The European Union (EU) Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (SHARE) Programme is coming to an end on 27 December 2022. To conclude the programme SHARE convened an official closing ceremony at the ASEAN Secretariat on Tuesday, 6 December 2022, where partners, higher education institutions, practitioners, and alumni came to witness the handing over of SHARE Programme results to ASEAN entities and their partners.
The SHARE Programme has delivered various activities under its key result areas: Result Area 1 Policy Dialogues, Result Area 2 Qualifications Frameworks and Quality Assurance, and Result Area 3 Student Mobility and Credit Transfer. These result areas have also supported the development of higher education frameworks in the ASEAN region, including the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Higher Education Plan of Action (2016-2025), ASEAN Quality Assurance Framework (AQAF), ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN) accredited as ASEAN entity, Inaugural meeting of AQRF Committee took place to further pursue referencing, Bangkok Declaration on Promoting and ASEAN-EU Global Partnership for Shared Strategic Goals (2016), the ASEAN 5-Year Work Plan on Education (2021-2025), the Roadmap on the ASEAN Higher Education Space 2025 and its 2-year Implementation plan (2022), and the proposed Joint Declaration on a Common Higher Education Space in Southeast Asia.
H. E. Ekkaphab Phanthavong, Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) of ASEAN for Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC), “Today’s event highlights what the Programme has achieved and will also take stock of lessons learned. As you know, since 2015, SHARE Programme has been instrumental in supporting ASEAN’s ambition to enable greater harmonisation and internationalisation of higher education in the region. Therefore, on this occasion, I would like to extend my appreciation to EU for this 15 million EUR Programme. Because of your generous support, SHARE Programme has delivered exemplary results, including among others 15 policy dialogues, 29 publications, 590 scholarships for ASEAN students, and over 600 beneficiaries of policy dialogues, workshops, training, conferences, and forums.”
In delivering its activities, the SHARE Programme has worked alongside the ASEAN Secretariat and partnered with various regional and international partners in the sector to create a common higher education space, in particular, the ASEAN University Network (AUN), the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Centre specialising in Higher Education Development (SEAMEO RIHED), UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok, ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN), ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF) Committee, and 33 SHARE Partner Universities.
During the closing ceremony, H.E. Igor Driesman, the EU Ambassador to ASEAN stated, “The SHARE Programme has contributed to the Roadmap on the ASEAN Higher Education Space 2025 and various frameworks in ASEAN higher education sector. The EU is proud to have provided opportunities to more than 2,000 ASEAN students to study abroad, virtually or in person, both within ASEAN and in Europe through the SHARE scholarships. These scholarships gave the opportunity to the young people in ASEAN to experience personal and professional development and growth. The EU would like to congratulate the SHARE Team, all partners in the ASEAN Member States and ASEAN Secretariat for their hard work, contribution, and commitment.”
Officially launched in 2015 as the EU’s flagship higher education programme, the SHARE Programme is a EUR 15 million EU grant-funded programme, implemented by a consortium of institutions. The SHARE Consortium in 2015-2019 consisted of the British Council (United Kingdom), Campus France (France), the German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD (Germany), Nuffic (the Netherlands), European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education or ENQA (Belgium), and the European University Association (EUA). During the extension phase of the Programme in 2021-2022, the SHARE Consortium comprises the British Council, DAAD, ENQA, and Nuffic.
Darren J. McDermott, the Team Leader of the SHARE Programme stated, “Throughout its 7-year implementation period the SHARE Programme has sought to convene regional organisations, institutions, practitioners, and students to engage in dialogue and capacity development on higher education. SHARE has contributed to the policy landscape in the Southeast Asian region’s higher education development. In addition to furthering people-to-people links intra-ASEAN, SHARE has strengthened links with the European higher education community. The outcomes of the SHARE will not conclude with the programme but rather be taken forward by regional stakeholders within sustainable structures, frameworks and initiatives, including the ASEAN Working Group on Higher Education Mobility (AWGHEM), the RIHED-SHARE Knowledge Platform, the Roadmap on the ASEAN Higher Education Space and the proposed joint ASEAN-SEAMEO Declaration on a Common Higher Education Space in Southeast Asia.”See original article at https://www.share-asean.eu/news/share-programme-concludes-its-7-year-implementation
