Integration of topic 1: Fernando Palacio (University of Tsukuba)
1. The presentations we have seen together today address some key issues in the internationalizationof higher education and especially in the context of AIMS Programme.
2. The day was roughly divided into two main parts: presentations and discussion. I will focus here on
the outcomes from presentations.
3. The early morning greetings by Dr. Ikeda and Dr. Nakaoka, together with the presentations from Dr.
Kaneko, Dr. Sauwakon and Dr. Kuroda share a common thread in the approach to higher education
as a key component in the development of human resources that are global in nature.
4. Theses presentations touched upon broad and specific issues that refer to the relation between
cooperation, interaction and integration at all levels, be it economic, political or cultural.
5. We heard about the policies that Japan is implementing towards the goal of producing global
human resources and the examples related to programs like Global 30, Global 30+ and Reinventing
Japan.
6. We have seen some of the outcomes of research in mobility of students, and we could see that all
speakers agreed in the rapid growth in the number of students moving around in the search forinternational exposure.
7. We have seen that internationalization is happening in three broad areas: as in the setting of newhubs, as regionalization of education and other forms of cooperation in Education.
8. Through the presentations on AIMS we have seen how this program represents the mostconsolidated example of implementation of these policies in the region and Dr. Sauwakon provided
concrete data showing that multilateral student mobility is not only a trend but a reality.
9. Her presentation provides grounded numbers and explanations on how both governments anduniversities are becoming aware of the need to act global and to produce human resources thathave international exposure and that are ready to interact in international scenarios.
10. Here we see the cooperation and overlapping of the work of the governments for example inproviding the scholarships required for the students to go on exchange, while universities areimplementing the technicalities of educational programs on the ground.
11. Through the presentations we have learnt about important trends in higher education that refer tothe phenomena of massification, democratization and diversification in higher education.
12. Specifically in this field Dr. Kuroda explained on trends in mobility that refer to the Asianization andASEANization of mobility in higher education; all of which represents a growing and expanding

field for international cooperation.
13. We have discussed about the factors that affect mobility, which can be summed up in the 5A’s as
presented by Dr. Sauwakon (Availability, Accessibility, Affordability, Acceptability and Assurance inquality of education).
14. All of which relates to the need to create a shared framework for mobility based on a common
understanding of how to measure students work and achievements in the process of mobility.
SEAMEO RIHED is proposing the creation of a regional credit transfer system called ACTFA(Academic Credit Transfer Framework for Asia) which seeks to work as a facilitating mechanism.
15. In a similar fashion Mr. Richard Kelner presented examples on policies and implementation ofinternationalization of higher education in the context of the Bologna Process in Europe, how theprocess has been both deepening and expanding. Once again, here we saw governments anduniversities working towards the creation of a European Higher Education Area that works basicallyon the principles set by the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). Here too, we saw thedeepening in cooperation and integration in the region (in the area of higher education) but also
and very interestingly towards other regions of the world outside Europe.
16. The last two presentations by Dr. Kuroda and Dr. Benton jointly offer a comprehensive approachand complement each other in terms of theory and practice in internationalization of highereducation. They referred to what has been done to internationalize universities (both in evaluation
and research at the regional level by Dr. Kuroda, on mobility of Asia-to-Asia); while Dr. Benton
provided grounded information from the case of the University of Tsukuba, which empiricallysupports the trends spotted in regards to how universities promote the production of globalized
human resources through policies, educational programs and services.
17. With this we come to a closure of the general aspects we have seen through the day, and I would
like to express my gratitude to all speakers for we have all learnt a good deal of things throughtheir presentations. To all of them thank you very much.