The harmonization of higher education in ASEAN countries can be examined in the context of globalization sweeping across the world. Many countries today are working towards regional integration and adoption of common standards in education and other aspects of human endeavour. The benefits of this development are manifold: enhancing student mobility, harmonization of education standards, and increasing the depth of cooperation among regional neighbours.
ASEAN leaders are finally turning their attention towards education to maintain the region’s relevance internationally. Training their human capital to compete in an ever-changing global economy is a top priority of all member states. Establishing a regional higher education standard will be key to achieving that goal.
Why Harmonization of Education Standards Matters
As witnessed in Europe, the development of a common framework for higher education translates to ease of comparability, common credit transfers and rating framework, and a wider range of study options for students across member states. This can be replicated in SEA countries so that students from across the region can access common standards, move across borders and explore the cultural diversity that is available across the frontiers. A bigger pool of human resources makes it easier for cooperation among institutions in the region to collaborate, share experiences and leverage on research capabilities of individual institutions.
The rewards of regional synergy have all been too well publicized for SEA not to recognize the long-term benefits to the region: deepened specialization, expanded research frontiers, and a resource-rich hub that supports industry and business.
SEA’s similarity in diversity, history of regional collaboration, aggregate economic growth, and 600-million strong population make strong grounds for establishing a standardized higher education system. A well-planned system will be inclusive, merit-based and further integration on a people-to-people level as students and academics exchange ideas that spur regional growth. It will aid member states to not just curb the outflow of its best talent to the West, but attract new talent from neighbouring regions, in addition to creating depth of resources and leadership in many areas of human endeavour.
Academics in the region have been pushing for integration for some years now. In an interview with FDI Spotlight, President of Pusrawi International College of Medical Sciences (PICOMS), Datuk Haji Mahamad Zubi bin Sheikh Saad expressed his views on education integration: “I am very confident in the ASEAN community – even though we sometimes have disagreements about economics and defence. I know we are all willing to sacrifice in the name of unity and stand together for the benefit of the world.”
Harmonization of Higher Education: ASEAN’s Potential
In 2015, ASEAN nations set the foundations of a deeper relationship that goes beyond their current cooperation. The ASEAN Economic Cooperation (AEC) aims to promote economic, political, social and cultural cooperation across the region. The goal: to move South-East Asia towards a globally competitive single market and production base with a free flow of goods, services, labour, investments and capital across the 10 member states.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Supply Chain and Transport Chief, “In the next decade, the ASEAN Economic Community could boost the region’s economies by 7.1%. It could also generate 14 million jobs.” Those figures hinge on how effectively the region is able to develop a mechanism that enables integration – higher education collaboration being one of the key tools. In 2009, an ambitious proposal identified student mobility, credit transfers, quality assurance and research clusters as the four main priorities to harmonize the ASEAN higher education system. The plan was set to benefit 6,500 higher education institutions and 12 million students in 10 nations.
Malaysia has been a key driver of technical education in the region. In a recent interview, Professor Madya Dr. Abdul Rahman Shaik, Director General of Co-operative College of Malaysia, apprised FDI Spotlight about steps Malaysia has taken to further the region’s higher-education objectives:
“We have an annual international conference in which we invite all ASEAN countries to join us because we believe in the value of networking within ASEAN. We also provide our Malaysian Co-operative Technical Corporation Program in ASEAN countries – a two week program sponsored fully by the Malaysian government in which we provide lectures and insight into our co-operative foundation. I believe ASEAN will benefit higher education and it provides us the opportunity to educate others about the Co-operative Movement and how it can enhance their economy.”
Key Milestones to be Achieved
Setting enterprising goals is just the first step of a challenging journey. The region’s leaders will have to work on several factors to deliver a standardised higher education system.
Accreditation: Regional accreditation provides universities a framework to evaluate their service quality and delivery. It also encourages healthy competition between universities as they strive to improve standards to keep attracting the region’s best students. Independent evaluations and rankings are also more objective when universities are accredited by the same body.
Curriculum: Interministerial collaborations are necessary to produce a unified curriculum that answers the labour market’s demands. This does not equate to sacrificing national and cultural heritage in the way of collaboration, but in fact leveraging the region’s diversity to create learning outcomes that train students for the multicultural workplace of the future.
Faculty training: Harmonization will be challenging without improving the skills of the people entrusted with the task – faculty and university administrators. In the new paradigm, there needs to be a focus on talent management, leadership selection and management of lecturers’ workload. Other initiatives such as faster promotion prospects and recognition awards can build the image and morale of the academic community.
These are just some of the slew of factors that need to be addressed by policy makers as they develop strategies for smoother integration.