MOBILIZING REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES: THE ASEAN UNIVERSITY NETWORK, A CASE STUDY

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Human Resource Development (HRM-627)

Lesson 44

MOBILIZING REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES:

THE ASEAN UNIVERSITY NETWORK, A CASE STUDY

The ASEAN University Network (AUN) was founded in November 1995 by ASEAN member countries

including 13 universities. After the enlargement of ASEAN by the ASEAN Charter in 1997 and 1999, the

AUN membership increased to 20 member universities (with the extension of 2 universities from Myanmar,

one from Laos , and Malaysia and one from Cambodia also two from Indonesia.)

The ASEAN University Network is an arrangement between 20 universities in the ten ASEAN countries. The

AUN is composed of a Board of Trustees (BOT), the participating universities, and the AUN Secretariat. The

Board of Trustees consists of one representative from each of the ASEAN Member Countries, the Secretary-

General of ASEAN, the Chairman of the ASEAN subcommittee on Education (ASCOE) and the Executive

Director of the AUN. The BOT has the task of formulating policies, approving project proposals, the

allocation of budgets and coordinating implementation activities. The board makes decisions on these activities

on the basis of consensus. The participating universities have the task of implementing the AUN programmes

and activities. When AUN was founded in 1995, it consisted of thirteen universities from seven countries. Due

to the inclusion of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia in ASEAN, the network grew to 20 members (for a list of

the members, see appendix I). Although numerous applications for membership have been received, it was

decided to only admit universities from the new member countries. Non members from the region however,

are invited as observers on a regular basis. The AUN Secretariat is involved in the planning, organisation,

monitoring and evaluation of AUN activities and also in the development of new ideas and the acquisition of

funding. The permanent office of the Secretariat has been established in 2000 and is located on the campus of

Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The operating costs of the secretariat are (at least until 2005) allocated

by the Thai Government.

The financing of AUN activities comes from either cost sharing between the participating universities or from

the external `dialogue partners' of ASEAN. The dialogue partners are the EU, China, South Korea, Japan, India

and Russia. The meetings within the AUN Framework are financed by the hosts and travel expenses by the

(universities of the) participants, or by universities from the richer countries for the poorer countries.

Objectives & Activities

The main objective of the AUN is to strengthen the existing network of cooperation among universities in

ASEAN by promoting collaborative studies and research programmes. Furthermore, the AUN attempts to

promote cooperation and solidarity among scientists and scholars in the region and to develop academic and

professional human resources as well as to produce and disseminate scientific knowledge and information

among the universities in the region.

In order to realise these objectives, a wide range of activities have been organized within the AUN framework.

The initiative for AUN activities can be located with different actors. Member universities can request to put a

particular activity on the agenda. Also initiatives can be proposed by the AUN Secretariat or by the ASEAN

Secretariat. Finally, the Dialogue Partners can initiate activities. The Board of Trustees decides on the actual

initiation of the proposed activities. In the course of its existence, the BOT has agreed upon a variety of

activities which are both very diverse in content as well as in ambition and feasibility. In the early stages of

AUN's existence, activities were largely focused on four priority areas: student and faculty exchanges, ASEAN

Studies, collaborative research and information networking. After the establishment of the permanent AUN

secretariat, various other activities emerged, both within the region as well as with the dialogue partners.

The ASEAN Studies Programme has been one of the instruments to realise a regional awareness and identity.

The objective is to realise an ASEAN Studies curriculum for all member universities in order to provide

students with knowledge about societies, economies and politics in the ASEAN countries. As a start, in 1998

an ASEAN Source Book was compiled with a bibliography on a wide range of ASEAN subjects. On the basis

of the source book and after several joint workshops, six core courses were identified and course syllabi for the

postgraduate level were compiled. At a later stage, all course information was placed on the `ASEAN Virtual

University' web-site (http://aunvirtualu.dlsu.edu.ph/). This virtual university should ultimately evolve into a

joint degree granting programme for ASEAN Studies.

The student and faculty exchange programme contains three separate activities: the AUN Educational Forum,

the Distinguished Professors Programme and the Student Exchange Programme. The annual educational

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forum covers a two week gathering of both students and staff of member universities. In this period, lectures

and presentations are given on a particular theme and also several cultural activities are organised. The first

educational forum has been held in 1998 with around 25 participants. Participation has gradually increased and

for the 2003 forum, 50 participants are expected. Financially, the educational forum is based on the principle of

cost sharing where the host arranges the activities and accommodation and the students or their universities

pay for transport expenses. In addition to the educational forum there is also a student exchange programme.

In fact, structural student exchange was the option preferred at a meeting of Vice Rectors for Student Affairs in

1997. However, the rather rigid curricula of the member universities, with limited space for optional courses,

and very diverse academic calendars, only left a two week period per year for joint activities. This was why the

option of the educational forum was proposed.

Student exchange now takes place on a more ad hoc basis and is only offered by limited number of universities.

