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 ( )
- 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 Community by 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
Do you mean the ASEAN Research Citation Index (ACI) by “ASEAN Education Indicator”?
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
Do you mean the ASEAN Research Citation Index (ACI) by “ASEAN Education Indicator”?
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.
Do you mean the ASEAN Research Citation Index (ACI) by “ASEAN Education Indicator”?

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
Limitation on market access
Cross-border supply
Consumption abroad
Commercial
presence
Presence of natural persons
Cambodia
None
Unbound, except as indicated in the horizontal section
Myanmar
As indicated in the horizontal commitments
Brunei
Only through a joint venture with foreign equity not exceeding 49%
Indonesia
Lao PDR
Thailand
At least half of its director(s), and if applicable its managing director, must be the person of Thai nationality
Unbound
In many ASEAN countries not explicit regulation on cross-border supply and consumption abroad. No explicit barrier in terms of foreign HEIs’ provision of e-learning courses and students’ going abroad to further study.
However, as for commercial presence, e.g. branch campuses, there are regulations like the condition of joint ventures with national equity and personnel leadership, etc. More restriction is imposed on the presence of natural person.

16. Part 3
Cross-border Higher Education

17. Source: UNESCO-UIS (2009), Global Education Digest 2009
3.1 Internationalization of HE: Student Mobility in the World
Number of Tertiary Students studying abroad in 1999 and 2007
The internationalization of higher education is reflected by the increased mobility of students, academic staff, educational programmes
and higher education institutions across national borders.
In 2007, over 2.8 million students were enrolled in educational institutions outside of their country of origin.
The number of importers and exporters of cross-border higher education in the Asia-Pacific region has expanded rapidly in the past two decade.
The provision of tertiary education is dominated by six host countries: USA (21%), U.K. (13%), France (10%), Germany (8%), Australia (8%) and Japan (5%)
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. Flowing out more than flowing in19
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 Programme Mobility 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
London External Degrees: University of London
Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand in AP
Through “affiliated centers”
Stanford-National University of Singapore Executive Program in International Management 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
RMIT: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology 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 Capacity Building
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 HE27
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
‘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
Objectives

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

29. UNESCO Regional Conventions29
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 Convention30

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,
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 :

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!