ASEAN+3 Approves Guidelines On Student Exchange And Mobility

Mahdzir (left) shaking hands with Hao Ping after chairing the 9th Asean Education Ministers Meeting

Petaling Jaya, 19 Sya’ban 1437/27 May 2016 MINA) – The Third ASEAN+3 (APT) Education Ministers Meeting (EMM) has approved the APT Guidelines on Student Exchange and Mobility in promoting the development of higher education in 13 member states.

“It is also supported by participating countries through greater promotion of student exchanges and mobility supported by quality assurance mechanisms,” it said in a joint statement.

Education ministers from 10 ASEAN member countries – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam as well as three ASEAN dialogue partners – China, Japan and South Korea – issued the joint statement at the end of the two-day meeting Thursday.

The meeting was co-chaired by Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid and China Education Vice Minister Hao Ping, Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) reported, quoting Bernama.

Themed ‘Fostering ASEAN Community of Learners – Empowering Lives through Education’, the meeting was attended by more than 200 delegates.

The meeting was held in conjunction with the 9th ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting (ASED) and Third East Asia Summit (EAS) Education Ministers Meeting convened here earlier.

The EAS comprises the countries of ASEAN in addition to Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

The joint statement said the ministers also noted updates of China on the 2016 China-ASEAN Year of Educational Exchanges and welcomed closer coordination with ASEAN, as well as Japan on its initiative to support educational collaborations between APT countries.

Comprising 77 activities under the APT Plan of Action on Education 2010-2017, the ministers expressed appreciation and noted the continuous progress made by the APT countries and ASEAN-related universities.

They are the ASEAN University Network (AUN), ASEAN Cyber University Network (ACU) Project and ASEAN University Network/Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network (AUN/SEED-NET), including in the areas of capacity building in higher education and the increase of linkages between universities.

In pursuit of harmonised efforts on education cooperation within the framework of ASEAN, the ministers stressed the importance of fostering long-term and mutually beneficial educational cooperation.

“They are also promoting people-to-people exchanges through alignment of the ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation on Education and ensuring complementation with the ASEAN Work Plan on Education 2016-2020,” the statement said.

It said the ministers also noted the preparations for the 4th Working Group Meeting on Mobility of Higher Education and Ensuring Quality Assurance of Higher Education spearheaded by the Philippines, to be held in Cebu on Sept 29, this year.

The ministers also welcomed the hosting by Myanmar of the 4th APT EMM in conjunction with the 10th ASED and 4th EAS EMM in 2018. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)