ASEAN Integration by 2015 and

Its Implications to Education in the Region

ASEAN Secretariat
28 January 2014, Chiang Mai, Thailand
 Presentation Outline

I. ASEAN Integration Progress

II. Education in ASEAN
III. Implications of ASEAN Integration to
Education in the Region
 PART I

ASEAN Integration Progress

 ASEAN Community: The 3 Pillars

ASEAN ASEAN ASEAN

Political-Security Economic Socio-Cultural
Community (APSC) Community (AEC) Community (ASCC)

Enhancing peace, Enhancing Nurture human, cultural

stability, democracy and competitiveness for and natural resources
prosperity in the region economic growth and for sustained
through comprehensive development through development in a
political and security closer economic harmonious and people-
cooperation integration, characterized centred ASEAN
by: Single market &
production base,
Equitable economic
development & Global
integration
 ASEAN Community Blueprint
Implementation Period: 2009 - 2015
92.00
90.00
88.00
86.00
84.00
APSC
82.00
AEC
80.00
ASCC
78.00
76.00
74.00
72.00
APSC AEC ASCC
 Significant progress towards
ASEAN Community by 2015

• ASEAN GDP almost doubled since 2000 ( real GDP per capita
from PPP$ 2882 in 2000 to PPP$ 5581 in 2011)
• Rapid growth of ASEAN trade in goods and services
• A Popular Destination of FDI, from US$ 21.81 bil in 2000 to
US$ 114.11 bil in 2011
• ASEAN Agreement on Movement of Natural Persons (MNP)
 Significant progress towards
ASEAN Community by 2015 (cont’d)
• Increasing trend in average actual number of years schooling completed
by the adult population from 2005 -2011
• Increasing & converging trend in ASEAN in terms of the adult literacy rate
in 2000 - 2011. On average, more than 9/10 people in ASEAN can read
and write.
• Youth literacy rates have improved remarkably (98,5% in 2010)
• Net school enrolment rates increased during 2000 - 2011 in all ASEAN
countries
• Dropout rate declined rapidly between 2000 – 2011
• Improvement in gender parity in primary and secondary education
• ASEAN6–CLMV gap in basic education indicators have been narrowed

Sources: ASEAN Community Progress Monitoring System Report 2012 and

The ASEAN State of Education Report 2013
 PART II
Education in ASEAN
 Brief Introduction
• “develop human resources through closer cooperation in education
and life-long learning, and in science and technology, for the
empowerment of the peoples of ASEAN and for the strengthening
of the ASEAN Community” (ASEAN Charter)

• Social dimensions of development in ASEAN: promote greater

educational cooperation among ASEAN Member States and
strengthen education within them:
(1) to narrow the development gaps,
(2) to prepare youth for regional leadership,
(3) to increase the competitiveness of the people.
 ASCC Priority Areas in 2013

Culture Sports Education

Disaster
Social Protection Climate change
Management
 Milestones
1. Establishment of AUN in November 1995.
2. First ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting (ASED), 21 March 2006
in Singapore.
3. Cha-Am Hua Hin Declaration on Strengthening Cooperation on
Education to Achieve an ASEAN Caring and Sharing Community
4. ASEAN 5-Year Work Plan on Education (2011-2015) and the
Education Work Plans with Plus Three Countries and East Asia
Summit.
5. ASEAN Roadmap for the Attainment of the MDGs (2012) - a
framework for collective actions in ASEAN to accelerate the
achievement of the MDGs
6. SEAMEO-ASEAN Priorities and Activities/Programs in Education
(2012-2013).
• The ASCC Blueprint: 28 actions relevant to education, under:
a. ASEAN Senior Official Meeting on Education (SOM-ED)
b. ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting (ASED)
In their implementations, SOM-ED leads 16 of these actions (i-xii and
xvi-xix), while the rest are led by other ASEAN Sectoral bodies.

• ASEAN 5-Year Work Plan on Education (2011-2015): 4 priorities

1. ASEAN Awareness;
2. (a) Increasing Access to, and increasing Quality Primary and
Secondary Education; (b) Increasing Access to, and Quality of
Education-Performance Standards, Lifelong Learning and
Professional Development;
3. Strengthening Cross-Border Mobility and Internationalization of
Education;
4. Support for other ASEAN Sectoral Bodies with an Interest in
Education
• Many actions are consistent with targets expressed in the MDGs
 Education in AEC
• DEVELOP national skills framework towards an ASEAN skills
recognition framework

• PROMOTE greater mobility of students

• SUPPORT greater mobility of skilled workers through regional

cooperation mechanisms and by efforts to safeguard and improve
educational and professional standards;

• DEVELOP an ASEAN competency-based occupational standard;

