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
Political-Security
Community (APSC)

ASEAN
Economic
Community (AEC)

ASEAN
Socio-Cultural
Community (ASCC)

Enhancing peace,
stability, democracy and
prosperity in the region
through comprehensive
political and security
cooperation

Enhancing
competitiveness for
economic growth and
development through
closer economic
integration, characterized
by: Single market &
production base,
Equitable economic
development & Global
integration

Nurture human, cultural

and natural resources
for sustained
development in a
harmonious and peoplecentred ASEAN

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 (contd)
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
ASEAN6CLMV 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

Social Protection

Climate change

Disaster
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 (contd)

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), regions 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 (contd)

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 ASEANs 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 !