EU to support intra-ASEAN scholarship schemes for 300 students

On 27 April 2021, Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dato Lim Jock Hoi, the Ambassador of the EU to ASEAN, Igor Driesmans and the Team Leader of the SHARE Programme, Darren McDermott, officially launched a new phase of the EU’s Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (SHARE) Programme.

The new phase will support 300 students for one semester intra-ASEAN physical mobility before of 2022. The SHARE programme will also support the harmonisation ASEAN higher education institutions and the formulation of ASEAN higher education frameworks. In doing so, ASEAN and EU will share experience, including the EU’s Erasmus scheme. The EU made available €5,000,000 for this purpose. The support will build on the previous successful SHARE programme, which ran since 2015.

The Secretary General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi stated, “This two-year extension is testament to the EU’s steadfast support towards ASEAN’s community building efforts, particularly in enhancing the quality, regional competitiveness and internationalisation of higher education in the region.”

EU Ambassador Igor Driemans said “As Strategic Partners, the EU and ASEAN put human development, in particular education, at the heart of our partnerships. Education mobility is part and parcel of the EU’s DNA. Beyond the support for 300 intra-ASEAN scholarships, the SHARE programme will help to create a sustainable ASEAN Higher Education Space, drawing lessons from the European experience of the Erasmus programme and the Bologna Process” added Ambassador Driesmans.

The SHARE Programme is the EU’s flagship initiative on higher education, supported by a consortium comprising of the British Council, the DAAD, ENQA, and Nuffic. The consortium will bring in their expertise and experience under the SHARE programme extension, to support the establishment of an ASEAN Higher Education Space towards greater harmonisation of ASEAN higher education to support regional student mobility across the region.

A budget of €5,000,000 has been committed by the EU, including co-financing of €175,000 by the British Council, for the next phase of the SHARE Programme. The benefits will extend to a wide range of ASEAN entities, higher education institutions, and students. The SHARE Programme will also catalyse the transfer of ownership of programme outcomes to ASEAN entities and nominated organisations to sustain the progress made in the past six years. Therefore, this two-year extension will enable the provision of technical assistance and capacity building programme in the following areas:

• Developing ASEAN Communities of Practice for greater coordination, knowledge management, and Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL)
• Strengthening of regional initiatives on quality assurance and accreditation of higher education institutions and study programmes

• Supporting the implementation of national qualifications frameworks and the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF)
• Contributing to the ongoing work of the ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN)
• Supporting the move to Outcome Based Education (OBE) pedagogy
• Producing a study on ‘Graduate Employability in ASEAN’ as part of a series of studies 
to support the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) 2025
• Implementing digital modalities of internationalisation including Virtual Exchange and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)
• Piloting digital credentials recognition and portability to enhance the ASEAN – Europe Credit Transfer System (AECTS) mechanism.

The Team Leader of the SHARE Programme, Darren McDermott, stated “We are committed to supporting the implementation of the upcoming third ASEAN Work Plan on Education 2021-2025 for the duration of the SHARE Extension. We look forward to working closely and collaboratively with our partners across the ASEAN Community over the coming two years.”

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About SHARE Programme

The Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (SHARE) Programme is the European Union’s flagship higher education programme with ASEAN. The SHARE Programme resumed with effect from 27 February 2021 for an extension until the end of 2022.The SHARE Consortium is comprised of the British Council, the DAAD, ENQA, and Nuffic. The SHARE Extension will see the programme continue its support of the ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN stakeholders to enable greater harmonisation and internationalisation of ASEAN higher education. It aims to catalyse the transfer of ownership of programme outcomes to ASEAN entities and nominated organisations to be embedded within sustainable ASEAN-led structures and processes.

About EU

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

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

About ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) brings together Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam in a community united by a common desire and collective will to live in a region of lasting peace, security and stability, sustained economic growth, shared prosperity and social progress, and to promote our vital interests, ideals and aspirations.