KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — As the country implements a holistic education transformation through the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education), Malaysia will share its experiences and good practices in quality higher education with other Asean member states.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said the sharing of experiences and good practices will be done through the Asean Quality Assurance Network (Aqan) that was launched here today at the Fourth SHARE Policy Dialogue.
“Aqan will provide us with a regional framework project named Asean Quality Assurance Framework (Aqaf).
“Through Aqaf, Asean member countries will learn from each other, support each other, and grow stronger together as an Asean higher education space with quality courses, taught by quality faculty, at quality institutions,” he said in his speech at the opening ceremony of the dialogue.
His speech was delivered by Deputy Minister of Higher Education Datuk Mary Yap Kain Ching. Also prsent were Asean Deputy Secretary General for the Asean Socio-Cultural Community Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee, President of Aqan Wachara Karunyavanu and European Union (EU) Ambassador to Asean Francisco Fontan.
Idris said the benefits of creating a higher education space in Southeast Asia included greater mobility, widening access and choices, academic and research collaboration, enhanced collaboration on knowledge sharing and on human capital investment, and the promotion of an Asean identity both within the region and outside Asean countries.
Meanwhile, Arthakaivalvatee said the establishment of Aqan is important because education is the crucial element to the realisation of the Asean Community and to create a sense of Asean citizen among its people.
The establishment of Aqan was agreed upon during the inaugural Asean Quality Assurance Agencies Roundtable Meeting that was held in 2008 in Kuala Lumpur.
Aqan was officially registered as an international association network under Malaysia’s Societies Act 1966 in 2014 and the Secretariat is currently based at the Malaysia Qualifications Agency (MQA).
Themed ‘Towards a Shared Understanding of Quality Assurance in Asean’, the Fourth SHARE Policy Dialogue was organised by European Union (EU) Support to Higher Education in Asean Region (SHARE) Programme.
Jointly organised by Asean, Higher Education Ministry and EU, the two-day dialogue beginning today brings 130 high-level education officials, university managers, academics and students from Asean member states and the EU, focusing on Aqan and issues of regional and national quality assurance. — Bernama
