NEAT Working Group on
Enhancing People to People Connectivity-Education, Tourism and Cultural Exchange-

Final ReportTokyo
29 July 2014

1. Introduction
Through the institutionalization of ASEAN+3 (APT) in 1997 and the East Asia
Summit (EAS) in 2005, regional cooperation and integration in the East Asia region has
been promoted. Especially ASEAN, which has enforced its ASEAN Charter in December
2008 and aimed at community building within ASEAN by 2015 has rapidly increased
integration efforts. For ASEAN Community Building, enhancing “connectivity” is the mostimportant task, with ASEAN having adopted “ASEAN Leaders' Statement on ASEAN
Connectivity” in 2009, “Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity” in 2010. Efforts tointegration are made based on three pillars: “Physical Connectivity,” which includes
transportation, telecommunications and energy networks, “Institutional Connectivity,”
which includes trade, investment the liberalization and facilitation of the service sector and“People to People Connectivity,” which includes education, tourism and cultural exchange.
Additionally, APT as well as EAS have adopted the “Declaration of the 6th East Asia
Summit on ASEAN Connectivity” in 6th EAS in 2011 and the “Leaders’ Statement on
ASEAN Plus Three Partnership on Connectivity” in 15th APT in 2012, with both
frameworks strongly supporting the enhancing of connectivity within ASEAN. The movetowards enhancing connectivity within the East Asia region as a whole is gaining
momentum and enhancing people to people connectivity is increasing in importance as afoundation of the improvement of physical and institutional connectivity.
Taking account of the rapidly advancing economic, cultural, and social integrationin the 21st century, it is necessary for countries to discuss the issues that they must tackle
and share tasks in order for further integration of the region. In addition, to strengthen“people to people connectivity” which is mentioned in the “ASEAN+3 Leaders’ Statement
on Connectivity Partnership” policies should be implemented efficiently. Furthermore, as
reality changes over time, it is necessary to take into consideration whether or not anemphasis should be put on new matters to accommodate the ever-changing environment.
Given the above mentioned background, this WG in phase 1 on “Enhancing People toPeople Connectivity -Education, Tourism and Cultural Exchange-” was held in Tokyo, Japan on 31
July 2013, thereby developing concrete and feasible policy recommendations to be submitted to the
ASEAN plus Three Summit. This WG made the following policy recommendations last year.

(1)To expand and support the current higher education network system among ASEAN＋3
countries; i.e. Enlargement of Campus Asia Project by Japan, China and South Korea to ASEAN
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Countries, and partnership enlargement of ASEAN University Network (AUN) to the East Asian
countries under ASEAN+3 University Network (ASEAN+3 UNet) with a characteristic ofmulti-layered system. To transform the existing ASEAN＋1 international exchange and cooperation
programs into the ASEAN＋3 framework.

(2) To promote systematization of regional quality assurance and credit transfer systems of higher
education in ASEAN＋3 with cooperation of current systems, i.e. ASEAN University Network –Quality Assurance (AUN-QA), ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN), Asia Pacific Quality
Network (APQN), ASEAN Credit Transfer System (ACTS), and Collective Action for Mobility
Program of University Students (Campus Asia) and so on.

(3) To promote the cultural exchanges for mutual understanding through a regional common
project, i.e. to establish the “East Asian Cultural City” which was already launched by China, South
Korea and Japan, and to expand this system to ASEAN countries to attractive people’s concern to the
Asian culture including popular culture.

(4) To develop cultural exchanges among youth to act together for fostering a sustainable
development regional society. The exchanges should include “study tours”, “green tourism” or “rural
tourism” which will provide the participants with the opportunities to interact with local community,
to be exposed to rich traditions, as well as to enjoy diverse natural environments.

(5) To enhance institutional building and people skills for cultural exchange and tourism, i.e. toestablish a regional language training framework and to create knowledge sharing system on culture
and tourism of ASEAN + 3 countries.

(6) To develop academic collaborative research on historical artifacts and to promote preservationand protection of cultural assets and cultural heritage, and cultural industry development by making
visible systems and capacity building of human resource.