In 2003, scholarships for students (and staff) of member universities are offered by the member universities

from Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand and the Philippines. The obstacles observed above, inflexible

curricula and differences in academic calendars; pose problems for exchange, but also the differences in

educational systems and the medium of instruction, which is often the native language of the university

concerned. Another problem is that, due to the uneven level of development in the ASEAN countries,

exchange is frequently a one-way activity, with more advanced educational systems like Malaysia and Singapore

functioning as a recipient of students and staff from other countries. Also, structural exchange programmes or

scholarship programmes have not yet materialised because of financial reasons due to the financial crisis of

1997/1998.

The third activity related to exchange is the Distinguished Professors Programme. This programme provides

opportunities for faculty members to visit other member universities. The participating professors give lectures,

advise students and get involved in collaborative development of courses or teaching materials at their host

university. The exchange is financially supported by the ASEAN Secretariat or the ASEAN Foundation and in

some cases it is based on cost sharing between the host university and the visiting professors' university. Until

the end of 2002, some forty visits had taken place. In the field of collaborative research, initiatives emerged

already in a workshop in 1997, but have not yet materialised sufficiently. At present, the main progress in this

field has been through the collection of research data of the participating universities and compiling

institutional profiles in the field of research. These activities have not yet led to concrete matching of research

areas for possible cooperation within AUN.

The AUN has also started to target other groups than traditional students. In the ASEAN executive

development programme, the AUN aims to train professionals from business and management. Due to the

1997 financial crisis, this programme was postponed but at a later stage, the Asian crisis was used as an

opportunity by AUN. In 1999, the network planned a two-week executive programme that focused both on

the provision of tools to handle the consequences of the crisis and to prepare the business community for the

further economic integration in the region and the ASEAN Free Trade Area. Even though the deans of the

Business Schools concerned met twice, the programme has not yet materialised. Pre-occupation with the

repercussions of the financial crisis is seen as the main reason for the fact that the programme has not yet been

realised. Another activity in the field of Business Administration is the AGBEP Programme (ASEAN Graduate

Business/Economics Programme), which aims at student and staff exchange and research cooperation on

business and economic issues in the region. Cooperation within AGBEP, based at Gajah Mada University has

led to student exchanges on a small scale and to symposia and joint publications since its establishment in 2000.

Many of the activities above are of a disciplinary nature and mainly aimed at exchange and joint curriculum

development. A more recent and profound initiative is the AUN Quality Assurance, which has the aim of

promoting the development of a common quality assurance system. On the long term this should function as

an instrument for the improvement of teaching, research institutional academic standards of AUN member

universities while recognising and respecting the differences among member universities. The ultimate goal of

this initiative is the harmonisation of educational systems and standards of universities in ASEAN. The first

step of this initiative was a workshop held in 2000 at Chulalongkorn University and which has led to the

Bangkok Accord. In the framework of this document, a Chief Quality Officer (CQO) has been appointed by

each member university to coordinate the implementation. The CQO's meet twice a year at one of the member

universities. Currently this priority AUN activity is primarily based on the sharing of information and the

creation of `minimal standards' (which still can be considered high standards for some of the member

universities).

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Another activity that crosses disciplinary boundaries is the cooperation on new technologies. The programme

focuses on the establishment and development of systems for information exchange between the member

universities. The first phase of this programme was mainly the development of an AUN homepage through

which all member universities were linked. The second phase comprises the further development of the

concept of an ASEAN virtual university and is led by De La Salle University (Philippines). The programme is

being gradually developed and the first recommendations of AUN experts in the field have been integrated in

the ASEAN Studies Programme (see above). In the future, further technological cooperation in library services

and standardisation of formats for information dissemination are planned to be developed.

In addition to the activities that have been developed and carried out by the member universities, the AUN also

developed activities in cooperation with its `dialogue partners', namely the European Union, South Korea,

Japan, India, China and Russia. With the European Union, two joint activities have been set up. The most

recent is the ASEAN-European Engineering Exchange. This programme aims to promote the exchange of

students and staff between the European Union and ASEAN through study, research and internships. At

present however, this programme is very modest in numbers. A more comprehensive project is the ASEAN-

EU University Network Programme (AUNP). AUNP both promotes cooperation between higher education in

the two regions and a further regional integration in the ASEAN region. The AUNP consists of two major

projects: partnership projects and network initiatives. Under the partnership projects, two calls for proposals

were launched by the European Commission in 2002 and in 2003 in order to improve cooperation between

higher education institutions in EU Member States and ASEAN, as well as to stimulate collaboration in higher

education within ASEAN. The types of projects that are eligible for funding in this framework are cooperation

in applied research, in human resource development and in curriculum development. Activities that fall under

the so-called network initiatives are the organisation of two rector conferences and four annual round tables for

representatives of ASEAN and EU higher education institutions and relevant public authorities, which will

focus on the further development of EUASEAN higher education cooperation. Another activity eligible is the

sharing of knowledge between the two regions on issues like credit transfer systems, initiatives for student and

lecturer mobility, initiatives promoting joint research, and convergence of curricula. The AUNP programme is

managed by the Programme Management Office, with a European and an ASEAN co-director, which is based

in Bangkok. The total budget for the programme is almost eight million Euros, of which around 90 % comes

from the EU and 10 % from AUN. At the time of writing, the proposals are under evaluation.

