ASEF participates in the ASEM Education Intermediate Senior Officials’ Meeting in Bangkok

The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) attended the ASEM Education Intermediate Senior Officials Meeting (ISOM) held on 18-19 November 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand.

This meeting was jointly organised by the ASEM Education Secretariat (AES), the Ministry of Education (MOE), and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) of Thailand with the theme “Navigating the Digital Age: Lifelong Learning and Future Skills for a Hybrid World.”

Representatives of ASEM partner countries and stakeholder organisations gathered to share updates and plans as we look towards the 1^st Senior Officials Meeting (SOM1) in 2025 and the 10^th ASEM Education Ministers’ Meeting (ASEMME10) in 2026.

On this occasion, we are proud to share that ASEF has been confirmed as the third Co-chair of the Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals and Education. In this capacity, we aim to contribute to the EG’s on-going work and expand it to tackle access, equity, and success in higher education to promote SDG4 on Quality Education.

During the meeting, ASEF also organised a dialogue workshop titled “Campus to Career: Redefining Equity, Access & Success in Higher Education in the Digital Age” as part of our policy dialogue series under the 10^th ASEF Regional Conference on Higher Education (ARC10) Project—the ASEMME’s Official Dialogue Partner. Ms Reka TOZSA, ASEF’s Director for Education, moderated an impressive panel of experts representing different sectors in higher education:

Our panelists mentioned that almost in all the countries where data is available there are differences and gaps in participation in higher education. Gender inequities persist, just as socioeconomic barriers and lack of access mechanisms for those with disabilities. This is where policymakers come into play, as they are in the position to provide an enabling environment through legal regulations, guidelines, incentives and funding. The session also underscored the economic and political costs of not addressing issues on access, equity, and success. Digital transformation’s potential was also discussed. It addresses certain gaps and provides more opportunities and flexible means for students to learn; but poorer groups have limited means to learn how to use these tools, which might deepen inequality. Ultimately, policies on access, equity, and success and not robust enough to deal with great system changes, like what digital transformation has triggered.

Perspectives from countries like South Korea, Malaysia, Cambodia, Romania, and Thailand were added by workshop participants. They highlighted issues related to access, equity, and success that their countries are facing, current policies and programmes in place, and areas for further exploration and cooperation.

We congratulate the AES as well as MOE and MHESI Thailand for organising this successful event and join the partners and stakeholders of the ASEM Education Process in preparing for the SOM1, which Romania will host in November 2025.

Click here to visit the official webpage of the ASEM ISOM event!