(7) To establish a trans-national collaborative higher education and research institution in East
Asia on regional and global issues like "APT Cyber University" that was originally proposed by the
NEAT Working Group on the Enhancement of Cultural Exchange in East Asia 2007-2012 to foster
understanding of different cultures and diversity.

2(8) To establish a regional financial support system to encourage people’s connectivity througheducational and cultural exchanges including tourism.

2. Objective
The objective of this Working Group, based on these backgrounds and issues,
taking a wide viewpoint from the “track2” position and placing its much emphasis on theimportance of the current regional cooperation in East Asia, is to propose a detailed policy
recommendations on “the enhancing of people to people connectivity” and to submit it to
the ASEAN Plus Three Summit Meeting. In particular, this WG on phase 2 on“Enhancing
People to People Connectivity -Education, Tourism and Cultural Exchange” has a following
perspective. The concept of “People to People Connectivity” should be considered in aclose relationship with key subjects of coexistence in a multicultural society, sustainable
development, and social resilience. There are various stakeholders in this modern society,and an individual person has come to take a more important role in a social change insteadof a nation. In this process, it has become a more crucial factor how to connect people topeople and how to enhance its connectivity.
First, the field of education, especially higher education, has witnessed theemerging trend of standardization along with globalization. Quality assurance isparticularly important in standardization.

For example, the OECD began the “Feasibility

Study” of the “Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO)” in 2011.
However, the AHELO tests the attainment of learning on specific subjects as well as generalabilities, such as the critical thinking, problem solving, and communication. These abilities
do not necessarily sympathize with the culture of the APT member countries whichemphasize the “harmonization” to maintain conciliatory and harmonious relationshipamong people. On the other hand, this harmonizing ability could be crucial one for making
innovation in various fields, because innovation can be realized through dialogues among
the people of different fields. The global trend for better quality assurance will expectedly
accelerate in the future. And, as a practical matter, it is important to note that European andAmerican universities dominate the top world university ranking. Given so, it is necessary
to assess the current situation and tasks in setting the standard of educational quality
assurance in the APT. Also, along with higher education, elementary and secondary
education has also witnessed similar trend of standardization. For example, the OECD has
conducted the triennial “Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)”
targeting 15-year-old children since 2003, and 510,000 students from 65 countries (including3

34 OECD member countries and 31 non-member countries and areas) participated in the2012 survey.

The PISA also tries to test non-cognitive student achievements such asproblem solving skills. In the future, further evaluations will be necessary for theappropriateness of these surveys for the APT member countries. In turn, it will be also
necessary to conduct surveys for the Asian version of academic ability, establish the basis
for it, and discuss the foundation of a practical common educational institution.
The field of higher education has also witnessed the increasingly active
international movement of students. Those from Asia have increased in the proportion toaccount for more than half of the international students in the world※. Along with thistrend, cross-boundary educational activities for international students have developed on amultilateral basis in East Asia. The ASEAN International Mobility for Students Programme(AIMS), which the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Centre
for Higher Education and Development (SEAMEO-RIHED) initiated in 2010, has expanded
to seven countries including Japan. The ASEAN University Network (AUN) has also
developed the ASEAN+3 framework including Japanese, Chinese, and South Korean
universities. Important tasks with the international movement of students include theimprovement of the credit transfer system. For example, SEAMEO-RIHED has begun
modifying the existing system to adjust to the reality and developing the Academic Credit
Transfer Framework for Asia (ACTFA). How would the concerned countries cooperate
within the APT framework to improve these existing and developing systems?

