ACC Organized “Dialogue on ASEAN-China Education Cooperation Policies ”

On 2 September 2014, the “Dialogue on ASEAN-China Education Cooperation Policies” was held in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, co-organized by ASEAN-China Centre （ACC）, Guizhou Provincial Department of Education, and hosted by Guiyang University. This forum, themed “Experiencing Education in China, Promoting Two-way Students Mobility”, as one of the activities of the 7th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week, was participated by the State Secretary of Cambodia,  senior officials from Ministry of Education of China, Director-Generals from Provincial Departments of Education in Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other provinces, education officers from the Embassies and Consulate Generals of Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Viet Nam, a representative from a Confucius School in Thailand, and representatives from universities and colleges from both China and ASEAN. ACC Secretary-General Ma Mingqiang attended the forum.

The forum was aimed at sharing education development in China and ASEAN countries, promoting favorable policies, and providing advise on policies to promote practical education cooperation. In the first session of sharing policies, Ms. Chen Yinghui, Deputy Director-General of Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges of MOE of China, informed the Meeting that the ASEAN-China education cooperation: the “Double 100,000 Two-way students mobility plan” had been going well, and the goal was expected to be reached before 2020; the cooperation on vocational education had proved effective and beneficial; some Chinese universities had set up campuses in ASEAN countries and increasingly spread the positive effects; the teaching of Chinese language in ASEAN and ASEAN languages in China had been popular among peoples. Mr. Huo Jiankang, the Director-General of Guizhou Provincial Department of Education and senior officials from other Provincial Departments of Education introduced the education development in each province, especially favorable policies and scholarships to attract ASEAN students to study in their provinces, and expressed their keen interest to welcome more ASEAN students and deepen education cooperation with ASEAN countries. 

In the second session of the dialogue, officials from ASEAN embassies shared the development of education in ASEAN countries, current cooperation programmes with China, the existing challenges and priorities to further education cooperation. Ms. Mao Dongmin, Deputy Director of the Division of International Students from MOE China, announced that China will increase the standard of scholarship for ASEAN countries and simplify the application process to facilitate more ASEAN students to study in China. The Education Counsellor of Indonesian Embassy, Mr. Priyanto Wibowo, expressed his wish that China could provide more support to Indonesia in agriculture education and teacher education. He introduced that more than 13,000 Indonesian students are studying in China, at the top among other ASEAN countries, and suggested that more Indonesian students could apply scholarship to study in China, especially in majors such as agriculture, teacher education, Chinese language, etc. Participants from both ASEAN and China also discussed on pertaining issues such as setting campuses overseas, quality assurance across borders, and designing suitable diploma programmes for international students, reiterating they would fully promote ASEAN-China Two-way Students Mobility Goal. Ms. Sun Xuejing, Education Officer of ACC chaired this session.

Secretary-General Ma Mingqiang concluded the forum by saying that the ACC had been dedicated to promoting ASEAN-China students mobility, and had organized a series activities to facilitate more ASEAN students to study in China. He also expressed his sincere will to continue to support the strengthening of ASEAN-China education cooperation to benefit the peoples of both sides.