Links with South Korea emerged from the interest that the Korean Association of Southeast Asia Studies

(KASEAS) expressed to work together with the AUN. The cooperation between AUN and KASEAS led to a

conference in 1999, which again resulted in two publications jointly produced by South Korean and ASEAN

scholars. In 2001 a second programme was proposed by KASEAS, which was approved in early 2002 by the

ASEAN Secretariat and resulted in a workshop and a conference in that same year. The second part of the

2001 Academic Exchange Programme is in progress and entails a joint research project, and a fellowship

exchange scheme. Another South Korea-ASEAN activity was initiated by the Korean Science and Engineering

Foundation (KOSEF) and focuses on the post-doctoral level. The ASEAN Post-Doctoral Fellowship

Programme promotes cooperation in science and technology within the ASEAN region by providing ASEAN

scientists opportunities for research exchanges with South Korea. The programme provides research

scholarships for 11 ASEAN scientists or researchers for a period of 6-24 months in Korea. The preparation for

scholarships for a two-year stay in Korea for a new batch of 10 Ph.D. holders is in preparation. Recently, also a

scheme has started for regular students. This scheme funds ten ASEAN students to study for one or two

semesters in Daejoen University in South Korea.

Cooperation with Japan is based on two projects. The first is based on the sharing of experiences and has been

set up by the Keizai Koho Centre. For this programme, a group of educators from ASEAN visited Japanese

universities and governmental and private organisation in Japan. These `educational trips' were organised

annually from 1998 until 2000. A more substantive project is the AUN/Southeast Asian Engineering

Education Development Network (AUN/SEED-Net), an initiative of the Japanese Government. This network

is aimed at promoting both Japan-ASEAN cooperation in engineering education as well as the internal ASEAN

cooperation. Activities under this network are in the field of research, graduate education (both short courses

and full Masters programmes) and the exchange of staff and students. This sub-network network was

established in 2001 and currently consists of nineteen universities from both Japan and the ASEAN region

(mainly, but not exclusively, members of AUN).

Collaborative activities with India are mainly in the sphere of human resource development. The ASEAN-India

joint HRD collaboration initiative will also function as a coordination mechanism for the various ongoing

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institutional and bilateral collaborative activities in the HRD domain, in order to bring these activities under a

broader regional framework.

The ASEAN China Academic Cooperation and Exchange Programme was initiated by a joint effort of the

AUN and the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China in 2001. The activities under this

programme include the ASEAN-China Rectors conference, grants for joint research and training and an

exchange programme for academics in order to strengthen the network between ASEAN and Chinese scholars.

Recently, AUN has also proposed activities for a further cooperation with Russia. At present these activities are

in the stage of seeking funding for collaborative activities.

Development

The ASEAN University Network emerged from a highly ambitious idea of the ASEAN leaders and the

ASEAN Subcommittee on Education (ASCOE) to establish an ASEAN University. A year after this idea was

launched; it became clear that this would present too many problems concerning funding, location and

leadership. Therefore, in 1994, it was decided that the founding of a network of existing institutions would be

more feasible. In its early years (1995-1999), the AUN focused mainly on the sharing of knowledge and

experiences and on small-scale student and staff exchange. As from 1999, the collaborative activities became

more complex with programmes like joint curriculum development, cooperation in ICT and the establishment

of sub-networks. This is not only the case for intra-ASEAN cooperation but also for the activities with the

dialogue partners.

This also led to the establishment of a permanent secretariat in Bangkok in March 2000. Although there existed

a secretariat since 1997, this secretariat was temporary. With the permanent office also came an increase in

structural funding for the secretariat. In addition to the operating costs for the AUN secretariat, also the

financial support for AUN activities increased substantially since 1999. In addition to a growth in financial

terms, projects also became more comprehensive. In particular, the AUN Quality Assurance programme has

very ambitious goals with consequences that transcend the disciplinary boundaries. This can also form a

turning point in the sense that through such projects all members of the participating universities will be

affected. Many of the current activities are focused on particular individuals of the universities, and many other

students and staff that are not involved in activities are not familiar with AUN and its activities. Most

exchanges and gatherings for instance, although successful, have been modest in its impact on the universities

as a whole. An explanation for this lies in the top-down character of the activities, with a high involvement of

the university's central level (and in some countries the ministry level) and only modest involvement of the

faculties.

Source: Beerkens, H.J.J.G. (2004) Global Opportunities and Institutional Embeddedness; Higher Education

Consortia in Europe and Southeast Asia (PhD Dissertation). Enschede: Cheps/UT. Available at:

http://www.beerkens.info/files/phd.pdf

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASEAN_University_Network

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