It isnecessary to comprehend this current situation as a source of data, to clarify the issues tosolve, and to discuss the solutions in the future.
Hence, in the field of education, it is especially important to consider how to
improve a concrete means of quality assurance and credit transfer. As in the APT
framework, the ASEAN+3 Education Minister Meeting in 2012 adopted the “ASEAN+3 Planof Action on Education: 2010-2017.” The meeting also initiated the “ASEAN+3 Working
Group on Mobility of Higher Education and Ensuring Quality Assurance of Higher
Education,” the first meeting of which was held in Tokyo last year.
Another future challenge in the field of education is how to “sophisticate”
education in the face of the possible deterioration of higher education’s quality as a result of
the rapidly rising university advancement rate. Other urgent issues that need concrete
discussions include how to achieve a balanced human resource development between
advanced “researchers” and “professional,” how to define education in the aging society
with falling birth rate, how to promote industry-academia cooperation, and how to4invigorate rural areas losing youth to urban areas. For the present WG, it is necessary to
discuss the means to enhance the connectivity in the field of education based on theexisting frameworks, systems, and their accomplishments.
Next, as in the field of tourism, the ASEAN+3 Tourism Ministers Meeting decided
to promote various ways of cooperation. Although the number of tourists within the Eastand Southeast Asian region has grown rapidly partly because of the new development of
Low Cost Carrier (LCC), the APT is now facing new challenges.

The tourism industry canbe vulnerable as it is susceptible to various external shocks, ranging from natural disasters,
accidents to international relations and domestic politics. The APT should make utmost
effort to enhance the sustainability of tourism development and jointly work to prevent thedestruction of the natural environment and the intangible community heritage. Closer
People to People Connectivity at the trans-local and trans-national levels can play animportant role to contribute to the sustainability. From this perspective, future international
cooperation may focus on, for example, “community-based tourism” in which local
residents are encouraged to participate in the planning and to actively utilize local
resources, including both tangible and intangible heritages. The APT countries may also be
more active in identifying the common challenges that they face, and strive to exchange
experiences and learn from each other accordingly. For instance all the APT countries arefacing growing socio-economic gaps between urban and the rural societies. To promote
tourism development as a way to enhance local community revitalization in the
countryside has become an important task for all countries.
Last but not least, as in the field of cultural exchanges, related projects is an
important factor to enhance the connectivity because they develop and deepen exchanges
among people as well as mutual understanding along with such exchanges. Different
cultural exchange projects have been already taking places under the Japan-China-South
Korea and the APT frameworks. Whereas the successes of these projects are meaningful,they have left room for further cooperation in the future. As such, it is necessary to have afollow-up of those on-going projects and to discuss the preservation of cultural heritages, amissing item of the agenda. A number of well-known tangible heritages are alreadyregistered as world heritages. However, it is a common task for countries concerned to
manage the adverse effect of designating a world heritage, such as the rapid increase of
tourists at the site. As for intangible heritages, the trend of globalization has rendered it
difficult to preserve them in local communities. Given this situation, it is necessary to
discuss the means for cooperation to energize each country’s intangible heritages in the5

APT framework. In that sense, 3 category Ⅱ centers of UNESCO on intangible cultural
heritage which are settled in China, Japan and South Korea could be the key institutions forthe enrichment of preserving intangible cultural heritage in APT countries.

3. Discussions on People-to-People Connectivity- Education, Tourism
and Cultural Exchange
21 experts from ASEAN +3 member countries, the ASEAN SEAMEO- RIHED andthe sponsoring organization, the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR), took partin the WG meeting. The WG meeting had the following three sessions.
In Session 1, “East Asia's Education Cooperation: how to improve higher
education system in East Asia,” we discussed the significance of promotion and support ofbalanced mobility of students and faculty in the ASEAN + 3 framework based on theexperience of ASEAN + 3 Working Group on Mobility of Higher Education and Ensuring
Quality Assurance of Higher Education like ASEAN University Network, AIMS programand ASEAN Credit Transfer System. We confirmed the importance of establishing a forum
where "Asian Academic Standard" beyond borders can be discussed embracing cultural
diversity and tradition of harmony in East Asia, and a regional higher education institution
to promote East Asian regional cooperation and to tackle shared problems such as aging
society, environment issues, political and cultural conflicts. To promote ASEAN + 3 regional
collaboration not only in public higher education but also in technical and vocational
education and in private higher education to effectively respond to transforming demandsof East Asian economies. To sum up, in order to formulate ASEAN + 3 networks of higher
education institutions, university presidents, researchers and teachers collaborating withexisting global and regional networks to enhance trans-disciplinary approach acrosshuman/ social/ natural sciences and Asian studies by Asian researchers to tackle sharedproblems of the region. Additionally, a regional language cooperation system in ASEAN +3
framework recognizing the efficacy and efficiency of English as a communication tool for
Asian regional cooperation while organizational effort should be paid to establish an
appropriate leaning system of Asian national and local languages to promote mutual
cultural understanding.
In Session 2, “East Asia's Tourism and Cultural Exchange Cooperation: how tocooperate to develop a sustainable tourism and to energize intangible heritages,” we6discussed the importance of local community involvement and community based tourism
as effective implementation of sustainable/responsible tourism. We should pursue quality
rather than quantity of the industry in order to prevent the destruction of naturalenvironment and intangible heritage.

