NEAT Working Group on Enhancing People to People Connectivity
-Education, Tourism and Cultural Exchange-
1. Introduction
Through the institutionalization of ASEAN+3 (APT) in 1997 and the East Asia Summit (EAS) in 2005, regional cooperation and integration in the East Asia region has been promoted.Especially ASEAN, which has enforced its ASEAN Charter in December 2008 and aimed at communitybuilding within ASEAN by 2015 has rapidlyincreased integration efforts. For ASEAN Community Building, enhancing “connectivity” is the most important task, with ASEAN having adopted “ASEAN Leaders' Statement on ASEAN Connectivity” in 2009, “Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity” in 2010. Effortsto integration are made based on three pillars:“Physical Connectivity,” which includes transportation, telecommunicationsand energy networks, “Institutional Connectivity,” which includes trade, investment the liberalization and facilitation of the servicesector and “People to People Connectivity,” which includeseducation, tourism and culturalexchange. Additionally, APT as well as EAS have adoptedthe “Declaration of the 6th East Asia Summit on ASEAN Connectivity” in 6th EAS in 2011 and the “Leaders’Statement on ASEAN Plus Three Partnership on Connectivity” in 15th APT in 2012, with both frameworks strongly supporting the enhancing of connectivity within ASEAN. The move towards enhancing connectivity within the East Asia region as a whole is gaining momentum and enhancing people to people connectivity is increasing in importance as a foundation of the improvement of physical and institutional connectivity.
Taking accountof the rapidlyadvancing economic, cultural, and social integration in the 21st century, it is necessaryfor countries to discuss the issues that they must tackle and share tasks in order for furtherintegration of the region. In addition,to strengthen “people to people connectivity” which is mentionedin the “ASEAN+3 Leaders’Statement on Connectivity Partnership” policies should be implemented efficiently. Furthermore, as reality changes over time, it is necessaryto take into consideration whether or not an emphasis should be put on new matters to accommodate the ever-changing environment.
Given the above mentioned background, this WG in phase 1 on “Enhancing People to People Connectivity -Education, Tourism and CulturalExchange-” was held in Tokyo, Japan on 31 July 2013, therebydeveloping concrete and feasible policy recommendations to be submitted to the ASEAN plus Three Summit. This WG made the following policy recommendations last year.
(1) To expand and support the currenthigher education network system among ASEAN＋3 countries; i.e. Enlargement ofCampus Asia Project by Japan, China and South Korea to ASEAN
Countries, and partnership enlargement of ASEAN University Network (AUN) tothe East Asian countries under ASEAN+3 University Network (ASEAN+3 UNet) with a characteristic of multi-layered system. To transformthe existing ASEAN＋1 international exchange and cooperation
programs into the ASEAN＋3 framework.
(2) To promote systematization of regional quality assurance and credit transfer systems of higher education in ASEAN＋3 with cooperation ofcurrent systems, i.e. ASEAN University Network – Quality Assurance (AUN-QA), ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN), Asia Pacific Quality
Network (APQN), ASEAN Credit Transfer System (ACTS), andCollective Action for Mobility Programof University Students(Campus Asia) and so on.
(3) To promote the cultural exchanges for mutual understanding through a regional common project, i.e. to establish the “East Asian Cultural City” which was already launched by China, South Korea and Japan, and to expand this system to ASEAN countries to attractive people’s concern to the Asian cultureincluding popular culture.
(4) To develop cultural exchanges among youth to act togetherfor fostering a sustainable development regional society. The exchangesshould include “study tours”, “green tourism” or “rural tourism”which will provide the participants with the opportunities to interact with local community, to be exposed to rich traditions, as well as to enjoy diverse natural environments.
(5) To enhance institutional building and people skills for cultural exchange and tourism, i.e. to establisha regional languagetraining framework and to create knowledgesharing system on culture and tourismof ASEAN + 3 countries.
(6) To develop academic collaborative research on historical artifacts and to promote preservation and protection of culturalassets and cultural heritage, and cultural industry development by makingvisible systems and capacitybuilding of human resource.
(7) To establish atrans-national collaborative higher education and research institution in East Asia on regionaland global issues like "APT Cyber University" that was originally proposed by the NEAT Working Group on the Enhancement of CulturalExchange in East Asia 2007-2012 to foster understanding of differentcultures and diversity.
(8) To establish aregional financial support system to encouragepeople’s connectivity through educational and cultural exchanges including tourism.
2. Objective
The objective of this Working Group, based on these backgrounds and issues, taking a wide viewpoint from the “track2” position and placing its much emphasison the importance of the current regional cooperation in East Asia, is to propose a detailed policy recommendations on “the enhancingof people to people connectivity” and to submit it to the ASEAN Plus Three Summit Meeting.In particular, this WG on phase 2 on“Enhancing People to People Connectivity -Education, Tourism and Cultural Exchange” has a following perspective. The concept of “People to People Connectivity” should be considered in a close relationship with key subjects of coexistence in a multicultural society, sustainable development, and social resilience. There are various stakeholders in this modern society, and an individual person has come to take a moreimportant role in a social change instead of a nation. In this process,it has become a more crucialfactor how to connectpeople to people and how to enhance its connectivity.
