ASEAN and Vietnam to enhance international Student Mobility with support from the EU’s SHARE Programme
HANOI, 8 June 2016 – Today, ASEAN and the European Union (EU) Support to Higher Education in ASEAN Region (SHARE) Programme commenced their third in a series of SHARE policy dialogues. In cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, this two-day event brings together 150 high-level education officials, university managers, academics and students from Vietnam, ASEAN Member States and the EU.
The policy dialogue focuses on the tools necessary to enhance mobility of students in the ASEAN region, especially credit transfer systems and scholarship schemes. The discussions are a stepping-stone on ASEAN’s path towards a the creation of a vibrant higher education area, which will boost competitiveness of ASEAN Member States as well as of ASEAN as a whole.
“Internationalisation is a key strategy for any modern university. Making our universities in Vietnam fit for the opportunities and challenges that arise form the ASEAN Community is a crucial element in our higher education strategy. A programme like SHARE is a very good tool to support the necessary development of systems and frameworks to realise this strategy,” said Prof. Phung Xuan Nha, Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam and former Rector of Vietnam National University Hanoi.
SHARE is a 10 million Euro EU grant funded programme with a principal objective of strengthening regional cooperation, enhancing the quality, competitiveness and internationalisation of ASEAN higher education institutions and students, and contributing to an ASEAN Community. From 2016 onwards, it will be providing some 500 scholarships for ASEAN university students to put the improved systems to the test, mainly by supporting student exchange and credit recognition within the ASEAN region. ASEAN is working with a consortium led by British Council and comprising the DAAD, EP-Nuffic, Campus France, ENQA and EUA between 2015 and 2018 to implement SHARE.
“The EU is very pleased to bring its wealth of expertise from the European Bologna Process to support ASEAN through the SHARE programme in building its own scholarship scheme and regional systems,” said EU Ambassador to Vietnam Bruno Angelet, and: “The European Erasmus scholarship scheme is known worldwide as the gold standard in exchange programmes. Millions of European students have benefitted from the scheme not only through their academic qualifications but also by experiencing Europe on a personal level. This has had a profound impact on regional building in Europe.”
Rodora T. Babaran, Director of Human Development at the ASEAN Secretariat, highlighted the ASEAN dimension: “An effective regional higher education system centred on an ASEAN scholarship scheme for students will be an important element of realising the vision of a truly people-centred ASEAN community.”
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For media inquiries, please contact:
- Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam:Mr Nguyen Hoai Nam, Tel.: +84 4 38684835, Email: hoainam@moet.edu.vn
- ASEAN Secretariat:Abigail C. Lanceta, Tel.: +62 21 726 2991 ext. 418, Email: abigail.lanceta@asean.org
- Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam:Ms Vien Ngoc Bich, Tel.: +84 4 39461783, Email: bich.vien@eeas.europa.eu
- Delegation of the European Union to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam:Tioria Silalahi, Tel.: +62 21 2554 6200, Email: tioria.silalahi@eeas.europa.eu
- SHARE:Martanova Hartoyo, Tel.: +62 21 726 2991 ext. 831, Email: martanova.hartoyo@asean.org