In order to promote the APT brand of sustainable

and responsible tourism we can work together on marketing promotion, for instance byintroducing common tourist visa, establishing APT quality standards for tourism
destinations to follow by compiling something like the “Michelin Green Guide”.
We also discussed how we can utilize pop culture, food, movie, art, fashion and sports toraise young generations’ awareness and revitalize intangible cultural heritage. APT
regional cooperation is critical in establishing Study Tour for youth to learn the sharedfacing challenges, such as environmental issues, threat of climate changes naturalcalamities, energy management, migration to urban areas: widening gap between the cities
and rural areas, and to cultivate the shared APT regional identity beyond local and national
identity. In addition, ICT can be actively used to provide language training, promoteknowledge sharing on tourism, and encourage learning about cultural diversities across theregion..
In Session 3, “How to Further Enhancing People to People Connectivity in East
Asia?,” we discussed the functions of cultural exchange in order to promote people topeople connectivity to realize unity in diversity. Taking considerations of current situationsof cultural exchange through education and tourism in the Asian region, we can recognize
some implications of cultural exchange. They are 1) transferring knowledge andinformation across national borders, thereby overcoming isolation at home and becoming
familiar with different cultures, 2) enabling wider cooperation and promoting mobilizationof intellectuals for more effective solutions to national and international social problems,and 3) creating networks and connectivity to cooperate together. Taking these points into
consideration, it is important to formulate sustainable networking in the region. On theother hand, there are some issues of networking as medium of communication, cultural
conflicts, political initiative and competition, finance issue to support networking andrelationship of internationalization and localization. In spite of these subjects, there are lotsof global and regional issues to overcome in our cooperation, and in that case we need tomake an academic platform to bring young leaders together beyond national boundaries
and consider those issues together about cross-fields issues from the trans-disciplinary
approach. We need to coordinate a multi-layered and sustainable networking system with
common goals and purposes at regional, governments, institutions, and grass-roots levels.
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4. Policy Recommendations
Based on the discussions above, this Working Group on “Enhancing People toPeople Connectivity -Education, Tourism and Cultural Exchange-”summarized thefollowing policy recommendations;(1) To establish a forum or a platform with multilayered structure and various learning
styles; such as a self-learning system like MOOC as an Asian cyber university, or Asian
version of “College of Europe” and "European University Institute" where Asian people
can come to learn together while strengthening education network scheme like ASEAN
University Network (AUN) and ASEAN International Mobility for Students (AIMS)
program. There should not be only public higher education but also in technical andvocational education and in private higher education to effectively respond to transforming
demands of East Asian economies.
(2) To reorganize a regional meeting in order to make an inter-regional academic
networking. There are already IAU as a league of higher education institutions and IAUP
as one of presidents in higher education sector and if these world-wide organizations haveregional based approach, they can be more functional. APT can be a good initiative in thisregional activity including teacher, staff and researchers’ mobility.
(3) To establish a forum or a platform where “Asian Academic Standards” beyond borders
can be discussed embracing cultural diversity and tradition of harmony in East Asia. For
example, the project of ASEAN Research Cluster through internet by SEAMEO-RIHED canpromote intra-regional and inter-regional access to research materials which can activate
student mobility and research cooperation not only within ASEAN but also in the ASEAN+ 3 framework and beyond. It can be a platform or an institute to discuss regional andglobal issues thorough a trans-disciplinary approach cross human/ social/ natural sciences
and Asian studies by Asian researchers to tackle shared problems of the region.
(4) To formulate a regional language cooperation system in ASEAN +3 framework
recognizing the efficacy and efficiency of English as a communication tool for Asian
regional cooperation while organizational efforts should be paid to establish an
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appropriate leaning system of Asian national and local languages to promote mutual
cultural understanding.
(5) To take a transnational approach to choose topics of a learning commons to be sharedbeyond national boundaries. For example, many Asian countries has been facing change
for aging society and environment issue and it is important for Asian countries tocooperate to struggle with them to realize a sustainable society in Asia. In that case, it isimportant to consider significance of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as a
key concept to be discussed and succeeded.
(6) To look for concrete ways of solving the common issues in Asia. In particular, it isimportant for us to use technology to respond to social subjects while considering diversityof Asian culture For example, it should be a nursing care robot can be regarded as a tool ofaging society’s process. And a festival or an expo as a cultural activity as well as sports canbe a great opportunity for many country’s people can share human care skills andtechnology.
(7) In order to promote regional cooperation in establishing sustainable and responsible
tourism new types of tourism such as eco-tourism, volunteer tourism and green tourism
should be encouraged. Establishing the quality standards in ensuring local community
involvement in tourism sustainable development by compiling popular reference books
can be effective. We also need to tackle common challenges of managing possible negative
impacts on the environment as well as on the local community’ intangible heritage from theincreasing number of tourists.

