ASEAN 2015: CHALLENGES AND

OPPORTUNITIES FOR EDUCATORS

Research > Presentations > ASEAN 2015: Challenges and Opportunities for Educators

The birth of ASEAN was motivated by the passion to drive economic, social and cultural progress on the
foundation of solid regional peace. As the ASEAN 2015 fast approaches, economic integration is fashioned
by a new concept of co-opetition, blending regional cooperation and competition among member states;
and in the 1996 Philippine hosting of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, education is one of the areas
emphasized in eco-tech cooperation to pursue the ASEAN dream of a prosperous community where
equitable growth is an avowed goal.

Reaching regional harmonization in education is not very distant given the current significant
developments. Traditionally, the domain of knowledge and education are within the four corners of the
classroom. But in this stage of time, the increasing international student mobility, deepening research
cooperation and networks are blurring territorial boundaries in learning and scholarship. These trends
present opportunities and tools that accelerate regional harmonization in Southeast Asia.

However, on a broader picture of diversity, some challenges must be addressed in order to fully realize the
benefits of an integrated region. Some of these include standardization of ‘quality’, institutional diversity,
quality assurance systems, research funding, disparities in national migration policies and war for skills. A
more careful scrutiny would reveal significant lapses of the Philippines in human resource as reflected in
poor competitive rankings and scores in recent global surveys.

To be able to address these problems, the following are recommended:

 A curriculum reform that migrates to collaborative learning between management and S&T
 An emphasis on Science and Math education that leads to evidence-based discourses
 A graduate education that is not ‘credentialing system’
 Quality-assured masteral and doctoral programs that are benchmarked with the leading research-
oriented institutions first in ASEAN then to global comparators
 Eco-tech cooperation in ASEAN focusing on promoting intra-regional collaboration (e.g.
ASEAN-Network for Drugs, Vaccines, Diagnostics and Traditional Medicine Innovation)
 Scaling up of faculty and student exchange, teaching (distance learning) and university-academe
linkages
Developing knowledge institutions and calibrating them against the backdrop of the regionalism and
integration would not only push for a more competitive human resource but a more innovative and
technologically advanced ASEAN society.

Prof. Federico M. Macaranas, Ph.D

Presentation to the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres
Philippine Institute of Sports Complex, Pasig City, Philippines
May 8, 2014
Education’s
responsibilities in
integrated Asean
By: Ramon R. del Rosario Jr. - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 12:19 AM October 10, 2015

The 2015 Asean integration, just like most human undertakings, has the potential
to do good and—an equal potential, if not implemented properly—to exacerbate
social problems. To ensure that integration benefits all, actions and programs
must be purposive in nature. They must be intentionally directed to addressing
the problems of unemployment, poverty and inequality.

In the forthcoming Asean Economic Community (AEC), the responsibility of

education is to make the lives of as many people as possible better, to help make
sure no one gets left behind, and everyone is prepared to face the opportunities
and challenges of the regional economy.

To live up to this responsibility, education must ensure employability. The

employability of our people, more importantly our youth, is the most important
factor to guarantee that they will benefit from economic integration. Our youth
must be ready for the jobs that will be created, and the responsibility for this
preparation falls on education. Schools must equip them with the skills and
competencies required by the regional market place; they cannot do this by
themselves. They must work hand in hand with business in order that education
indeed leads to jobs.
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Current trends indicate that by 2025 more than half of all high-skilled
employment in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand and
Vietnam could be filled by workers with insufficient qualifications. The
mismatch of skills will persist and haunt us, unless education institutions and
business work together. Business cannot wait for the system to create a pool of
skilled labor; rather, it must be proactive and partner with institutions by offering
career guidance, shaping curricula, training faculty, and providing equipment. If
the system is to generate the needed competencies, companies must become part
of the education process.

In response to this need, in 2014 Philippine Business for Education (PBEd)

formed the National Industry Academe Council (Niac). Driven by industry’s
need for competent employees and academe’s desire to see its graduates
employed, these sectors got together with a simple goal: to assist in the
preparation of as many of the right people as possible, for the right jobs and
companies and right careers. It is cochaired by Fr. Jett Villarin, Ateneo de
Manila president, and myself. The co-vice chairs are Dr. Ric Rotoras, Mindanao
University of Science and Technology president, and Jaime Augusto Zobel de
Ayala. The Niac includes the likes of the presidents of the University of the
Philippines, De La Salle University and Banco de Oro Unibank, and the
Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines. PBEd subsequently also facilitated
the formation of industry-academe councils in Iloilo, Bohol, Cagayan de Oro and
Zamboanga.

