Education Forum for Asia

                                     NEWSFLASH

September 2005

In the News

Current News and Events in Education and Asian Society

India Rebuilds Afghan School

Source:  The Hindu

Reflecting India''s commitment to help Afghanistan in the development of educational infrastructure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday handed over to local authorities a school rebuilt by India and announced 1,000 scholarships to be given annually to Afghan students.

At a function to hand over the Habibia School, the Prime Minister said India would further consolidate its participation in the reconstruction efforts of the war-ravaged country.

"We firmly believe that strong educational institutions are the basis of a productive society and progressive nation", Mr. Singh said in the presence of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.

Noting that India has always laid great emphasis on the development of human resources in the country''s development strategy, he said, “We have today achieved a diversified and advanced education and training infrastructure”.

He said India remains the preferred destination for Afghan students pursuing education as well as professional training, and it was a matter of pride for the country that the President of Afghanistan was an alumnus of Himachal Pradesh University.

Dr. Singh pointed out that India currently provides 100 slots under the International Technical Education Cooperation (ITEC) program and Colombo Plan (CP) for short-term professional training courses, as well as 14 scholarships for pursuing university education.  “We realise that this number is inadequate. We have decided to increase it to 1000 scholarships annually to Afghan students," he said. It will include 500 scholarships for university education and the rest for short-term professional courses under the ITEC program.

Schools Responding to Asian Demand

Source:  CNN (by Ian Grayson)

August 17, 2005-- Asia''s rapidly growing economies have sparked an increase in demand for executive education, and business schools throughout the world are responding with gusto.

Many have established relationships with universities in the region while others are going it alone, setting up remote facilities linked to their home campuses.

Offerings range from traditional MBA degrees to short courses focused on the particular requirements of local companies.

Faced with continuing globalization, Asian educational institutions in the region are acutely aware they need to offer courses that provide participants with both business and cultural insights from other parts of the world.

Executive education participant numbers are expected to remain strong, thanks to healthy competition between Asian companies to recruit and retain talented staff.

Global financial corporation Citigroup forecasts the Asian region, outside Japan, will experience economic growth of 5.6% during 2005, further increasing executive demand.

In the island city-state of Singapore, the Nanyang Business School is offering an executive MBA program in association with the University of California Berkeley’s business school.

EMBA students can also choose to participate in the Berkeley-Nanyang Advanced Management Program (AMP) and earn credit points towards their degree. The AMP provides insights into U.S. management practices and provides participants with a view of how western companies are approaching business challenges.

Following the normal schedule, the EMBA takes 18 months to complete, with much of the classwork being conducted on weekends. The university also allows participants to complete some study modules in the U.S. at the Berkeley campus. Fees for the 2005/06 course are set at $13,500.

In Thailand, the Chulalongkorn University, in association with the U.S.-based Kellogg School of Management and the University of Pennsylvania''s Wharton Business School has established the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration.

Sasin uses a combination of locally based staff and visiting lecturers from the United States, offering MBA, EMBA and a range of executive education courses. The full-time MBA course runs for two years with tuition costs of $23,000.

According to Sasin director Professor Toemsakdi Krishnamra, the school''s programs have developed significantly during recent years, to reflect the changing requirements of students.

"We initially taught our entire MBA and executive MBA programs with visiting professors, but we have gradually built up a core of experienced full-time faculty staff of our own," he says.

In the Asian economic and financial hub of Hong Kong, the Richard Ivey School of Business established a campus in 1998 and offers an MBA program ranked number one in Asia by the Financial Times in its 2005 survey. The course costs $67,000.

Erich Almasy, executive director of executive development at Ivey, says there is strong demand in Hong Kong for courses customized for individual client companies.

"We are working hard to have a global presence in this area and our campus in Hong Kong is an important part of that," he says. "When we talk to organizations, we talk about open and custom programs as well as EMBAs. They can select what they believe will work best for them and for their staff."

In China, where dramatic rates of economic growth are transforming the country, the uptake of executive education courses continues to climb. The China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.

Established in 1994, the school is a joint venture with the Municipal Government of Shanghai. A joint-venture partner is the Shanghai Jiaotong University, one of the oldest in China.

CEIBS offers an 18-month full-time MBA course, conducted completely in English, as well as an EMBA course. According to the university, more than 2800 executives have graduated from the course since it was established in 1995.

Virtually every month, it seems there are more academic institutions from around the world recognizing the strong demand within Asia and investing in new facilities and programs.

For example, early next year work will begin in Singapore on a new $62 million campus for the Australian-based University of New South Wales. Stage one of the facility is designed to house 3500 students and when complete it will cater for more than 15,000.

UNSW deputy vice-chancellor Professor John Ingleson says the facility represents a new approach by the university in recognition of the opportunities presented by the Asia region.

"UNSW has developed a new international model for Singapore based on the principle of ''one university - two countries,''" he says.

The Asia campus will offer post-graduate business courses, although a university spokesperson said details of the specific courses on offer would not be released until later this year.

