KUALA LUMPUR: Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) secretary-general Datuk Ab Rahim Md Noor yesterday stressed on the importance of improving mutual recognition of higher education qualifications in order to balance the flow of students between Asia and Europe.
Ab Rahim said the movement of students between the two continents was imbalanced and heavily biased towards Asian students studying in Europe, with Malaysia itself having sent 11,636 students to different parts of the world in 2012.
“Improving mutual recognition of higher education qualifications is a key factor for more balanced mobility to attract more European students to study in Asia, as is better information on the quality of higher education in receiving countries.
“Through quality assurance and recognition, I believe we can have proper balanced mobility of students and staff within Asia and Europe,” he said when opening the 4th Asia-Europe Meeting of Ministers for Education (ASEMME4) here, yesterday.
Some 148 participants comprising Education Ministers and senior officers from 32 Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) member countries plus seven organisations are attending the three-day meeting scheduled to end today.
Ab Rahim also touched on the lack of credit transfer among universities in ASEM members, adding that the structural differences among higher education systems were the main obstacle deterring students and staff to move around even at the level of intra-regional movement.
“Without the structural convergence which consists of compatible academic cycles, shared quality assurance system or provision for qualification recognition and also domestic regulations, the sustainable movement of students is not likely to occur effectively,” he said.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Minister of Education Nam-soo Seo when presenting his working paper proposed a university-industry collaboration mentoring programme to be conducted between ASEM countries.
He added the programme aimed to strengthening cooperation, allow all ASEM’s members to share and disseminate good practices and also exchange of information between the members.
“It is a one-to-one mentoring programme, where one country that has a successful collaboration model can work with one country that is willing to apply that model by signing a memorandum of understanding,” he said. — Bernama