The world has entered an age when ‘knowledge’ is ‘expiring’ fast. With new disruptions coming up one after the other, the knowledge and skills students learn in class can quickly go obsolete. How can ASEAN higher education keep up with this? In the 2nd session of the 14th AUN Rectors’ Meeting “Meeting the expectations of the people,” top executives of AUN Member Universities discussed how ASEAN higher education can nurture the skills and virtues that will remain relevant to the upcoming generation and “future-proof” them, even in the volatile, fast-changing world.

On July 25, 2023, the Consortium of Continuous Process Enabling Sustainable Chemistry (CES-CHEM) held a kick-off meeting with almost 20 participants, including all consortium members and the AUN/SEED-Net Secretariat, to announce their collaboration, marking the start of a successful partnership.

On 5 July 2023, top leaders of three AUN Member Universities, together with the ASEAN Secretariat, gathered to explore the big picture of higher education and how ASEAN and AUN can be a better part of it in the 1st session of the 14th AUN Rectors’ Meeting “Mapping the Big Picture.” As the world is well-settled in the era of multipolarity, the door is wide open for partnership and collaboration in the developing world. How can ASEAN higher education maximise this occasion? Trek through this terrain of opportunities with AUN leaders and the ASEAN Secretariat.

“Workshop Towards SDGs: Mapping University and Student Perspectives in ASEAN” is an online dialogue workshop organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), and co-organised by the ASEAN University Network (AUN) and Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) via Zoom Meetings on July 18, 2023. The workshop aimed to map current sustainable development policies in national policymaking bodies and other government agencies, and to present current sustainable development practices in higher education institutions.

Three REd-UC consortium projects as kick-off meetings were held to address pressing global challenges and drive sustainability. Renowned institutions from various countries have joined forces to foster academia-industry collaboration and promote innovation in the fields of wastewater management, carbon neutrality, and sustainable transportation.

Hue University (HU) has been an AUN-QA Member University since 2015, and on 4 - 6 July 2023, AUN-QA had the opportunity to assess the Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Programme from Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Hue UMP). It is a programme that aims to develop graduates with the necessary professional abilities and ethics in the field of Medical Laboratory. AUN-QA is delighted to have been given the opportunity to assess and ensure quality to this programme that will bring forth graduates that will protect, care, and improve the health of people throughout Vietnam and even beyond!

AUN-QA has member universities that have been part of the family for many years and counting that actively engage with AUN-QA activities like workshops or with plenty of Programme Assessments from us well under their belt. In this week of AUN-QA PA overview you will find familiar names Mahidol University (MU) for the 334th PA and Can Tho University (CTU) for the 336th PA. For the 335th PA, it is Hue University’s (HU) first ever Programme Assessment with AUN-QA. They have been part of the AUN-QA member universities for many years, participating in various AUN-QA workshops, and we are excited to expand our collaborative activities to programme assessments as well with HU!

Between June 16 and July 3, 2023, three university consortia officially began their transregional collaboration by holding kick-off meetings with the partners. The consortia, known as R-TUNE, EnviroPComp, and GEnES, were among the seven winning teams of the Research and Education Program for the University Consortium or REd-UC.

The 38th ASEAN University Network Board of Trustees (AUB-BOT) Meeting concluded with an astounding success on 6 July 2023, with gracious hosting from Universiti Malaya. This annual meeting serves as an opportunity for the members of AUN’s Board of Trustees to be updated on the latest activities of AUN, discuss its direction, and set a vision for its future. This year, the members of our Board of Trustees were up for a long list!