AUN News

Environmental sustainability and biodiversity conservation are crucial for the livelihoods of all citizens of ASEAN countries. Our current and future leaders ought to find the balance between socioeconomic development and the protection of remaining natural resources. The global conversation surrounding our climate laws and regulations now must center on disasters, displacement, and mitigation. The ethics webinar offered a platform for the contemplation of the ethical responsibility of environmental sustainability and a deep reflection on the current systems of production that produces such crises.

While many Southeast Asian countries are reopening borders and resuming in-person and on-site activities, the two-year hiatus full of home isolation, quarantines and social distancing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has left several long-term effects on ASEAN society and the well-being of its citizens, including pervasive mental health problems among the region’s populace. In the area of higher education, several issues emerged in terms of how students and educators have been coping while also maintaining productivity and performance under such circumstances. It is important for us to look into the gravity of the situation and the efforts to combat such a crisis thus far by institutions, organisations and governments in the Southeast Asian region.

There has been a constant increase in interest and development of interdisciplinarity. However, its essence and significance to the development of our society are still largely foreign to the general public. A call for raising awareness and understanding towards this outcome-based and integrated module of learning and knowledge creation is needed to garner support and make interdisciplinarity a vital part in education.

The constraints of the pandemic alongside the rise of technology made it necessary to transition to a “Hybrid World”, where structures in human lives are changed from the emergence and accommodation of cyberspace. Challenges of transitioning to a Hybrid World include lack of digital communication equipment for all, limited universal digital literacy skills, and risks of cybersecurity threats. Possible solutions towards this transition may involve sustained funding for research and innovation, more inclusive and collaborative science and technology systems, and maintaining the continuation of healthy societal communication.

One of the roles of universities is to generate and provide knowledge, something that has become increasingly important as the world faces challenges like COVID-19. Here are some of the collaborative efforts from within the ASEAN University Network that seek to answer some of the questions posed by the pandemic.