First, the field of education, especially higher education, has witnessed the emerging trend of standardization along with globalization. Quality assurance is particularly important in standardization. For example, the OECD began the “Feasibility Study” of the “Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO)” in 2011.However, the AHELO tests the attainment oflearning on specificsubjects aswell as general abilities, such as the criticalthinking, problem solving, and communication. These abilities do not necessarily sympathize with the culture of the APT member countrieswhich emphasize the “harmonization” to maintain conciliatory and harmonious relationship among people.On the other hand, thisharmonizing ability couldbe crucial oneformaking innovation in various fields, because innovation can be realized through dialogues among the people of different fields. The global trend for better quality assurance will expectedly accelerate in the future. And, as apractical matter, it is important to note that European and American universities dominate the top world university ranking. Given so, it is necessary to assess the current situation and tasks in setting the standard of educational quality assurance in the APT. Also, along with higher education, elementary and secondary education has also witnessed similar trend of standardization. For example, the OECD has conducted the triennial “Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)” targeting 15-year-old children since 2003, and 510,000students from 65 countries (including
34 OECD member countries and 31 non-member countries and areas) participated in the 2012 survey. The PISA also tries to test non-cognitive student achievements such as problem solving skills. In the future, further evaluations will be necessary for the appropriateness of these surveys for the APT member countries. In turn, it will be also necessary to conduct surveys for the Asian version of academic ability,establish the basis for it, and discuss the foundation of a practical common educational institution.
The field of higher education has also witnessedthe increasingly active international movement of students.Those from Asia have increased in the proportion to account for more than half of the international students in the world※. Along with this trend, cross-boundary educational activities for international students have developed on a multilateral basis in East Asia. The ASEAN International Mobility for Students Programme (AIMS), which the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Centre for Higher Education and Development (SEAMEO-RIHED) initiated in2010, has expanded to seven countries including Japan. The ASEAN University Network (AUN) has also developed the ASEAN+3 framework including Japanese,Chinese, and South Korean universities. Importanttasks with the international movement of studentsinclude the improvement of the credit transfer system. For example, SEAMEO-RIHED has begun modifying the existing system to adjust to the reality and developing the Academic Credit Transfer Framework for Asia (ACTFA). How would the concernedcountries cooperate within the APT framework to improve these existing and developing systems? It is necessary to comprehend this current situation as a source of data, to clarifythe issues to solve, and to discuss the solutions in the future.
Hence, in the field of education, it is especially important to consider how to improve a concretemeans of qualityassurance and credit transfer.As in the APT framework, the ASEAN+3 Education Minister Meeting in 2012 adoptedthe “ASEAN+3 Plan of Action on Education: 2010-2017.” The meeting also initiated the “ASEAN+3 WorkingGroup on Mobility of Higher Educationand Ensuring QualityAssurance of Higher Education,” the first meeting of which was held in Tokyo last year.
Another future challenge in the field of educationis how to “sophisticate” education in the face of the possible deterioration of higher education’s quality as a resultof the rapidly rising university advancement rate. Other urgent issues that need concrete discussions include how to achieve a balancedhuman resource development between advanced “researchers” and “professional,” how to define education in the aging society with falling birth rate, how to promote industry-academia cooperation, and how to
invigorate rural areas losing youth to urban areas. For the present WG, it is necessaryto discuss the means to enhance the connectivity in the field of educationbased on the existing frameworks, systems, and their accomplishments.
Next, as in the field of tourism, the ASEAN+3 Tourism Ministers Meeting decided to promote various ways of cooperation. Although the number of touristswithin the East and Southeast Asian region has grown rapidlypartly because of the new development of Low CostCarrier (LCC), the APT is now facing new challenges. The tourism industry can be vulnerable as it is susceptible to various external shocks, ranging from natural disasters, accidents to international relations and domestic politics. The APT should make utmost effort to enhance the sustainability of tourism development and jointly work to prevent the destruction of the natural environment and the intangible community heritage. Closer People to People Connectivity at the trans-local and trans-national levels can play an important role to contribute to the sustainability. From this perspective, future international cooperation may focus on, for example, “community-based tourism” in which local residents are encouraged to participate in the planning and to actively utilize local resources, including both tangible and intangible heritages. The APT countries may also be more active in identifying the common challenges that they face, and strive to exchange experiences and learn from each other accordingly. For instanceall the APT countriesare facing growing socio-economic gaps between urban and the rural societies. To promote tourism development as a way to enhancelocal community revitalization in the countryside has become an importanttask for all countries.
Last but not least,as in the field of cultural exchanges, related projects is an important factor to enhance the connectivity because they develop and deepen exchanges among people as well as mutualunderstanding alongwith such exchanges. Different cultural exchange projects have been already taking places under the Japan-China-South Korea and the APT frameworks. Whereas the successes of these projectsare meaningful, they have left room for further cooperation in the future. As such, it is necessary to have a follow-up of those on-going projects and to discuss the preservation of culturalheritages, a missing item of the agenda. A number of well-known tangible heritages are already registered as world heritages. However, it is a commontask for countries concerned to manage the adverse effect of designating a world heritage,such as the rapid increaseof tourists at the site. As for intangible heritages, the trend of globalization has renderedit difficult to preserve them in local communities. Given this situation, it is necessary to discuss the means for cooperation to energize each country’s intangible heritages in the
APT framework. In that sense, 3 categoryⅡ centers of UNESCO on intangible cultural heritage which are settled in China, Japan and South Korea could be the key institutions for the enrichment of preserving intangible cultural heritage in APT countries.
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