EUROPEAN UNION SUPPORT TO HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE ASEAN REGION

Officially launched in 2015, SHARE is a €15 million European Union (EU) grant funded programme. From 2016 onwards, SHARE has provided 500 one semester intra-ASEAN scholarships for ASEAN university students and the new phase will support 300 more students before the end of 2022. The SHARE Consortium (2021-2022) is comprised of the British Council, the DAAD, ENQA, and Nuffic. The SHARE Extension will see the programme continue its support of the ASEAN Secretariat and regional stakeholders to enable greater harmonisation and internationalisation of ASEAN higher education.

SHARE will achieve this in support of the third ASEAN Work Plan on Education 2021-2025, through enhancing policy dialogue harmonisation of ASEAN Higher Education, supporting the further development of the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF) and ASEAN Quality Assurance Framework (AQAF) and further developing a common credit transfer system and scholarship programme for intra-ASEAN student mobility while ensuring equal opportunities for all. 

SHARE supports ASEAN’s ambition to build a regional higher education space. This includes:

• Increased and enhanced mobility for university students throughout ASEAN through more cohesive qualifications frameworks, quality assurance, an ASEAN-wide credit transfer system and an ASEAN-branded scholarship scheme.
• Greater equality in opportunities for exchange through improved connectivity across higher education in ASEAN.
• Strengthened ties between ASEAN universities and increased EU-ASEAN university partnerships.

The SHARE Programme is fully committed to the implementation of the third ASEAN Work Plan on Education 2021 – 2025. A central aim of the SHARE Programme Extension is to catalyse the transfer of ownership of programme outcomes to ASEAN entities and nominated organisations to be embedded within sustainable ASEAN-led structures and processes.