Asean higher education system more open for international engagement — British Council

KUALA LUMPUR: Higher education systems in the Asean region are becoming more open for international engagement, according a new British Council report released yesterday.

The British Council, in a statement yesterday, said it was notable that Malaysia in particular, but also Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore and Thailand compare favourably with countries from across the world in terms of the policies and infrastructure provided to support international higher education.

“Promotion and support of international student mobility is a priority for many Asean nations, and underpins many regional objectives.

“All of the Asean countries already have, or are trying to develop, significant levels of inbound transnational education and are aiming to grow their higher education systems often through building on international transnational education partnerships,” the council said.

Meanwhile, British Council head of Higher Education Systems Research, Michael Peak, said international higher education was of clear national and regional importance within Asean.

“The region, although diverse in many ways, including in terms of the size of the economy, and the relative ‘maturity’ of the higher education systems, is united by a desire to engage further in international higher education,” he said.

The British Council’s unique policy framework ‘ The Shape of Global Higher Education’, which assesses higher education policies in various countries, was launched yesterday at the Going Global conference here.

The latest report in this series focused on the 10 Asean member states, namely Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar and Laos. — Bernama