His Majesty’s Government Nepal Firm to Achieve Millennium Goals                                                                   

Source:  The Rising Nepal

KATHMANDU, Sept. 5, 2005: Kirti Nidhi Bista, Vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers, today presented the second progress report on Nepal Millennium Development Goals. The report, which was jointly produced by the His Majesty’s Government, National Planning Commission and UNDP, shows Nepal’s steady progress towards meeting Millennium Development Goals despite on-going political instability and conflict.  At a function held to launch the report, Vice -Chairman Bista said His Majesty’s Government is committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and noted that Nepal has made encouraging progress towards meeting these goals.  “If continuity is given to the present efforts, we will be able to achieve more and be closer to achieving the goals by the year 2015,” he said.  He added that there is a need to focus efforts towards uplifting the poor and historically disadvantaged groups including women and Dalits.

Vice-Chairman Bista said that Nepal cannot achieve the MDGs alone, and that it requires strong commitment of development partners, social welfare organizations, the private sector, and the media.  He also appealed to development partners for their help in realizing the goals by providing the necessary financial support worth US $7.6 billion over the next ten years.

Noting that the government is firmly committed to pursuing programs for gender equality and the empowerment of women, he announced that a Gender Responsive Budget has been initiated and a policy of Zero Tolerance towards violence against women has been adopted for this fiscal year.

Also speaking at the function, Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission, Dr. Shankar Sharma noted that the second progress report of the MDGs is more progressive compared to the first report published in 2002.  Dr. Sharma observed that notable achievements have been made in poverty reduction and accessibility to education and health care.

Putting Words into Action

Quotes and Speeches from Leaders in the World of Education, Social Development, and Positive Change

"Our Common Responsibility for the Future: Challenges and Action" – Speech (excerpted) by Kerstin Müller, Minister of State of the Foreign Office of Germany, at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers'' Meeting, Kyoto, Japan   May 6-7, 2005

Let me turn to this evening’s topic: "Our Common Responsibility for the Future – Challenges and Action".  What are the challenges?

Threats from nuclear weapons, international terrorism, communicable diseases, failed states and forgotten conflicts – they do not stop at national borders. No single state can guarantee national and global security alone. These challenges demand responses from the international community.

Globalization unsettles people. Education shortfalls, flows of refugees and epidemics have a destabilizing effect. Violence, poverty, hopelessness and the suppression of human rights are a threat to peace and security and contribute to crises and wars.

The growing energy requirements of eight billion people are accompanied by an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and having a long-term impact on our climate.

What actions can we take?

Only an effective multilateral system is in a position to respond to these issues.

At the top of the list is the UN, or rather, a reformed UN as the only universally legitimized world organization and the major forum of global law-making. In his report "In Larger Freedom", the UN Secretary-General speaks of "an historic opportunity in 2005". Now we, the Member States, are called upon to act. We must seize this window of opportunity. Germany supports the Secretary-General''s concept and timetable. We are working with our partners in the UN to implement these reform proposals. Germany, like Japan, Brazil and India, is also prepared to shoulder the responsibility that a permanent seat on the Security Council would bring. The UN''s principal organ must become more representative, more efficient, more capable and more influential.

We believe a vast majority shares this view. If we resolve the issue by this summer, as the Secretary-General wishes, the Summit on the implementation of the Millennium Goals in September will be the success it needs to be.

Since it was founded in 1996, ASEM has consistently and clearly reiterated its support for multilateralism and UN reform. I recall the ASEM Declaration on Multilateralism, which we adopted in Kildare last year. On that occasion and at the last ASEM Summit in Hanoi the ASEM partners specifically agreed to use ASEM cooperation to strengthen the role of the UN: maybe our Permanent Representatives in New York could convene in an ASEM caucus, jointly promote initiatives and advance UN reform.

Sustainable peacebuilding, education and protection of human rights – these are important issues for the ASEM. Already the declaration from the first ASEM Summit in Bangkok in 1996 made specific reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Item 7, ASEM Chairman''s Statement, Bangkok, 2 March 1996). We have to ensure the security and well-being of our citizens at home and abroad. We are concerned about the situation in Burma/Myanmar and hope that a peaceful solution is found in consultation with all parties.

It is important that we continue to discuss this in ASEM and with those involved. ASEM is an appropriate forum for this kind of "critical dialogue".

Security of energy supply, climate and environmental protection, globalization, HIV/AIDS, social issues – these are some of the topics we discuss in the pertinent international bodies such as the International Energy Forum, UNEP, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, these issues also deserve a key role in dialogue between Asia and Europe.

Economic and social development can be important factors in peacebuilding. We Europeans have experienced this after the Second World War during the so-called economic miracle. But even with this background, we are impressed about the dynamism we are witnessing in economic development in Asia.

This involves risks: The increasing demand for oil and gas inflate prices. Increasing environmental pollution and climate change could cause natural disasters. Those damages we can hardly measure, let alone reverse, unless we act now to check these developments. The entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol is an important step. We must implement it rigorously, while giving serious thought to what should follow Kyoto.

