27 October 2022

Spotlight of Agendas Presented in the 17th SOM-ED and 12th SOM-ED+3 Meeting

By
Patitin Lertnaikiat
AUN Programme Officer;

The 17th ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Education (17th SOM-ED Meeting) was convened on 11 October 2022 in Hanoi, Vietnam, followed by the 12th ASEAN Plus Three Senior Officials Meeting on Education (11th SOM-ED+3 Meeting) on 12 October 2022. Agenda items the AUN Secretariat presented at the 17th SOM-ED meeting were the results of the 37th AUN Board of Trustees Meeting and the progress of ASEAN Master in Sustainability Management Programme. For the 12th SOM-ED+3 Meeting, the agenda AUN Secretariat presented were the updates on regional Projects and Activities in support of the ASEAN Work Plan of Education (AWPE) 2021-2025 and the ASEAN Plus Three Plan of Action (APT PoA) on Education 2018-2025. The agendas AUN Secretariat presented coincide with the underlying theme of all ASEAN senior officer and minister meetings during 11 - 14 November: “Joint efforts to reimagine learning and building resilience of education systems in ASEAN and beyond in the new context”.

At the 17th SOM-ED Meeting, the AUN Secretariat took the opportunity to present results of the recent 37th AUN Board of Trustees Meeting that took place in Vientiane on 28 September 2022. The meeting was hosted by the National University of Laos and co-hosted by the AUN Secretariat, returning to its onsite format at Landmark Mekong Riverside Hotel. The Meeting concluded with constructive discussions and productive outcomes that yielded fruitful results for the future of AUN. More about the Meeting can be read here.

 The AUN Progress Report seen at the 37th AUN Board of Trustees Meeting was also shared at the 17th SOM-ED Meeting. The report exemplifies the statistical output from AUN activities conducted throughout July 2021 - June 2022 and categorized within 4 areas of AUN Key Results: 1) Talents/Humans Resource Development, 2) Research/Academic Projects, 3) Institutional Capacities, 4) Networks/Alliances. 

The agenda that followed was the Progress of the ASEAN Master in Sustainability Management Programme operationalised by AUN-BE (Universitas Gadjah Mada) in collaboration with University of Agder, Norway. It is an MBA with a concentration in Sustainability Management that has the objective of developing competent candidates for key positions in government and business who can partake in leading economic developments towards environmental sustainability. Currently, there are 18 scholarship recipients from the second batch of students in the programme admitted earlier this year. Some Norwegian companies with a strong interest in sustainability practices have collaborated with the programme to take students as their interns, with some also expressing their commitment to offer funding support. The programme has also returned to on-site study at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia.

The 12th SOM-ED+3 Meeting was convened on the following day, 12 October 2022. The AUN Secretariat was there to report the updates regarding AUN’s contribution to the ASEAN Work Plan of Education (AWPE) 2021-2025 and the ASEAN Plus Three Plan of Action (APT PoA) on Education 2018-2025. AUN is involved in the AWPE mainly in the mission to enhance regional capacity in higher education as part of lifelong learning provision, including the harmonization of ASEAN higher education. AUN has conducted more than 10 initiatives in this area in 2021–2022. The AUN delegates have also extended their gratitude towards its project partners from ASEAN+3 countries in a few of its initiatives including ASEAN-Youth Korea Summit, AUN-China Scholarship, ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship, ASEAN University Network Disability and Public Policy (AUN-DPPnet) Scholarship, projects and programmes under AUN/SEED-Net with the support from JICA, and ASEAN-Japan Virtual Cultural Exchange Programme 

The ASEAN Work Plan of Education 2021-2025 list of outcomes and outputs can be accessed here.

Once again, the agendas that were presented not only in the 17th SOM-ED and 12th SOM-ED+3 Meetings but all meetings throughout the 4 days of SOM-ED meetings revolved around the theme of “Joint efforts to reimagine learning and building resilience of education systems in ASEAN and beyond in the new context”. The topics and ideas discussed will be crucial to evolving the landscape of ASEAN education in the near future and for many years to come.