The ASEAN- China Conference on Education Policy and Research & the First Meeting of the SEAMEO-China Education Research Network Held in Guiyang

Co-organized by Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) and National Institute of Education and Science (NIES) of China, the ASEAN-China Conference on Education Policy and Research & the First Meeting of the SEAMEO-China Education Research Network, was held on 1-2 September 2014 in Guiyang, as one of the activities of the 7th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week. Guizhou University of Technology provided support for these two meetings.

The Meeting was the second activity of the ACC-SEAMEO-NIES joint programme “Establishment of the SEAMEO-China Education Research Network and Compiling the Guidebook to Education Systems and Reform in Southeast Asia and China”, following the first meeting held on 5 June 2014 in Beijing. Representatives from the three organizers; namely, SEAMEO, ACC and NIES, and representatives from Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Viet Nam participated in the the Meeting. More than 30 education researchers from universities in Guizhou Province also observed the meeting.

Mr. Liu Jianfeng, Vice President of NIES chaired the ASEAN-China Conference on Education Policy and Research. Mr. Witaya Jeradechakul, Director of SEAMEO Secretariat, Mr .Tri Purnajaya, Director of Education, Culture and Tourism Division of ACC, Mr. Zeng Yu, President of Guizhou University of Technology, delivered remarks respectively. Representatives from China and Southeast Asian countries made presentations on the latest education policies and research development in each country. 

Mr. Wang Daoyu, Deputy Director of Education, Culture and Tourism Division of ACC, chaired the first meeting of the SEAMEO-China Education Research Network. Mr. Witaya Jeradechakul, Director of SEAMEO Secretariat, Mr. Ma Mingqiang, Secretary-General of ACC, and Mr. Liu Jianfeng, Vice President of NIES, attended the meeting and delivered remarks. Based on the achievements reached on the Coordination Meeting on the Establishment of the SEAMEO-China Education Research Network held last June in Beijing, the participants reviewed the framework of the “Guidebook to Education Systems and Reform in Southeast Asia and China”, which was designed as the first activity of the Network, pooled suggestions and questions for the mechanism and working mode of the Network, and reached at consensus through heated discussion. 

The ASEAN-China Conference on Education Policy and Research and the first meeting of the SEAMEO-China Education Research Network shall prove fruitful in facilitating the long-term cooperation mechanism in education research and would be beneficial for China and Southeast Asian region.