The workshop, which took place on 2nd and 3rd May 2023, brought together the institutional leaders from seven partner universities in Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam. The leaders worked together on a curriculum development action plan, and they will facilitate the implementation of the plan and report to their university community on the implementation experience.
Sharing their experience at the workshop in the SEAMEO-RIHED premises in Bangkok, the Oxford team celebrated the opportunity to meet all partners.
“Since the beginning of the leadership program, we have enjoyed a series of remote activities on gender equity, diversity and inclusivity, GEDI, throughout the year. We are thankful for the contributions several colleagues from the University of Oxford have made to these initiatives. This workshop was the culmination of those initial exchanges.
Our Southeast Asian partners came together in person for an intense period of collaborative work, but this time we were all in the same time zone! We provided each other with feedback on our draft plan toward contributing further to sustainable development within our universities and communities.”
The SEA-UK Leadership Exchange began in 2022 and involves five UK universities working with 35 universities from 11 Southeast Asia countries. The Leadership Exchange encourages universities to embrace GEDI in their policy making and institutional management. UK universities work with Southeast Asia universities on a particular GEDI problem, issue or challenge. The SEA university leaders work with the UK universities to create their own frameworks responding to their priorities and contexts.
The SEA-UK Exchange Programme was set up by the project: Strengthening Leadership with Gender, Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity in Higher Education Institutes in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and Timor-Leste. The project is in partnership with the British Council, and aims to create a sustainable network of leaders, among the SEAMEO region and UK higher education institutions with the purpose of enhancing GEDI in institutional management of the universities.
Find out more about the project.
Further information:
SEAMEO: The Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization, SEAMEO, is an intergovernmental organization of 11 Southeast Asian countries. SEAMEO aims to promote regional cooperation in the fields of education, science and culture.
SEAMEO RIHED: the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Centre specialising in higher education and development.
The SEA-UK Leadership Exchange: five UK universities working with 35 universities in 11 countries of Southeast Asia.
The Curriculum Development Action Plan Workshop participants were representatives from:
Lao PDR Champasack University
Myanmar East Yangon University
Philippines Cavite State University
Thailand Mae Fah Luang University
Timor-Leste Dili Institute of Technology (DIT)
Vietnam Hue University
Vietnam Thuyloi University
UK University of Oxford
SEA region SEAMEO RIHED