On November 11-12, the ASEAN-China Students Mobility Promotion Workshop was held in Guilin, Guangxi Autonomous Region. The workshop, hosted by ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) together with Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Higher Education and Development (SEAMEO RIHED), is one of the activities designed for the 6th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week, and also one of the cooperation programmes between ACC and SEAMEO according the MoU signed by the two parties. Eighty representatives, including officers from ACC and SEAMEO RIHED, Directors and officers from the provincial education authorities of Tianjin, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Guangxi, Guizhou and Hainan, and Directors form International Departments of 51 Chinese universities, attended the two-day Workshop.
The Workshop introduced two programmes aiming at promoting regional students mobility, namely ASEAN International Mobility for Students Programme (AIMS Programme) and Academic Credit Transfer Framework for Asia (ACTFA). AIMS Programme is designed to support student mobility among member countries in the form of scholarship, and ACTFA aims to establish a common and feasible credit transfer system for universities. The two programmes were both originally initiated and promoted by SEAMEO RIHED, and Chinese provincial education authorities and universities are welcomed to participate into the two programmes.
Mr. Wang Daoyu, Deputy Director of Education, Culture and Tourism Division of ACC, and Ms. Sun Xuejing, Education Officer of ACC, made introductions of the overview of ACC and activities ACC held in the field of education, and elaborated the purpose of holding the Workshop: bridging universities in ASEAN and China, promoting students mobility between the two sides and contributing to the Double 100,000 Student Mobility Goal proposed by state leaders of China and ASEAN Member States. The Director of SEAMEO RIHED, Dr. Sauwakon Ratanawijitrasin made a presentation of the background and development of the two programmes. Dr. Liu Yang, an expert from Beihang University, introduced the development of credit transfer system and its function in promoting the internationalization of universities.
The Directors and officials from the above-mentioned eight provincial education departments respectively introduced the status and the supporting policies of education cooperation between each province and ASEAN; the representatives from 51 Chinese universities discussed about the status, difficulties and challenges of ASEAN-China student exchanges, proposed suggestions to the credit transfer system between China and ASEAN, and expressed their intention and feasibility to participate in the two programmes.
All the representatives expressed their gratitude to ACC for providing such a fruitful platform and helping them to explore more channels, which were exactly they need most. They said they would be very pleasant to participate in the education activities held by ACC, and promote the education cooperation and exchanges with ASEAN countries.