The European Union Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region, known as SHARE, organised the "Second SHARE ASEAN - EU Exchange Students and Alumni Summit: Youth and Digital Connectivity" was held on 8-10 August 2022, in Jakarta, Indonesia.
It was a remembrance of the 45 years of cooperation between ASEAN and the EU since its first Dialogue Partner Relation in 1977. Md Ashiqur Rahman, EMA President (ad interim), Rajon Bhuiyan, EMA Director for Outreach and Capacity Building (OCB), Manh Ha Luong, EMA Country Representative for Vietnam, and EMA member Danuta Gruszka participated in this prestigious event.
This summit kicked off with a welcome by Darren McDermott, SHARE Team Leader, Peter Van Tuijl, Nuffic Programme Director for SHARE, and an opening remark from Dr Roger Y. Chao Jr., ASEAN Secretariat Assistant Director and Head of Education, Youth and Sports Division. Erasmus Mundus alumni and EMA members, Dr Roger and Dr Jenny Lind Elmaco, the Regional Coordinator for ASEAN at EURAXESS, were also present at this summit and participated as panelists during a workshop session on ASEAN and EU Need for Digital Transformation in Higher Education. By bringing together more than 50 exchange students and alumni from Southeast Asia and Europe, the summit aimed to create a networking platform that allows alumni organisations in Southeast Asia and Europe to collaborate further on the future of higher education in both regions.
In his speech at the plenary session regarding Youth and Digital Connectivity, Ashiqur highlighted the background of EMA and how it responded to the Covid-19 pandemic with the utilization of digital connectivity tools and platforms. He also focused on how a platform can be designed where ASEAN and EU youths can discuss areas of potential collaboration between their regions, illuminating ideas made by alumni, especially in relation to the internationalization of higher education through the means of digitalization.
