3 November 2022

The First Agenda from the 13th AUN Rectors’ Meeting: Driving University Excellence through Regional and International Cooperation

By
Patitin Lertnaikiat
AUN Programme Officer;

To recap, earlier this year on the 27th of September, the 13th AUN Rectors’ Meeting was conducted in Vientiane, Lao PDR hosted by National University of Laos and co-hosted by the AUN Secretariat. It was a meeting organized as a platform allowing all participants to discuss and share AUN-related projects, programs, and activities related to the theme of “University Excellence and the Next Frontiers of ASEAN Higher Education: How AUN Member Universities Think, Lead, and Manage”. 

This week, we would like to introduce the overview of the first agenda: “Driving University Excellence through Regional and International Cooperation”. Speakers on this agenda selected examples in the area of driving university talents through technology, and showed how rating/ranking systems demonstrating international competition and cooperation can incentivise capacity building in Higher Education Institutions. As such, the first agenda was then divided into three sub-agendas with a total of six speakers.

  1. Driving University Talents Through Technology

    • Assoc. Prof. Lieven Demeester, Chair of ASEAN University Network for Technology-enhanced Personalized Learning (AUN-TEPL) highlighted the necessity for accessibility to technology to all students across the region to better support their learning modes through a personalized software.

    • Vernon R. Totanes, PhD, Chair of Libraries of ASEAN University Network (AUNILO), emphasized the growing importance of libraries in providing fast and detailed information on larger international platforms and research.

  2. Driving University Through Competition and Cooperation in Rankings/Ratings

    • Universitas Indonesia’s Green Metrics by dr. Agustin Kusumayati, M.Sc., Ph.D was presented and she called for ASEAN universities to establish platforms and mechanisms to ensure universities are environmentally conscious.​​​​​​​

    • Prof. Dr. Chartchalerm Isarankura-Na-Ayudhya from ASEAN University Network - Health Promotion Network (AUN-HPN) presented the recent developments of the Healthy University Rating System (HURS), an effective tool that ASEAN Universities can use to rate themselves in regards to their overall quality of healthiness, safety, and related topics.​​​​​​​

  3. Driving World-Class Study Programme and Student Mobility

    • Rocky Adiguna, SE., M.Sc., Ph.D. presented the full scholarship scheme of the ASEAN Masters’ in Sustainability Management from ASEAN University Network for Business and Economics (AUN-BE), the first truly ASEAN program, that provides an interdisciplinary curriculum combining both complex solutions from the business and the environment sector. The scholarship is funded by the Norwegian government and supported by UGM, UiA, and the AUN Secretariat.​​​​​​​

    • Hideki Shimazu, Project Coordinator of ASEAN University Network/Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network (AUN/SEED-Net), one of AUN’s Thematic Networks, presented on the impressive programs and achievements of the network. These include scholarships, collaborative research, and mobility programs that span across the entire region with over 40 million USD in contribution.​​​​​​​

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a deeper dive into each sub-agenda and presentations from each speaker!