The European Union and ASEAN Started A New Programme on Harmonisation of ASEAN Higher Education
The European Union (EU) and ASEAN are working together to support higher education in ASEAN through a new programme called “European Union Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (SHARE)”. The grant contract of the programme has been signed recently between the EU and a consortium led by the British Council with five partners. The project will run for 4 year until January 2019.
“The key idea is to share EU experience with ASEAN for the improvement of standards and quality of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the ASEAN region, drawing on the experience of the Bologna process and the establishment of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)” Acting Head of the EU Delegation to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and ASEAN, Colin Crooks said.
“The programme will contribute to the harmonisation of ASEAN higher education standards, support the mutual recognition of learning and hence promote mobility of students. The programme will support further development of the ASEAN Qualification Framework and Quality Assurance, strengthening the ASEAN Credit Transfer System (ACTS) and ASEAN-EU Credit Transfer System (AECTS). Under these new Credit Transfer Systems, SHARE will provide 500 scholarships to create new opportunities for international learning, leading to life changing experiences for ASEAN students.” said Mr Crooks.
Deputy Secretary-General, Community and Corporate Affairs Department of the ASEAN Secretariat, Dr AKP Mochtan, said “SHARE is another landmark programme epitomising the close partnership between ASEAN and the EU. SHARE comes at a very auspicious time. We are only months away from the realisation of the ASEAN Community. The fulfilment of the long-cherished dream of an integrated, closely inter-connected ASEAN Community will mark another important milestone in the ASEAN journey. Not only do we look forward to free movement of goods, services, investment and professionals, we are now also capable of acting quickly and in unison in times of calamities, as well as having much greater ease in undertaking land, sea and air travel and realising people-to-people connectivity, among others”.
“In short, ASEAN is transforming into a “Community of Opportunities.” To maximise this, the ASEAN Member States are moving into a higher gear by preparing our respective citizens to become a skilled and highly qualified workforce in all sectors. In this context, our Higher Education institutions stand as the key to enhancing the competency and quality of ASEAN human capital as a whole” added Dr Mochtan.
Sally Goggin, Country Director, British Council Indonesia announced that “The British Council is delighted to lead a strong partnership between Campus France, DAAD, EP-Nuffic, the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and the European University Association (EUA) in delivering the SHARE programme objectives. We are well positioned through bringing a wealth of experience in the higher education sector and an extensive network which we hope will help to enhance co-operation between the EU and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and create lasting benefits from the harmonisation of higher education across ASEAN. We look forward to working with the EU, ASEAN Secretariat, and higher education institutions across ASEAN countries”.