The programs of the Niac seem mundane—refining and disseminating

information on professions and career opportunities; creating codes of conduct to
improve internship programs; training industry relations officers and their
counterparts, university relations officers; and defining industry competencies
and encouraging the formation of industry skills councils. However, it is
precisely the dialogue and interactions that these programs will foster that will
lead to more profound partnerships and more significant solutions.

As Father Villarin writes:

“Opening our doors to industry can be daunting at times, particularly when

ideologies and philosophies, goals, and methods do not necessarily match, when
there is little trust or even knowledge of each other. The challenge for us in the
education sector is to find a place, a nexus point, a point of encounter, such as
this National Industry Academe Council, where ideas and ideals are threshed out
with our industry partners, in mutual recognition and respect, as we work
towards the shared goal of improving Philippine education and the quality of life
of our people.”

Ultimately, what is most important is to begin working together. According to a

McKinsey Education to Employment study, “In every success story, the different
stakeholders interacted intensively and frequently. They also went well beyond
their traditional areas of activity: Employers got involved in education, and
educators played a bigger role in employment.”

Ironically, what became apparent in the May 2015 PBEd-Niac summit was that
it was business that was not living up to its share of the responsibilities.
Philippine companies were hesitant to invest in training systems intended for the
development of industry-wide competencies, or provide and share information
that would help the youth choose careers and jobs, or collaborate on industry-
wide competencies and quality assurance systems.

Yet, business stands to benefit, arguably the most, from a large pool of highly
competent graduates.

The ultimate point is that if education is to reduce unemployment and increase

incomes, training must lead to jobs. This will only occur if those trained are
equipped with the skills and competencies that those hiring require. This in turn
will happen only if the training institutions and companies work hand in hand,
directly with one another, with both sharing the burden and responsibilities.

To conclude, education’s continuing role is to make the lives of the many better.
In the context of the AEC, this means helping all our peoples benefit from the
opening regional economy and helping ensure that no one gets left behind. The
best way for the education system to do this is to enhance the employability of
our youth, which will only happen if business and educational institutions come
together to shape, design and jointly deliver academic and training programs.

As the late great Nelson Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon
which you can use to change the world.”
Asean Integration and K-12 program Tuesday, April 21, 2015 By VER F. PACETE AS I SEE IT
WE BELONG to the Asean region. The 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean) are the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. In 2003, these countries agreed to integrate
their economies. In 2007, the members of the Asean countries approved a “blueprint” to
guide each member on initiatives and measures to achieve regional integration which is
scheduled for 2015. Asean integration allows its member-countries (and the citizens of
those countries) to join in the free flow of capital, labor, services, goods, and foreign
investments. For the Philippines, this is a big challenge because integration will also mean
that Asean members will pay less tax, less custom duties, and less import taxes. This
pattern follows the European Common Market (European Union). In our case we will also
have the Asean Common Market. The Philippines (as a member) will consider people and
products from the Asean region, as if they are people and products of our country also. This
is good for Filipinos because there will be a wider door for job markets in the region. But
then, the job market will be tougher. We have to compete with other qualified applicants
from the region. We have already proven in the past (before Asean integration) that
Filipinos can best adapt to multicultural workplaces. We are good in English. (I would like to
believe that.) Now, I will go to this controversial issue. That could also be the reason why
we have this regional community approach to integration of education in the region. This
could be the reason why the K to 12 Program has been instituted so that we can level off
with Asean and the rest of the world. (I am not just sure if our expert planners in education
and also our Congress have made a careful study before the implementation of the
program.) Keen observers say that there is the synchronization of the academic calendar of
Asean universities to accommodate the mobility of the faculty and students within the
region. Look at this, only the Philippines has its school opening in June. Most universities in
Japan, Korea, China, and North America start their academic calendar in August or
September. Sen. Miriam Santiago said, “The synchronization of the academic calendar of
the Philippine universities with most Asean, European, and American academic partners
will create more joint programs and partnerships with other universities and allow students
to get transfer credits from different universities in the Asean.” The strengthening of our
universities is a necessity because we want to compete with the world as global athletes,
not just barangay warriors. That could be the reason why we should involve the
Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and
Skills Development Authority, and the Department of Labor and Employment to have that
assurance that our training, skills, subjects, and courses would fit competition in the world
market. I know that our K to 12 Program has more lapses and creates problems. That is why
government experts (if we have experts) should come in and look into the program with
cyclonic eyes, and reconstruct or improve our system of education in the country. Let us
not give rooms for doubt to our parents and educators that the people upstairs who are in-
charge simply ponder. When there is trouble, they delegate. When they are in doubt, they
mumble. In our province, we only identify few specialist schools for Technical-Vocational,
School of the Arts, Agriculture, Fisheries, Information Technology, and Tourism. How
about our secondary schools in coastal areas and upland barangays which are far away
from pilot schools? I also know that some basic problems have not been answered…lack of
classrooms, books, working tools and equipment, laboratory facilities, and competent
teachers. I know that our colleges and universities in Bacolod and Negros Occidental have
problems. Solve your problems (easier said than done) and get ready (if not ready yet) for
Asean integration. Make inventory of your desirable assets: qualified administrative staff;
experienced educators and mentors; internationally responsive academic programs; school
buildings with classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art technology; and a beautiful and
world-class campus conducive to teaching-learning activities. Let us show the world that
our institutions of learning are geared towards total human growth, spiritual development,
and economic uplift. (You can add more.) All these will attract foreign students and
scholars. This will also convince Filipino students to patronize their own colleges and
universities.

