| Asia-Link Symposium |
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On Friday 7th September 2007 a Symposium focusing on EU-Malaysia higher education policy and cooperation issues was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The event provided a platform for high-level dialogue between government officials, senior managers, policy makers and representatives from higher education institutions and academic networks from Malaysia and Europe. 250 participants attended the Symposium. 45% pf the participants were Asian Delegates and 55% from Europe. ![]() Following the Symposium matchmaking activities were organised to enable representatives from European and Malaysian higher education institutions to meet and discuss possibilities for future cooperation. These matchmaking activities took place parallel to the European Higher Education Fair on 8th and 9th September 2007. The Symposium was implemented by a consortium composed of 4 European agencies CampusFrance, DAAD, Nuffic and British Council. Prior to the Asia Link Symposium the EUA organised its first-ever conference in Asia. In collaboration with the Malaysian Vice-Chancellors Committee and the Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF), EUA held a Conference on Governance and Management in Asia and Europe from 5 - 6 September 2007, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to which all EUA Members were invited to participate, along with partners from the Asian higher education community. For further information: http://www.eua.be/index.php?id=372 Symposium Registration Registration is now closed. Symposium Programme Venue: Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre - Conference Hall 1 The aims of the Symposium were to: * Facilitate collaboration between EU and Malaysian institutions * Inform about policy and actual developments in the EU and Malaysia through sharing key issues in academic cooperation between senior educationalists and policy leaders * Create a forum for strategic and policy dialogue to increase mutual understanding of priorities and possible cooperation areas * Identify common agendas, possible cooperation areas and to develop mutually beneficial collaborative projects 6 September 2007 17:00 – 19:00 Briefing for Speakers and Panellists 7 September 2007 08:30 – 09:00 Registration and Coffee 09:00 – 09:20 Welcoming address by Mr. Charles-Henri Brosseau, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Republic of France 09:20 – 09:40 Address by Mr. Vincent Piket, Head of Unit, Centralised Operations for Asia, EuropeAid Co‑operation Office, European Commission 09:40 – 10:30 Coffee break 10:30 – 12:30 Plenary Discussion: This session focused on the ongoing reform efforts of HE and research sectors in Europe and Malaysia, in order to ensure knowledge based societies and economies and to be able to deal with globalisation opportunities and challenges. This set the stage for a wider discussion to identify joint goals in developing cooperation and exchange. The following key issues were considered as leading questions for the entire event: * Importance and benefits of internationalisation and international cooperation * Innovative fields of cooperation and exchange and areas of mutual learning between Malaysia and Europe * Better identification of best practices * Structural requirements/ framework conditions that need to be in place to facilitate and enhance academic cooperation and exchange between both sides This session prepared for the following, more technical parallel sessions, which focused on two main themes: * Student exchange and mobility and necessary framework conditions such as QA, credit systems, recognition etc. (Theme 1) * Academic cooperation in teaching and research, and their means and best practices. (Theme 2) Chairperson: Mr. Vincent Piket, Head of Unit, Centralised Operations for Asia, EuropeAid Co‑operation Office, European Commission Speakers: Dato' Hassan Said, Director General, Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia Prof. Pierre de Maret, Former Rector, University Libre de Bruxelles Dato' Prof. Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, Vice Chancellor, University Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia 12:30 – 14:30 Lunch 14:30 – 18:00 Parallel Sessions Theme 1 : Mobility and Recognition of study abroad 14:30 – 16:00 Quality Assurance, Credit Transfers and their link to mutual recognition Quality assurance is supposed to lead to better recognition of qualifications across borders. How do different types of quality assurance fit this purpose? What have been the challenges for European universities and how do they reach comparability (e.g. with European Credit Transfer System – ECTS) and reciprocal accreditation? How do European universities assure the quality of degrees and study programmes? The speakers will analyse and discuss with the participants the above aspects and give examples of good national and international practices. Chairperson: Dato' Prof. Dr. Ibrahim bin Komoo, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation), University Kebangsaan, Malaysia Speakers: Ms. Lesley Wilson, Secretary General, European University Association Dato' Prof. Dr. Mohamed Salleh, Director, United Nations University - International Institute for Global Health (UNU - IIGH), Malaysia Associate Prof. Zita Mohd Fahmi, Secretary General/Manager, The Malaysia National Accreditation (LAN), Malaysia Prof. Dr.-Ing. Axel Hunger, Dean for International Relations Institute for Computer Engineering, University Duissburg-Essen, Germany. 16:15 – 17:30 Student Mobility between Malaysia and the EU A review of current data on student mobility and discussion on how the flow of students between Malaysia and Europe can be enhanced. What are the particular problems and what mechanism need to be put in place? Can more be done to encourage students to study abroad? How does EU policy, particularly the European Quality Charter for Mobility, contribute to improve services for international students? Chairperson: Dato' Prof. Dr. Mohd Asmi bin Omar, Deputy Rector, International Islamic University, Malaysia Speakers: Ms. Patricia Pol, Bologna Promoters Coordinator and Vice-Chancellor for International Development, University Paris XII, France Prof. Ir. Dr Hassan bin Basri, Director, Centre for Research and Innovation Management, Universit Kebangsaan, Malaysia Mr. William Aitchison, Programme Manager Erasmus Mundus, Directorate General Education and Culture (EAC), European Comission Theme 2 : Academic Cooperation in Training and Research 14:30 – 16:00 Joint programmes and lessons learnt from Asia-Link projects Academic cooperation and the development of joint degrees are an important part of international cooperation in Higher Education. Drawing on examples from Europe and Malaysia, this session will highlight the support available and benefits, in particular academic and professional mobility. Chairperson: Ms. Martina Mueller, Programme Officer, Asia-Link Programme, Centralised operations for Asia and Central Asia, European Commission Speakers: Ms. Christa Grassauer, Project Coordinator, University of Graz, Austria Prof. Dr. Abdul Halim Sulaiman, Project Coordinator, University of Malaya, Malaysia Prof. Paul Lim, Project Coordinator, University Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia 16:15 – 17:30 Support for research links between the EU and Malaysia This session explained what support was available for research links and how it can be accessed. Case studies of successful projects were followed by a discussion on the issue of research links more generally, how these can be encouraged and how research cooperation modalities integrate or diverge from other forms of academic cooperation, for example institutional cooperation. The regional scope and thematic priorities of joint research projects was also a focus of discussion, as were links with bilateral research projects. Chairperson: Prof. Christina Ullenius, Former Rector, Karlstad University, Sweden and Vice-President, European University Association (EUA), Belgium Speakers: Dr Murtedza Mohamed, Deupty Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation), University Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia Prof. Dr. Asma bin Ismail, Director for Research in Molecular Medicine, University Sains Malaysia, Malaysia Mr. Andrew Sors, Head of Science and Technology, Delegation of the European Comission to India Dato' Prof. Dr. Ibrahim bin Komoo, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation), University Kebangsaan, Malaysia 17:30 – 18:00 Feedback from parallel sessions by the chairperson Chairperson: Mr. Roger De Backer, Head of Operations, European Commission, Manila, Philippines 18:00 – 18:30 Closing address Speaker: Mr. Vincent Piket, Head of Unit, Centralised Operations for Asia, EuropeAid Co‑operation Office, European Commission 20:00 Dinner hosted by the Minister of Higher Education, Malaysia |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 November 2007 ) |