Yet this also harbors opportunities: Economics and ecology are no contradictions. We should jointly discover and use the potential for growth and development that come with saving energy and using it efficiently, devising and applying new climate technologies, using clean fuels and renewable energy.

Maybe ASEM in Kyoto should lead the way by launching an appeal to environment policymakers with the motto, "Kyoto and beyond".

We have a Common Responsibility for the Future. The Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is currently under way in New York. The German Government considers the NPT to be the cornerstone of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime. Its integrity must be maintained. A successful conclusion to the Conference is therefore especially crucial.

We hope for a balanced final document that can be adopted by consensus. The document has to find a balance between the disarmament obligations of the nuclear-weapon States and the non-proliferation obligations of the non-nuclear-weapon States. I would like to call upon all countries present to do everything in their power to achieve this.

We can also build peace and security through regional integration. The European Union is one example of the way in which ever closer cooperation can eventually produce a new and unique dimension of multilateralism. It has brought Europe a long period of peace, security and prosperity.

We are keenly observing the increasingly close economic and political cooperation between our partners in Asia. We are particularly impressed by the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the most recent decisions from its summits in Bali and Vientiane. We are also closely following the developments in East Asian cooperation, such as the East Asia Summit scheduled for the end of this year, and we hope that it will help generate even more stability and prosperity in the region.

At this Asia-Europe Meeting we have the chance to assume our common responsibility for the future and find solutions to the issues that concern us all. Germany is ready to do so.

Upcoming Events

Second Children’s World Congress on Child Labor and Education                                                              

September 4-8, 2005   New Delhi, India

Organized by Global March Against Child Labor and hosted by Bachpan Bachao Andolan, the Congress aims to empower children to lead worldwide efforts to end child labor and to ensure free, quality education for all children. Following the landmark success of the Children''s World Congress held in Florence, Italy in May 2004, which sent a clear message about the strength of child and youth participation and leadership on child labor and education issues, the 2nd Congress is being organized mainly to enable participation of the children from Asia and Africa, who were left out from the Florence Congress. More than 130 children from 45 countries took part in the Florence Congress. The focus of the event is that the children themselves and the participating children will be the main speakers, decision-makers and the beneficiaries. During the three-day event, the children will interact with world leaders and attend workshops and sessions, including an accountability session, to facilitate the formulation of Children''s Plan of Action, which will be presented to the attending governments and international organizations, and will help build on the gains of the first Congress.
                                                                                 For further information, Mr. Alok Vajpeyi can be contacted at alokvajpeyi@globalmarch.org.  You can also log on to www.globalmarch.org for the latest developments.

South East Asian Association for Institutional Research Conference
Higher Education Reform: Facing Local and Global Changes                      

14 - 16 September 2005  Bali, Indonesia

The major purposes of the South East Asian Association for Institutional Research are to benefit, assist and advance research leading to improved understanding, planning and operations of institutions of post-secondary education in the region. Research focused on a single institution and also research that is concerned with groups of Institutions both fall within these purposes. In keeping with the dynamic nature of institutions of post-secondary education and the rapidly changing global environment in which they operate, the Association will encourage the application of appropriate methodologies and techniques from many disciplines. It will encourage comparative research into national higher education systems in South East Asia. It will publish and exchange information with respect to institutions of post-secondary education with a view to illuminating current and developing issues of common concern and raising the standard of post-secondary educational management, planning and policy development at all levels.                                                                                                                         

Organization Profile

This sectio,n highlights an organization or pro,gram that is making a diffe,rence in the fields of educa,,tion or social development.                                                    

Free the Children

Free the Children is an international network of children helping children at a local, national and international level through representation, leadership and action. The primary goal of the organization is not only to free children from poverty and exploitation, but to also free children and young people from the idea that they are powerless to bring about positive social change and to improve the lives of their peers.

Free the Children is unlike any other children''s charity in the world, as it is an organization by, of and for children that fully embodies the notion that children and young people themselves can be leaders of today in creating a more just, equitable and sustainable world.

Free the Children’s programs focus on education, peacebuilding, and leadership:

Free the Children provides comprehensive educational opportunities to poor children. The organization also believes that in order to allow children to go to school, children must be provided with the proper school and health supplies, health care, and family income support. As a result, Free the Children offers “holistic” development programs to tens of thousands of children and families around the world

Free the Children provides peacebuilding programs on an international level. The organization has entered into a lead partnership with the United Nations (Office of the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General For Children and Armed Conflict), in order to raise awareness about the plight of children trapped in situations of armed conflict, and to provide educational opportunities for war affected children. The organization has built and outfitted primary schools in war-torn countries like Sierra Leone and has shipped school and health supplies to war affected children in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and many other war-zones, providing these children with the chance for a brighter future

Leadership: Free the Children believes that leadership development is the key to achieving a generation of socially active young people. Working with Leaders Today, Free the Children hosts leadership workshops and conferences for tens of thousands of young people each year. Inspirational educational publications are also written and distributed to young people and educators/adults who work with youth on an international level.

For more information, visit their website at www.freethechildren.com.

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