Youth’s study tours across the region can serve as a

productive way to prompt people-to-people connectivity, not only across countries but also
between the rural and urban areas.
(8) To promote to preserve intangible cultural assets and heritage in cooperation of APT.
Japan, China and South Korean have already settled UNESCO centers for preserving
intangible cultural assets respectively, they can cooperate together to promote cultural
heritage succession and to encourage ASEAN countries to involve this activity together in
the near future.

[END]
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List of Participants
China
SUN Jisheng
Director of the Department of Academic Research Administration
The China Foreign Affairs University

Indonesia
Raphaella Dewantari DWIANTO
Head of Graduate Studies of Sociology
University of Indonesia

Japan[WG Members]*Director of the WG
SATO Teiichi*
Honorary Executive Director, Tokyo National Museum
Professor, International University of Health and Welfare
SUGIMURA Miki
Vice President for Academic Exchange
Sophia University
KURODA Kazuo
Professor
Waseda University
TOYOTA Mika
Associate Professor
Rikkyo University[The Japan Forum on International Relations]
HIRABAYASHI Hiroshi
Vice President, JFIRISHIKAWA Kaoru
Senior Executive Director, JFIRWATANABE Mayu
Executive Director, JFIR11

KIKUCHI Yona
Senior Research Fellow, JFIR
TAKAHATA Yohei
Research Fellow, JFIR

Korea
NOH Kwang woo
Researcher, Research Institute for Information and Culture
Korea University

Laos
Yong CHANTHALANGSY
Director General
Institute of Foreign Affairs

Malaysia
Juita binti MOHAMAD
Senior Analyst (Economics Division)
Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia

MyanmarDenzil ABEL
MemberMyanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies

Philippines
Sheila SIAR
Director for Research Information
Philippine Institute for Development Studies

Singapore
LEE Hock Guan
Senior Fellow
Regional Social and Cultural Studies Program and Coordinator of the Malaysian Studies
Program at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

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Thailand
Surapeepan CHATRAPORN
Deputy Dean, Faculty of Arts, and Director, Bachelor of Arts in Language and Culture
Chulalongkorn University
Singhanat NOMNIAN
Deputy Director for International Relations and Corporate Communication
Mahidol University

VietnamNGUYEN THI BICH Ngoc
Research Fellow
The Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam
In Alphabetical Order of Country Name

ASEAN
Chantavit SUJATANOND
Special Advisor
SEAMEO Regional Centre for Higher Education and Development (SEAMEO RIHED)

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