23 to 25 June, 2011
Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel

Bangkok, Thailand

Background

To further recognize educational and professional qualifications in the East Asia Summit (EAS), a regional meeting and workshop was held to build awareness of and capacity to implement the revised UNESCO Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas, and Degrees in Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific.  The workshop was co-organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Bangkok, Thailand and the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) as an education cooperation activity for East Asia Summit (EAS) member countries.

Meeting Objectives

The Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications in the Asia-Pacific Region Workshop seeked to improve awareness and commitment of EAS member countries to the revised UNESCO Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas, and Degrees in Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific. The workshop aimed to:

• Provide an overview of the Revised Regional Convention with particular reference to benefits and obstacles, ratification process, support materials and other recognition issues.
• Discuss supporting mechanisms to the Convention including, national qualification frameworks, diploma supplements, and national information centres.
• Provide an overview of relevant tools and guidelines including the UNESCO/OECD Guidelines, UNESCO/APQN Toolkit, UNESCO Higher Education Portal, etc.

The expected outcomes of the workshop included:

• Raising awareness of the Revised Regional Recognition Convention
• Providing opportunities for collaboration and identifying best practices in qualification recognition within the Asia-Pacific region.
• Sharing information on qualification recognition in each country and identifying challenges within different national contexts.
• Encouraging the contribution of ideas, perspectives, and approaches to qualifications recognition for higher education in the region.
• Strengthening regional coordination in the education sector.
• Strengthened commitment by EAS member countries to the Asia-Pacific regional recognition convention.

Presentations

Revised UNESCO Regional Convention With Particular Reference To Benefits And Obstacles, Ratification Process, Support Materials Including UNESCO Portal on Higher Education And Other Issues (pdf, 1.3mb)
Anna Glass, Section for Higher Education, UNESCO Paris

UNESCO-OECD Guidelines & UNESCO-APQN Toolkit

• The UNESCO-OECD Guidelines For Quality Provision in Cross-border Higher Education (pdf, 5mb)
  Wong Wai Sum, Joint Quality Review Committee, Hong Kong

Lisbon Convention (pdf, 130kb)
Carita Blomqvist, Finnish National Board of Education

Recognition Tools

• National Qualification Framework: Development, Implementation, Issues, Barriers, and Solution : The Malaysian Case (pdf, 1.3mb)
  Zita Mohd Fahmi, Deputy CEO, Malaysian Qualification Authority
  
  
• National Qualification Framework: Development, Implementation, Issues, Barriers, and Solution: The New Zealand Case (pdf, 420kb)
  Judith Brown, Acting Deputy Chief Executive Quality Assurance, New Zealand Qualifications Authority

National Information Centres – Country Perspectives

• Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange - China's Information Centre for International Education Recognition (pdf, 520kb)
  Weimin Che, Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange
  
  
• National Information Centres: An Australian Perspective (pdf, 680kb)
  Margaret Proctor, Chair, Regional Committee for the UNESCO Regional Convention, Australia
  
  
• National Information Centres and ENIC-NARIC (pdf, 140kb)
  Carita Blomqvist, Finnish National Board of Education

Diploma Supplements

• Diploma Supplements (pdf, 1mb)
  Richard James, Melbourne University, Australia

Programme (pdf, 820kb)

Pictures