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EU and ASEAN award 134 scholarships to ASEAN undergraduate students

01.02.2017
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ASEAN and the European Union (EU) have announced the awardees for the second batch of the "EU Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region" (SHARE) scholarships. A total of 134 ASEAN undergraduate students from 29 ASEAN universities in eight ASEAN Member States, will receive a fully-funded scholarship to spend one semester of study in another ASEAN country.

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ASEAN and the European Union (EU) have announced the awardees for the second batch of the "EU Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region" (SHARE) scholarships. A total of 134 ASEAN undergraduate students from 29 ASEAN universities in eight ASEAN Member States, will receive a fully-funded scholarship to spend one semester of study in another ASEAN country.

“ASEAN Community is all about the future of young generation of ASEAN who will soon become the leaders and the workforce of this region. As such, we continuously work towards giving them opportunity to develop themselves, discover new knowledge, meet new friends and appreciate better their region. The SHARE scholarship is an excellent scheme that allows them to do just that. Student mobility within ASEAN forms the very foundation that allows our students to define their identity and appreciate their community,” said Mr Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee, Deputy Secretary-General for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community of the ASEAN Secretariat.

Inspired by the European Bologna Process and Erasmus scholarship programme, SHARE has established a scholarship scheme to support the region’s graduates and regional leaders of tomorrow. On behalf of ASEAN, 500 scholarships are made available to be distributed in four batches, with 400 allocated for intra-ASEAN mobility and another 100 for ASEAN students to study in the EU. The scholarship is also designed to test the application of an ASEAN-wide credit transfer systems (ACTS) and an ASEAN-European credit transfer system (AECTS), where students will receive transferable credits from the overseas courses which will count towards their studies back home.

Sixteen students from eight ASEAN universities pioneered the SHARE Scholarship in 2016. Following the success of this pilot batch, SHARE launched a second call and received more than 300 applications from ASEAN students, of which more than 50% came from CLMV Countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Viet Nam). SHARE will be calling for applications for two more batches in 2017-18.

"In Europe, three million students have received Erasmus scholarships to study in other EU countries during the past 30 years. The Erasmus programme has greatly contributed to the harmonisation of higher education in Europe. Similarly in ASEAN, following the first batch of 16 SHARE scholarship awardees, 134 awardees have been selected for the second batch, aiming to put to the test an ASEAN-wide scholarships scheme and credit recognition system among ASEAN higher education institutions. For the awardees, I hope that a semester abroad will enrich their academic experience and allow them to feel the hospitality, culture and diversity of ASEAN. Beyond their personal experience, I also hope that SHARE scholarships will contribute to the ASEAN Connectivity through creating people-to-people linkages," said EU Ambassador to ASEAN, Mr Francisco Fontan.

“The SHARE scholarship is the great chance for me to gain experience and more skills by being abroad, while discovering the beauty of other ASEAN countries. I am a student volunteer in my summer holidays and embarking on SHARE scholarship will further improve my communication skills by being exposed to different people and situations,” said Htet Mon Thar of Mandalay University, Myanmar, who was awarded a SHARE Scholarship to study at Phnom Penh International University, Cambodia.

Officially launched in May 2015, SHARE is a €10 million EU grant funded programme with the principal objective of strengthening regional cooperation, enhancing the quality, competitiveness and internationalisation of ASEAN higher education institutions and students, and contributing to an ASEAN Community. ASEAN is working with a European consortium of institutions led by British Council and comprising the DAAD, EP-Nuffic, Campus France, ENQA and EUA between 2015 and 2018 to implement SHARE. EP-Nuffic is in charge of managing the SHARE scholarship programme.

 

More on SHARE: http://share-asean.eu/activities/scholarship/

 

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