Climate change, geopolitical disruptions and challenges in peacebuilding, inequalities and disparities on various fronts, digital transformation and the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the race to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—especially SDG 4—make it clear that “business as usual” will not be an effective approach in higher education strategies.
With the theme “[Un]debated Ways of Rethinking Higher Education,” our work for the 10th ASEF Regional Conference on Higher Education (ARC10) will answer the call to join the discussion with a critical mindset and contribute to transforming the future of higher education in Asia and Europe as we navigate global developments that higher education must cope with.
The ARC10 Debate Webinar Series, focused on four main themes aligned with the ASEM Education Process priority areas, will be the starting point for this initiative. Check out the full webinar lineup below!
Debate Session 1: Rethinking Digital Transformation (17 October, 15:00 SGT / 09:00 CET)
At present, the question of whether Teaching and Learning will benefit from Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a complex and dynamic exploration at the intersection of technology and education. As we stand on the height of a digital era, the expectations from AI are rapidly rising. It offers promising ways to personalise content, enrich the learning experience, help with assessment, even with mental health of students. However, there are also a lot of assumptions, fear, and misinformation around this topic that raises important considerations about ethics, equity, and the human touch in education.
Using technology to make teaching and learning more effective is one the key challenges on Beyond Limits: New Ways to Reinvent Higher Education (UNESCO, 2022). Invited experts will share their perspectives on ways technology could reinvent higher education, as this ongoing discourse requires critical exploration of the potential advantages and challenges that AI brings to the forefront of the educational landscape.
This debate session will focus on the question “Will teaching and learning benefit from Artificial Intelligence in the next decade?”
Registration for this webinar is up! Click the link below:
Debate Session 2: Rethinking Equity and Access (07 November, 15:00 SGT / 08:00 CET)
The world has made leaps in expanding access, participation, and literacy rates the past few decades, but exclusion remains to be a major challenge. Especially for marginalised sectors, exclusion is rooted in a combination of various factors that are social, economic, cultural, and political in nature. Poverty and inequality, nevertheless, remains to be a key determinant of access to education (UNESCO, 2021). Thus, social justice measures such as free higher education are put in place to level the playing field and expand access to learning opportunities.
Inclusion, equity, and pluralism is one of UNESCO’s principles to shape our future, and calls for the removal of barriers, financial or otherwise, to quality higher education for all learners (UNESCO, 2022). But does making higher education free truly make access more equitable? This session hopes to tackle the pros and cons of such a policy and explore its implications from different angles and contexts. How do we guarantee a high standard of quality, rules of equity that benefit the vulnerable, and ensure that social justice policies are sustainable to benefit more people in the long run?
This debate session will focus on the question “Who has more responsibility in making higher education more equitable and accessible: universities or policymakers?”
Debate Session 3: Rethinking Lifelong Learning (28 November, 15:00 SGT / 08:00 CET)
Lifelong learning is identified as one of the key challenges to overcome if we were to reinvent higher education, according to UNESCO’s report titled Beyond Limits: New Ways to Reinvent Higher Education published in 2022. The report makes it clear: “The assumption that HED is a step in a ladder that comes immediately after secondary education cannot be sustained” (p.30). There is a need for higher education to expand across space: offering hybrid, in-house and remote forms of learning. It also needs to expand across time, which is already happening with short courses, stackable degrees and micro credentials offered by higher education institutions are growing popular among learners.
But how do we do that? This debate session hopes to be a platform to exchange views on the future of lifelong learning in the next decade and debate the diverse ways higher education should move forward. Key issues on the better approach to lifelong learning, important policy issues, institutional concerns, and learner issues may be touched upon as we tackle how lifelong learning should be in the future.
This debate session will focus on the question “How will universities become real Lifelong Learning institutions?”
Debate Session 4: Rethinking Recognition & Balanced Mobility (05 December, 16:00 SGT / 09:00 CET)
UNESCO (2022) promotes integrity and ethics as key principles to shape our future and highlights ethical values and behaviours as important points of focus for universities. Along with transparency, ethics and integrity necessary for quality education and it is imperative that any and all forms of education fraud be addressed to ensure all learners’ right to education (Council of Europe, 2022). In pursuing internationalisation of higher education through transnational education (TNE), especially as we shift to online means of teaching and learning, the risk of exposure to fraudulent activities such as diploma and accreditation mills increases.
TNE programmes have a wide range of positive impacts, chief among them expanding access to opportunities for students and professionals alike which in turn drives social and economic mobility (British Council, 2022). Given TNE’s significance, are current efforts to safeguard ethics, transparency, and integrity in such programmes sufficient?
This debate session will focus on the question “Is transnational education (TNE) bringing more opportunities or risks in ensuring balanced mobility of people and knowledge?”
For now, only the registration for Debate Webinar 1 is up and available. Those who are interested to receive invitations to register for Debate Webinars 2, 3, and 4 can indicate their interest in advance through this survey form. You can find a brief overview of the topic per webinar in the form.
In the meantime, follow us on social media such as Facebook (ASEF; ASEFEdu) and LinkedIn (ASEF; ASEFEdu) and subscribe to the ASEF Newsletter to stay updated on ARC10 events!
ASEF’s contribution is made possible with the financial support of:
