Improving academis competence and global engagement: Students’participation in SEA-TEACHER and SEA-TVET
Prof. Dr. R. Asep Kadarohman
Rector, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia and Its Global Engagement
Since its early establishment in 1954, as one of educational institutions in Indonesia, Universitas
Pendidikan Indonesia (Indonesia University of Education) is a leading Indonesian Higher
Education Institution (HEI) which consistently focuses on education. Starting 1998, Universitas
Pendidikan Indonesia has been transformed into a comprehensive university, enabling it toadminister both teacher education as it main cure business, and also non-educational
programs. The main focus of education program includes foundation of education, pedagogy,
subject matter, pedagogical content knowledge, teaching practicuum, and research paper,
while non education program consists of foundation courses, subject matter course, internshipprogram, and research paper.
With its vision as a leading and outstanding university, the university has determinedsome missions as follow: (1) providing quality education, (2) conducting research rooted in thelocal wisdom, (3) developing teacher education, (4) disseminating experiences and innovations
for the development of the society. In academic area, these mission are implemented in theform of general learrning outcome such as (1) building scientific, educative, and religious
attitudes, (2) developing sharing and caring personality in work place and social life supportedwith global competitiveness and comparativeness, (3) becoming adaptive to dynamic changes,(4) developing good citizens with national, regional and global views, (5) being able tointegrate skills of (a) learning and innovation, (b) mastery of information, media andtechnology, (c) career and life; and finally (6) becoming long life learners.
The above mentioned learning outcomes are designed so that students have thecapacity to face the challenges of internationalization that have currently been existing, namely
ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Based on the blue print of AEC 2015, Education sector
plays a significant role in building ASEAN Economic Community by strengthening theimplementation of its economic initiatives; accelerating regional integration in the priority
sectors; especially in facilitating the movement of business persons, skilled labor and talents;
as well as strengthening the institutional mechanisms of ASEAN. Besides, education sector also
1|P a g eplays a significant role in building ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community by developing andstrengthening the coherence of policy frameworks and institutions to advance HumanDevelopment, Social Justice and Rights, Social Protection and Welfare, Environmental
Sustainability, ASEAN Awareness, as well as narrowing the Development Gap.
Having a deeper look at this ASEAN Economic Community, we can find that it focuseson Single Market and Production Base, which has five ‘free flows’ as core elements (goods,service sector, investment, capital and skilled labor). Regarding this core elements, ASEAN
works toward regional harmonization and standardisation by enhancing cooperation among
ASEAN University Network (AUN) members to increase mobility for both students and staff
within region and developing core competencies and qualifications for job/occupational andtrainers skills required in the priority service sectors.
In reseponse to the challenge of AEC and as one of the institution in ASEAN countries,
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia has the responsibility to promote knowledge of resources
and social cultural potencies among universities across ASEAN Community. Besides, theuniversity also has the responsibility to contribute and actively participate in developing asynergy of institutional and regional mobility programes. This response to regional conditionis also in line with a more global initiative by UNESCO which declared Global Citizenship
Education (GCED). This initiative requires students to be immersed in technology-cultivated,autonomous, and global-oriented yet local wisdom-rooted education. In its application, thisprogram promotes the idea of global or world citizenship by promoting equity education for
all students across the world. One focus of GCED is Transversal Competences such as
intrapersonal skills, interpersonal skills, global citizenship, media and information technology
skills, creative and innovative skills and others. These competences need actual practice inglobal interactions to support global engagement. Students at Higher Education Institutions
are future global citizens who have privilege to become future leaders. As the world becomes
smaller and global, they should have global worldviews and embrace the spirit of global
citizenship. Since the shrinking world becomes more diverse, they should embrace values ofglobal life such as tolerance, understanding, partnership and collaboration.
On the other hand, ASEAN also has missions in building awareness of ASEAN, develop
ASEAN identity, develop a qualified, competent and well-prepared of ASEAN labours. This
ASEAN mission are implemented in the form of SEA Teacher and SEA TVET program.
Regarding this, UPI which has intention in develop good citicen with national, regional dan
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global vision has been contributes and actively participates in SEA Teacher and SEA TVET
program. This policy is taken to support UNESCO global and ASEAN regional initiative ofstudents’ involvement in global activities to prepare them as future global citizens and leaders.

SEA TEACHER and SEA TVET Projects
SEA TEACHER is a project that aims to provide opportunity for pre-service student teachers
from universities in Southeast Asia to have teaching experiences (practicum) in schools in othercountries in Southeast Asia. This project is the implementation of one of SEAMEO 7 priorities
areas 2015-2035 especially priority areas number 5 (five) which focuses on Revitalizing Teacher
Education. The Objectives of SEA TEACHER Projects are to enable pre-service student teachers,
develop their teaching skills and pedagogy, encourage the pre-service student teachers,
practice their English skills, to allow the pre-service student teachers, gain a broader regional
and world view, expose future teachers to diverse teaching and learning situations andopportunities, and the value of flexibility.
Meanwhile, SEA TVET is a project that aims to promote TVET student and staff
exchange, which shall include cross-country industrial attachment and internship programs.
This project is related to SEAMEO Priority Area number 4 (four), that is, Promoting Technicaland Vocational Education and Training (TVET). The objectives of SEA TVET Program are tocreate networking among TVET providers; provide opportunities for participating institutions
to work together in student and staff exchange and industrial attachment; and share best
resources/practices and to generate new/innovative ideas through research collaboration.
Meanwhile, the goals of this projects are to leverage the standard and competency of TVET in
Southeast Asia through internationalization and harmonization; promote and develop thecurriculum