• ENCOURAGE the development of a common standard of

competencies as a base for benchmarking with a view to promote
mutual recognition.
 Key Actions/Achievements
• Mobility of Students
 The official AUN website: http://www.aun-sec.org/
 ASEAN Credit Transfer System (ACTS): http://acts.ui.ac.id/
 ASEAN Plus Three Working Group on Mobility of Higher
Education and Ensuring Quality Assurance of Higher
Education
 European Union Support to Higher Education in ASEAN
Region (EU SHARE) Program

• ASEAN competency-based occupational standard

 Common Curriculum for Entrepreneurship in ASEAN (Joint
Consultation between ASEAN SME Agencies Working Group
and Japan).
 AUN-SEED NET (http://www.seed-net.org/)
 Key Actions/Achievements (cont’d)
• Mobility of Skilled Workers
 MRA on Engineering Services (9 December 2005)
 MRA on Nursing Services (8 December 2006)
 MRA on Architectural Services and Framework
Arrangement for the Mutual Recognition of Surveying
Qualifications (19 November 2007)
 MRA on Medical Practitioners, MRA on Dental Practitioners,
and MRA Framework on Accountancy Services (26 February
2009)
 The development of ASEAN Regional Qualification
Framework and Skills Recognition System (RQFSRS) for
Tourism professionals (2008)
 Challenges in Education
• The gaps among Member States are still wide
 Access to/continuation of education
 Quality of education (e.g. teacher education & pedagogy)
 Finance, Governance & Management

 e.g. Skilled and educated labor force: English (as a

working language of ASEAN), ICT (IT curriculum at school
level), region’s cultural diversity and differences as a
source for motivation and creativity, and complex
problem solving skills.

• Effective synergies between different mechanisms

(ASEAN/AUN and SEAMEO), and Dialogue Partners,
International Agencies
 Challenges in Education (cont’d)
• A Holistic Approach to education:
 Formal vs. non-formal /informal education (SOM-ED, PPP)
 Basic & Higher education
 Vocation and Technical Training - TVET (EAS Education Plan
of Action (2012-2015): (i) a regional TVET quality assurance
framework, (ii) development of a network of TVET providers
in the EAS, (ii) facilitating TVET teacher and student
mobility; and (iv) a feasibility study of a register of TVET
providers in the EAS.
 Education of transversal skills and other needed skills
(related to life, environment, socio-cultural)

• Monitoring tool (statistics and ASCC scorecard, e.g. consolidated

data for ASEAN in the UNESCO EFA Reports)
 PART III

Implications of ASEAN Integration

to Education in the Region
 ASEAN Integration Process
• Establishment of an ASEAN Community by the end of 2015, and a Truly
‘People-Centred’ ASEAN in the Post-2015 period encompass:
 More commitments towards building an ASEAN Community (e.g.
people to people connectivity, institutional frameworks, pooling of
resources, political-security and socio-cultural policies to support
social and regional cohesion)
 Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI Work Plan) emphasizes the role
of education in narrowing the development gap between ASEAN-6
and CLMV countries
 Higher demand for skilled labour & Increased cross-border flows of
labor - and deepen ASEAN’s position in the global value chains
 Continuing cross-sectoral cooperation in education
 The development/promotion of partnerships in education sector
 ASEAN Qualifications Reference
Framework

• A Task Force was established to develop an ASEAN Qualifications

Reference Framework (AQRF) as a common reference
framework for the region/a translation device to enable
comparisons of qualifications across participating ASEAN
countries.

• TF members comprised of nominated representatives from the

AANZFTA Committee on Trade in Services, Ministry of Education,
Ministry of Labour/Manpower Development, other relevant
Ministries and Qualification Agencies.
 Task Force Implementation and Arrangement
• Bangkok, 31 October – 1 November 2012: finalized Terms of
Reference, the Work Plan of Task Force
• Jakarta, 20 - 22 March 2013: Revised draft key components of
AQRF, and Synthesized terminology of AQRF
• Kuala Lumpur, 6-8 November 2013: Agreement on the key
features, definitions and structures, and timelines for
endorsement of AQRF.
• February 2014: Completed the final draft of AQRF (excluding
governance arrangements) for endorsement.
• September 2014: Completed governance arrangements for
consideration of AMS; and Next Steps for Implementation
 Other areas for consideration
• In general, ASEAN integration process will require:
 Management of highly-skilled migration
 Technical aspects of cross-border skills recognition
 Collecting labour market information
 Human resource development

• For education, different stages of National Qualification

Framework (NQF) formulation will require:
 Clear distinction between the purposes of NQF & AQRF
 Define “Interoperability” amongst NQFs
 Expanding the QA system towards NQF and AQRF
Thank You !