12 July 2022

AUN and SUN/SixERS MOU Signage Renewal

By
Patitin Lertnaikiat
AUN Programme Officer;

The Memorandum of Understanding between AUN and SUN/SixERS remains strong as on June 14, 2022 the signage had been finalized and renewed. The AUN Secretariat is greatly honored to continue the tight relationship and effective collaborations with SUN/SixERS. The MOU originally came into effect on April 18, 2017, and through this most recent renewal will continue for another duration of 5 years onwards from 2022. This will further establish cross-consortium collaborations in the area of student, faculty and staff mobility, and expanding partnership in research and education. Throughout the initial 5 years, AUN and SUN/SixERS had many notable collaborative opportunities. The AUN Secretariat would like to take this time to acknowledge two of such collaborations in which the Secretariat had the pleasure of co-hosting with SUN/SixERS: the 5th ASEAN+3 Rectors Meeting in 2021 and the ASEAN-Japan Cross Cultural Event in 2022.

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The ASEAN+3 cooperation was initiated in December 1997 with the convening of an informal Summit among the Leaders of ASEAN and their partners from People’s Republic of China, Japan, and Republic of Korea. AUN is tasked to promote higher education cooperation, increase linkages between universities and encourage credit transfers among the ASEAN+3 countries. The 5th ASEAN+3 Rectors Conference organized a discussion and sharing on Good Practices in Environmental Research and Education in Southeast and East Asia within the context of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The AUN Secretariat once again would like to extend our gratitude to SUN/SixERS for being a part of this conference.

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The ASEAN-Japan Cross Cultural Event first began in 2013 and was known as “AUN-SUN/SixERS Study and Visit Programme Discovery, Diversity, Dynamics”. It has become the annual student mobility programme in partnership with 6 Japanese universities under the “SUN/SixERS” consortium. The programme was organized virtually during 1 - 3 March, 2022 for students from ASEAN Member countries and Japan. Since the pandemic, we all have faced several challenges and issues to interact and interconnect with others domestically and internationally. The exchange of culture has been directly affected by the pandemic as it normally required face-to-face interactions. Through the use of technology to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization of “The Cross Cultural Event 2022” emerged to prove cultural exchange opportunities can still continue.

The AUN Secretariat is looking forward to the years ahead to even further strengthen collaborations in mobility and expanding cooperation in research and education, as well as developing new activities and projects.