harmonization,andinternationalizationofstudy

programsthroughlecturer/student exchange, joint research programs and industrial linkages; and create asustainable networking platform among TVET leaders and institutions in Southeast Asia andindustry, as well as other related development agencies. SEA TVET program can be
implemented into six main activities such as are students exchange, staff exchange, industrialattachment for students, industrial attachment for staff, sharing expertise and resources,
research collaboration. Furthermore, industry areas which become major interests in SEA TVET
program are: (1) Hospitality and Tourism (first priority area) (2) Electronics, Mechatronics, and

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Manufacturing; (3) Agriculture and Fishery; and (4) Construction, (5) Other areas (as long aspartners are available).
Basically, SEA TEACHER and SEA TVET Projects consist of three main activities, which
include orientation, implementation, and reporting. During the orientation session, theparticipants are introduced to the campus life, school culture, and industry as well as theculture of the place they visit. Meanwhile, during the implementation session, the participants
usually conduct teaching observation, develop lesson plan, teaching practice, and industriallinkage. The last stage is reporting. During this stage, the participants are required to make adaily report, presentation and final report in the form of blog.
The SEA TEACHER Project gives some benefits for students and also for teacher as amentor. Some benefits of SEA TEACHER Project for students include (1) learning different
teaching skill and pedagogy, including lesson plans; (2) learning different school situation; (3)improving their English language proficiency; (4) making friends of diverse cultural
backgrounds; and (5) learning local cultures. Meanwhile some benefits for mentors are (1)becoming more familiar with different teaching skills and pedagogies of other students,
leading to curriculum adjustment to internationalization; (2) becoming more familiar with real
linkage between industry and university, leading to curriculum harmonization; (3) increasing
their English language skills; (4) becoming more confident in interacting with international
students.
Similar to SEA TEACHER, SEA TVET project also provides some benefits not only forstudents, but also for the lecturers at university, as well as for mentors at industries. The
students will learn not only the technical-know-how, but also the experience living and“working” abroad that enable them to learn new language/s, cultures, and other regional
experiences. Meanwhile, teachers who participate in staff exchange will be benefited from theinstitution abroad in the area covered during the exchange, besides also having the experienceliving and “working” abroad, and regional networking with other teachers in the region. While
teachers who work in the host institution will serve as mentors and will experience in serving
international students. The institution such as secondary TVET schools, vocational andtechnical colleges, and polytechnics participating in SEA-TVET consortium will gain benefits
through networking, learning from good practices of other institutions in the region, andhaving the opportunity to partner with various institutions for students’ and staff’s exchange
overseas. Besides, the SEA TVET program might enhance the performance of the industry by
4|P a g ehaving a students and staff members who are more knowledgeable about the industrial
requirements, thus, enabling them to perform jobs in multi-cultural working environment.

Some Challenges and Proposed Solution
However, the implementation of the SEA TEACHER and SEA TVET Projects sometimes bringsome challenges. This obstacle need some solutions for a better implementation in the future.
The first chalenge is program duration. So far, to avoid visa requirement among ASEAN
countries which may burden participating students, the program was only been conducted in
the period of one month. During this period, the participants are expected to gain experienceof teaching and working overseas. However, this one-month period may work well with SEATEACHER but not with SEA TVET. Some industries in SEA TVET Project suggest that it needs
extension for two or three months so that the participants will gain more benefits from theproject they are engaged with. However, the prolonged duration has consequenses in visa
issue as most ASEAN countries apply visa fee for internship program. In the future, SEAMEO issuggested to make an agreement with ASEAN Foreign Ministers regarding this visa
arrangement in order to promote the mobilization of students and staff members in ASEAN
region. The increase of duration provide a possibility for credit transfer between ASEAN
universities which eventually has impact on promoting the number of international students
at universities in the region.
The second challenges is limited English proficiency. Some participants have very
limited English proficiency so that they cannot perform basic communication during theprogram. Regarding this matter, the sending institution need to have more emphasis on
language competency in their selection process. Besides, the sending institutions also have toprovide support for language preparation for the participants. English proficiency is asignificant media for the participant to gain knowledge and experience through an effective
communication with the school, industry, and community.

Conclusions and Recommendations
Based on the above-mentioned explanation, it is concluded that both SEA-TEACHERS and SEATVET are beneficial to improve students’ content knowledge and pedagogical skills,
competence and qualification, curriculum harmonization and industrial linkage, English
language skills, and global engagement. Therefore, the more ASEAN countries and institutions
5|P a g eget involved in this project, the wider area will gain its benefit. Furthermore, it is expected that
more higher educational institutions outside ASEAN region will be involved, including fromJapan, Korea and China (ASEAN Economic Community plus 3) and other countries toparticipate this program so that participating students may have wider job opportunities. Last
but not least, to sustain the framework of SEA-TEACHERS and SEA-TVET, an independent U toU partnership, beyond SEAMEO initiative, is highly encouraged so that more students can havemore opportunities of exchange and mobility.

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