The SHARE Newsletter - March 2022
Celebrating 45 Years of Partnership
In February the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) celebrated 45 years of partnership.
The two regions consolidated their longstanding relationship by becoming Strategic Partners in 2020 and this is reflected in the breadth and depth of the cooperation between the two regions which has seen the EU become ASEAN's most comprehensive partner. This was underscored by EU Ambassador to ASEAN, H.E. Igor Driesmans in his recent article entitled 'The EU and ASEAN: Turning 45 and Stronger Than Ever' wherein he referenced the SHARE Programme:
The EU is ASEAN’s largest development partner supporting all three pillars of ASEAN integration, on subjects as far-ranging as trade support, forest governance, higher education and student mobility, disaster response, and sustainable use of peatlands, to name but a few. Many of our programmes’ acronyms, for example, E-READI, ARISE Plus, SHARE, have become familiar across ASEAN Member States and have a positive impact on people’s lives.
- H.E. Igor Driesmans,
EU Ambassador to ASEAN
The 29th Meeting of the EU-ASEAN Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) was held on Friday, 11 February 2022. Both sides welcomed the success of projects enhancing people-to-people connectivity between and within the regions and welcomed the flagship EU Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (SHARE) programme.?
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to regionalism and rules-based multilateralism as well as to respecting and promoting international law and internationally agreed norms and standards, in line with the UN Charter.?This cooperation is all the more important in the view of the recent developments in Ukraine.
Digital transformation of Higher Education in Southeast Asia
In February SHARE published two reports it had commissioned in 2020 on digital transformation initiatives in Southeast Asia.
The first of these reports, the 'Mapping and Identification of Digital Credit Transfer System Needs in ASEAN', aims to share recommendations on the deployment of digital credentials and enhancing their recognition throughout Southeast Asia.
The study by Anthony Camilleri, an EU expert on digital credentials, and Dr Sintho Wahyuning Ardie, a lecturer at Bogor Agricultural University in Indonesia, found that the technology divide, lack of human resources and infrastructure, lack of knowledge of e-signatures, a culture of using paper credentials, and a lack of government support for digitisation are common obstacles to digital credential recognition in the region. The study also found that digital credential recognition in the region can be significantly boosted by leveraging existing global standards, software, and networks. In the short-term, the initiative being led by the SHARE Programme could bring significant benefits around student mobility. In time, this could be expanded to more use cases and be applied to more institutions beyond the SHARE Partner University Network.
The second study published in February was the 'Study of Virtual Exchange Schemes in ASEAN' written by Dr Keiko Ikeda of Kansai University, Japan and Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad, director of the International Relations Centre at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
There is a strong potential for Virtual Exchange and Collaborative Online International Learning (VE/COIL) programmes to be developed and rolled out across Southeast Asia . Universities are improving their technological infrastructure and accessibility, while students have shown great interest in online learning. Although physical mobility will return once the pandemic is over, VE/COIL will have an opportunity to grow in a niche of its own and complement physical mobility programmes as an inclusive opportunity for more students to experience internationalisation and develop inter-cultural competences.
Both of these studies and the initial outcomes they have had for higher education institutions were covered in a recent article by University World News, by Mr. Kalinga Seneviratne entitled 'Digital Transformation of International HE Gathers Momentum'. This is part of a series of articles on SHARE's work in the region alongside our partner the Asia-Europe Foundation.
领英推荐
Capacity Development Workshops on Digital Modalities
Following on from the research conducted in 2021, SHARE has continued to engage expertise to deliver capacity building workshops with SHARE Partner Universities and the SHARE Higher Education Harmonisation Community of Practice.
On 22 February 2022, SHARE conducted a Capacity Building Workshop on Developing a Digital Credit Transfer System Platform with SHARE Partner Universities. The workshop introduced the Erasmus+ mobility process as well as the existing supporting tools and the Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) platform used for mobility in Europe. Dr. Carmen Padron Napoles from the Knowledge Innovation Centre (KIC) and Mr. Kilian Klein from European University Foundation (EUF) facilitated the workshop.
The SHARE Programme is currently developing a new Digital Credit Transfer System platform that will benefit universities in providing a seamless credit transfer process for student exchange in ASEAN. This new platform will also offer students a transparent process of credit transfer and greater control of their credentials data which can subsequently be shared with education providers and employers.?Led by Mr. Anthony Camilleri, KIC and EUF will initiate the development of a pilot Digital Credit Transfer System platform. It will also be equipped with high security and privacy standards following the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR).
A series of SHARE Capacity Building Workshops on Developing a Virtual Exchange (VE) / Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Programme began on February 23rd
As a continuation of the first series of workshops held last September, the SHARE Programme officially kicked off the next series of "Capacity Building Workshops on Developing Virtual Exchange (VE) / Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Programme 2022" this week.??
The?workshops aim to further enhance SHARE partner universities’ capacity and understanding of VE / COIL. The sessions will further discuss the implementation of joint activities, building intercultural competence, and the benefits and opportunities of VE / COIL.
Dr. Keiko Ikeda, Vice-Director of Institute for Innovative Global Education (IIGE) at Kansai University, and Dr. Abdul Latiff Ahmad, Director of the International Relations Centre at National University of Malaysia are the facilitators of the workshop series.
Over seventy International Relations Office (IRO) representatives and faculty members from SHARE Partner Universities and selected universities in the ASEAN region will be participating in the series, which will run for four weeks until 16 March 2022. Weekly check-in sessions will be held, including trainings on new topics related to VE / COIL.
SHARE Policy Dialogue 14: March 29th to 31st - Save the Date
The SHARE Programme invites you to its first Policy Dialogue of 2022 being held as a hybrid event in Bangkok between the 29th and 31st of March. The 14th SHARE Policy Dialogue is being implemented by the SHARE Programme, SEAMEO RIHED, the ASEAN Secretariat's EYSD, UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, the ASEAN University Network, amongst other partners and will bring together key stakeholders to share information, exchange views, and propose strategies for further higher education partnerships?towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Please register for the three days discussion at bit.ly/SHAREPD14
In collaboration with UNESCO?Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, policy briefs and other outputs from the policy dialogue will be consolidated and shared during the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference (WHEC 2022) from 18-20 May 2022.
Stay tuned to the SHARE Website and social media channels for more information!