University and Employer Engagement to Enhance Graduate Employability in ASEAN: THE 13TH SHARE POLICY DIALOGUE TOOK PLACE 23-25 NOVEMBER 2021

The 13th SHARE Policy Dialogue Webinar Series was held between 23rd and 25th November 2021. Focusing on “University and Employer Engagement to Enhance Graduate Employability in ASEAN,” the series brought together alumni, higher education and private sector representatives to discuss strategies for to enhance graduate employability in ASEAN.

The three-day discussion series was officially launched by the European Union Ambassador to ASEAN, H.E. Igor Driesmans, the Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN for the ASEAN socio-cultural community, H.E. Ekkaphab Phantavong, and SHARE Programme Team Leader, Darren McDermott.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Igor Driesmans stated, “Education and training has been one of the hardest hit sectors during the pandemic. More than 90% of the world’s students were unable to attend school at the height of the health crisis. In this context, improving graduate employability has become even more important. That’s why we need to improve partnerships between higher education institutions and the private sector in the region.”

Recognising the evolving demands of the labour market and the urgency to transform education systems to address the skills gap, DSG Ekkaphab Phanthavong emphasised that “University and employer engagement is not just an option, but a necessity to produce a competitive and future-ready workforce.”

In conjunction with the Policy Dialogue, the SHARE Higher Education Harmonisation Community of Practice (CoP) was also officially launched with the presence of the Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam, Mr Thibaut Portevin and the Assistant Director/Head, Education, Youth, and Sports Division of the ASEAN Secretariat, Dr Roger Chao, Jr. The CoP is a practitioner-led platform for stakeholders from across Southeast Asia to work together on addressing the opportunities and challenges in the harmonisation and internationalisation of the region’s higher education. It is envisaged that the SHARE CoP will work collaboratively to develop strategies and exchange information on good practices to augment international education provision across the region. It is also a forum for practitioners to voice their opinions on the region’s higher education policy discussions and decision-making processes.

The Policy Dialogue brought together policy, practical and professional perspectives to contribute to the discussion on the correlation between the internationalisation of higher education and the employability of the region’s graduates. During the three days, participants explored what steps can be taken to improve the intra-ASEAN mobility programmes’ contributions to graduate employability in the Industry 4.0 context.

On the first day, the sessions focused on “the Contribution of Internationalisation to Graduate Employability.” The keynote from Dr Michael Murphy, the President of the European University Association started off the discussion and then a panel discussion with Dr Roger Chao, Jr., the Director of SEAMEO RIHED Centre, Dr Romyen Kosaikanont, ASEAN University Network’s Executive Director, Dr Choltis Dhirathiti, and the Director of Nuffic Neso Indonesia, Mr Peter Van Tuijl followed.

On day two, the discussion started with a keynote speech by the Senior Vice Provost of the National University of Singapore, Prof. Bernard Tan who shared insights and the experiences of NUS on Embedding Employability in the University Curriculum. The discussion then proceeded to a panel on the Nexus of University and Employer Collaboration with the Founder & Chairman of the Advisory Board of ASEAN Human Development Organisation and Chair of the Human Development Committee of the European Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, Dr. Bob Aubrey, the Director of Jobs-Skills Insights Division of SkillsFuture Singapore, Ms Chelvin Loh, and the Head of Industry Partnership at Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad, Mr Nazrul Aziz. 

On the final day, Mr Vincent Quah, Education Lead for Asia Pacific, Microsoft delivered a keynote session by sharing his insights on Casting a Vision for Future Proofing the Next Generation. For the panel, Ms Raudhah Nazran, the CEO of Accelerate Global, Malaysia, Ms Aom Pattanotai, the CEO of Generation Thailand, and Mr Brian Liu, Senior Vice President, Group Head of Learning & Organization Development at Lazada discussing the topic of Industry 4.0 and Graduate Skills. Dr Adrian Kuah, the Director of NUS Futures Office joined as the moderator of the session.

The 13th Policy Dialogue also provided an opportunity for SHARE Scholarship alumni to share their views on the contribution of the SHARE intra-ASEAN mobility programmes to their employability. On the second day, SHARE scholarship and mobility programme alumni from Indonesia, Mr Marko Tatang, Malaysia, Ms Candice Kang, Myanmar, Ms Nyan San Lwin, Vietnam, Ms Vu Thi Binh Minh, and the Philippines, Ms Raya Mae Aquino shared their mobility journey, what skills and lessons they had acquired through studying abroad, and how the experience has contributed to their employability. On the third day, our alumni from Brunei Darussalam, Ms Aida Amanuddin, Cambodia, Mr Dararath Uk, the Philippines, Ms Jazlyn Bon Yu, and Indonesia, Mr Bagus Anugerah Pratomo spoke about their career aspirations in the age of Industry 4.0 and how they are preparing themselves for success.

A presentation on one of the three studies recently conducted by SHARE and its experts concluded the sessions each day. On the first day, Prof. Robert Wagenaar, Professor of History and Politics of Higher Education at the University of Groningen, and Assoc. Prof. Dr Pornapit Darasawang, Vice President for Internationalisation, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi Baseline Study of Internationalisation in ASEAN presented their result on the Baseline Study of Internationalisation in ASEAN. The study highlights the barriers and opportunities for ASEAN in internationalising its higher education and explores what role higher education institutions, policy makers, and other relevant actors in ASEAN should take in order to support internationalisation process.

On the second day, Dr Keiko Ikeda, the Vice-Director at the Institute for Innovative Global Education (IIGE) at Kansai University and Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad, Director of International Relations Centre at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Global led the presentation session on the Study of Virtual Exchange Schemes in ASEAN. The study highlights the main features of VE/COIL Programme, how it differs from other forms of online education, and identifies the path to implementing virtual exchange schemes by universities in the ASEAN region.

Mr Anthony Camilleri, Senior Partner of the Knowledge Innovation Centre & Dr Sintho Wahyuning Ardie, S. P., M.Si., Deputy Director for International Program Services of IPB University, Indonesia led the third days presentation session on the SHARE Study on Digital Credentials. The study explores how SHARE has furthered the digital transformation and recognition of credentials amongst ASEAN HEIs as well as what challenges and opportunities are faced in harmonising the credit transfer system between higher education institutions (HEIs).

The full recordings of the sessions, the session summaries, and speakers’ presentation materials are available below: 

Day 1:

• Click to watch the full recording of the session: HERE
• Click to read the summary of the panel discussion: HERE
• Click to download the panel speakers' presentations: HERE
• Click to download the presentation on SHARE Baseline Study on Internationalisation in ASEAN: HERE

Day 2:

• Click to watch the full recording of the session: HERE
• Click to read the summary of the panel discussion: HERE
• Click to download the keynote speaker's presentation: HERE
• Click to download the panel speaker's presentation (Dr Bob Aubrey): HERE
• Click to download the panel speaker's presentation (Chelvin Loh): HERE
• Click to download the panel speaker's presentation (Nazrul Aziz): HERE
• Click to download the presentation on SHARE Study of Virtual Exchange Schemes in ASEAN: HERE

Day 3:

• Click to watch the full recording of the session: HERE
• Click to read the summary of the panel discussion: HERE
• Click to download the keynote speaker's presentation: HERE
• Click to download the panel speakers' presentations (Aom Pattanotai): HERE
• Click to download the presentation on SHARE Study on Digital Credentials Recognition: HERE