SHARE Programme Concludes 7-Year Implementation

Jakarta, 6 December 2022 – The European Union (EU) Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (SHARE) Programme is coming to an end on 27 December 2022. To conclude the programme, SHARE convened an official closing ceremony at the ASEAN Secretariat on Tuesday, 6 December, where partners, higher education institutions, practitioners, and alumni came to witness the handing over of programme results to ASEAN entities and their partners.

The SHARE Programme has delivered various activities under its key result areas such as Policy Dialogues, Qualifications Frameworks and Quality Assurance, and Student Mobility and Credit Transfer. These result areas have supported the development of higher education frameworks in the ASEAN region, including the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Higher Education Plan of Action (2016-2025), ASEAN Quality Assurance Framework (AQAF), Inaugural meeting of AQAF Committee, Bangkok Declaration on Promoting an ASEAN-EU Global Partnership for Shared Strategic Goals (2016), the ASEAN 5-Year Work Plan on Education (2021-2025), the Roadmap on the ASEAN Higher Education Space 2025 and its 2-year Implementation plan (2022), the proposed Joint Declaration on a Common Higher Education Space in Southeast Asia, and the accreditation of ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN) as an ASEAN entity.

Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Ekkaphab Phanthavong stated, “Since 2015, SHARE Programme has been instrumental in supporting ASEAN’s ambition to enable greater harmonisation and internationalisation of higher education in the region. ASEAN recognises and values EU’s longstanding support to the ASEAN community-building, particularly in fostering the creation of a knowledge-based society and enhancing the region’s competitiveness through the support of EU SHARE programme to ASEAN higher education.”

In delivering its activities, the SHARE Programme has worked alongside the ASEAN Secretariat and partnered with various regional and international partners in the sector to create a common higher education space, in particular, the ASEAN University Network (AUN), the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Centre specialising in Higher Education Development (SEAMEO RIHED), UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok, ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN), ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF) Committee, and 33 SHARE Partner Universities.

During the closing ceremony, the EU Ambassador to ASEAN Igor Driesman said, “The EU has committed to provide support and strengthen higher education in the ASEAN region, as this will be the key to tackling eradication of poverty, inequalities, and discrimination as well as leaving no one behind. This flagship programme has shown clear signs of strengthening cooperation and internationalisation, which contributes to the strengthening of the ASEAN higher education community.”

Officially launched in 2015 as the EU’s flagship higher education programme, the SHARE Programme is a EUR15 million EU-funded programme implemented by a consortium of institutions. The SHARE Consortium in 2015-2019 consisted of the British Council (United Kingdom), Campus France (France), the German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD (Germany), Nuffic (the Netherlands), European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education or ENQA (Belgium), and the European University Association (EUA). During the extension phase of the Programme in 2021-2022, the SHARE Consortium comprises of the British Council, DAAD, ENQA, and Nuffic.

Darren J. McDermott, the Team Leader of the SHARE Programme stated, “Throughout its 7-year implementation period the SHARE Programme has sought to convene regional organisations, institutions, practitioners, and students to engage in dialogue and capacity development on higher education. SHARE has contributed to the policy landscape in the Southeast Asian region’s higher education development. In addition to furthering people-to-people links intra-ASEAN, SHARE has strengthened links with the European higher education community. The outcomes of SHARE will not conclude with the programme but rather be taken forward by regional stakeholders within sustainable structures, frameworks and initiatives, including the ASEAN Working Group on Higher Education Mobility (AWGHEM), the RIHED-SHARE Knowledge Platform, the Roadmap on the ASEAN Higher Education Space and the proposed joint ASEAN-SEAMEO Declaration on a Common Higher Education Space in Southeast Asia.”

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