EU, ASEAN team up to boost educational and research ties with €9.3 million initiative

Today, ASEAN and the European Union (EU) launched a new programme called Sustainable Connectivity Package (SCOPE) in Higher Education at the ASEAN Headquarters in Jakarta.

The launch event of SCOPE Higher Education programme was officiated by Dr Kao Kim Hourn, Secretary-General of ASEAN, and Sujiro Seam, EU Ambassador to ASEAN.

The programme is designed to enhance sustainable connectivity between the EU and ASEAN and within ASEAN itself. The programme will support all ASEAN Member States with a funding value of €9.3 million until January 2028 and aims at strengthening student and academic mobility in ASEAN, fostering EU-ASEAN cross-regional university networks in research, and strengthening vocational education, focusing on the green transition, sustainability and digitalisation.

“The collaboration between ASEAN and the EU through this programme will undoubtedly enrich our educational landscapes, fostering mutual understanding and driving collective progress. These partnerships not only empower our future leaders but also serve as bridges that close divides and create equitable opportunities for all,’’ Dr Kao Kim Hourn, Secretary-General of ASEAN, said.

“Southeast Asia is a key region, and we want to further develop sustainable and trusted connections with ASEAN countries. People-to-people connectivity and investment in education and research are key components of the ASEAN-EU Strategic Partnership,” Sujiro Seam, EU Ambassador to ASEAN, said.

“Today, we celebrated the launch of the SCOPE Higher Education programme and explored avenues to further develop this cooperation in the context of the EU Global Gateway Strategy, working with partners for the betterment of our regions and their people,” he added.

Sustainable connectivity is one of the key priority areas for EU cooperation with ASEAN. The SCOPE Higher Education Project is part of the overall EU-ASEAN Sustainable Connectivity Package (SCOPE) that was adopted by the EU in April 2023. In addition to the higher education project, the SCOPE package – with a total commitment of €60 million – will cover other sectors such as trade, intellectual property rights, air and maritime transport, digital connectivity, energy and investments.

The SCOPE programme is part of the Global Gateway, a new European strategy to promote sustainable investments and links around the world through the promotion of smart, clean, and secure links in climate and energy, digital, health, transport, education, and research across the world.

The SCOPE Higher Education programme builds on the success of the EU's Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (SHARE) programme, which awarded 590 intra-ASEAN and ASEAN-Europe scholarships and facilitated over 1,600 virtual exchanges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, through the Erasmus Plus programme, the EU granted Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s degree scholarships to more than 200 ASEAN students, allowing them to study in two or more European countries. From 2014 to 2023, nearly 12,000 ASEAN students and scholars participated in short-term studies and teaching in Europe, while around 6,000 European students and scholars came to ASEAN for similar opportunities.

In research, the EU funded 90 grants through the Horizon Europe programme between 2021 and 2024, involving 109 institutions from ASEAN, with a total EU contribution of €10.6 million.

ASEAN Secretariat / Kusuma Pandu Wijaya/ 2024

About ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967 and constitutes ten Member States: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. On 31 December 2015, the ASEAN Community was formally established, encompassing the political-security, economic and socio-cultural pillars. The ASEAN Headquarters is based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

For more information, visit https://asean.org/

About the European Union (EU)

The European Union (EU) is the economic and political union of 27 Member States with a population of 470 million. Together, the EU has built a zone of stability, democracy and sustainable development while maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance and individual freedom. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the goals of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe. The EU is the world's largest trading bloc, and the world's largest source and destination of foreign direct investment. Collectively, the EU and its Member States are the largest donors of Official Development Assistance (ODA), providing more than half of ODA globally.

The 27 Member States of the EU (in protocol order) are: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.

For more information about the EU and its relations and cooperation with ASEAN, access: http://eeas.europa.eu/asean

More information about SCOPE-HE: https://euinasean.eu/scope-he

More information about Global Gateway strategy: https://europa.eu/!kXgWYM