ????

7. European Integration (Cont’d) • 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

8. 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:

9. Emerging ASEAN Integration (Con’td) • 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 Communityby 2015. Three pillars including AEC, APSC, and ASCC Source:

10. 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.

11. Part 2 Educational Harmonization in ASEAN Countries

12. 2-1 Efforts towards Int’l Cooperation in ASEAN and beyond ASEAN adopted the Vision 2020 in 1998 to present ideal state of regional cooperation in various area of politics, economy, culture, etc. • 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

13. ASEAN ED Ministers Meeting and Other Regional Networks • ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting (Cont’d) • 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)

14. 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.

15. 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

16. Part 3 Cross-border Higher Education

17. 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 17

18. Student Mobility in the Asia-Pacific Major 15 sending countries account for 44% of the world’s mobile students Largest outflow: China(421K), India(153K) and Korea(105K) Source: UNESCO-UIS (2009), Global Education Digest 2009 18

19. 19 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 19

20. Increasing Mobile Students within the Region Source: UNESCO-UIS (2009), Global Education Digest 2009 Composition of study destination by students’ region of origin, 2007 20

21. Students flow in 1997 and 2007 Between ASEAN, China, Japan and Korea Source: Kazuo Kuroda (2010) 21

22. 3.2 ProgrammeMobility in the AP • Franchise • e.g. “London External Degrees” in many countries, “Stanford Executive MBA” in Singapore • Twinning • e.g. “2+1 Programme” in many of the private colleges in Malaysia and “2+2 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 22

23. 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 23

24. 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/western countries. Not so many interested in further studying within this region though this trend is changing slowly How to facilitate mobility within ASEAN countries?

25. Part 4 UNESCO’s Work

26. UNESCO’s 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 26

27. Standards Setting in Cross-border HE 27 • 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 Objectives • ‘Students/learners protection’ from the risks of misinformation, low-quality provision and qualifications of limited validity • Qualifications should be readable and transparent in order to increase their international validity and portability. Reliable and user-friendly information sources should facilitate this • Recognition procedures should be transparent, coherent, fair and reliable and impose as little burden as possible to mobile professionals • National quality assurance and accreditation agencies need to intensify their international cooperation in order to increase mutual understanding

28. Standards Setting (Cont’d) 28 • 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/APQN_Toolkit.pdf

29. UNESCO Regional Conventions 29 • 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)

30. State Parties to 1983 AP Convention 30

31. 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. 31

32. Follow-ups to Revised AP Convention and Discussion on a Global Convention (GC) 32 • 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

33. 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/education/epr/epr-partnerships/eri-net/

34. Part 5 Concluding Remarks

35. 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.

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. 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.

39. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! l.wang@unesco.org