The AEC Blueprint 2025, adopted by the ASEAN Leaders at the 27th ASEAN Summit on 22
November 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, provides broad directions through strategic
measures for the AEC from 2016 to 2025. Along with the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, and
the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) Blueprint 2025 and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural
Community (ASCC) Blueprint 2025, the AEC Blueprint 2025 forms part of ASEAN 2025: Forging
Ahead Together. It succeeded the AEC Blueprint (2008-2015), which was adopted in 2007.

The AEC Blueprint 2025 is aimed towards achieving the vision of having an AEC by 2025 that is
highly integrated and cohesive; competitive, innovative and dynamic; with enhanced connectivity
and sectoral cooperation; and a more resilient, inclusive, and people-oriented, people-centred
community, integrated with the global economy

The AEC Blueprint 2025 consists of five interrelated and mutually reinforcing characteristics,
namely: (i) A Highly Integrated and Cohesive Economy; (ii) A Competitive, Innovative, and
Dynamic ASEAN; (iii) Enhanced Connectivity and Sectoral Cooperation; (iv) A Resilient,
Inclusive, People-Oriented, and People-Centred ASEAN; and (v) A Global ASEAN. These
characteristics support the vision for the AEC as envisaged in the ASEAN Community Vision
2025.

The AEC Blueprint 2025 sets out the strategic measures under each of the five characteristics of
AEC 2025. To operationalise the Blueprint’s implementation, these strategic measures will be
further elaborated in and implemented through the work plans of various sectoral bodies in
ASEAN. The sectoral work plans will be reviewed and updated periodically to ensure their
relevance and effectiveness. Partnership arrangements with the private sector, industry
associations and the wider community at the regional and national levels will also be actively
sought and fostered to ensure an inclusive and participatory approach to the integration process.
Institutions will be strengthened and enhanced approaches to monitoring and public outreach will
likewise be developed to support the effective implementation of the Blueprint.

The AEC 2025 Consolidated Strategic Action Plan (CSAP) comprises of key action lines that will
operationalise the strategic measures in the AEC Blueprint 2025. It takes into account the
relevant sectoral workplans, and will be reviewed periodically to account for developments
in each sector.

The AEC Blueprint 2025 will lead towards an ASEAN that is more proactive, having had in place
the structure and frameworks to operate as an economic community, cultivating its collective
identity and strength to engage with the world, responding to new developments, and seizing new
opportunities. The new Blueprint will not only ensure that the 10 ASEAN Member States are
economically integrated, but are also sustainably and gainfully integrated in the global economy,
thus contributing to the goal of shared prosperity.