Page 20 - AEI Insights Vol. 7 2021

AEI Insights, Vol 7, Issue 1, 2021

ASEM and APEC focus more on education and higher education cooperation between nations
than the others. However, APEC, created in 1989, is mainly aimed at free trade and economic
cooperation (Lee, 2012). Meanwhile, ASEM which was formed in 1996 in Bangkok, Thailand,
has since then developed a platform for discussion and cooperation in three important global
fields. These are political, economic and socio-cultural including educational matters (Le Thu,
2014). In the international arena, ASEM has been listed as one of the strongest inter-regional
cooperation focusing on effective cooperation between Asia and Europe (Khandekar, 2018)
among various organisations.

ASEM gives priority to mutual benefits and bridges the gap between Asia and Europe in terms
of cooperation in various fields, including higher education (Reiterer, 2009). ASEM facilitates
inter-regional cooperation between communities and higher education institutions of Asia and
Europe (Lee, 2012), creating a platform to strengthen the higher education internationalisation
of ASEM partners. In 2006, a decade since its inception, the education pillar was recognised
and the first Education Ministers meeting was held in 2008 to enhance discussion and
cooperation in tertiary education. In May 2008, the Federal Ministry of Education and
Research, Germany hosted the first ministerial meeting on education (ASEMME1) in Berlin
and this marked the birth of the ASEM Education Process (AEP). Since then, the AEP has
influenced the development of higher education in Asia and Europe (Dang, 2013) and
internationalisation of higher education became the major attention of the AEP. In particular,
it has the abilities to guide the development of higher education in the both regions through the
agenda-setting process (Dang, 2016).

The impact of globalisation and internationalisation has influenced human capital and talent
development in Malaysia, especially through international cooperation (MOE, 2020). The
agenda on internationalisation has been prioritised in the Malaysian higher education system
after the establishment of a separate Ministry for higher education in 2004. Since then, various
strategic plans have been introduced to enhance the quality of higher education, visibility and
global recognition through internationalisation. From the beginning 2008, the Ministry of
Higher Education, Malaysia (MOHE) has participated in the AEP through Ministerial and
stakeholders level meetings and has organised several initiatives at Ministerial and stakeholders
levels such as the Fourth ASEM Education Ministers’ Meeting (ASEMME4) and the Third
ASEM University Business Forum in Kuala Lumpur under the four thematic priorities of the
AEP. Although Malaysia has participated in the AEP for the past decade, there appears to not
have been tangible outcomes or policy development on international cooperation in the field
of higher education. However, a few Asian countries such as Indonesia hosted the ASEM
Education Secretariat (AES) from 2013 to 2017. De Wit et al. (2015) stated that Malaysia’s
active engagement in the ASEM education cooperation since ASEMME1 can be seen to be a
positive effort in enriching greater cooperation with Europe and Asia to enhance strategies and
to tackle higher education internationalisation matters. Thus, this study aims to explore the
implications of the AEP to the process of higher education internationalisation in Malaysia
through semi-structured interviews with key personnel. The implications of the AEP is
categorised in terms of its functions, contributions and the effects of the four thematic priority
areas to Malaysian higher education development and internationalisation.

The article begins with a brief background of the AEP and its rationale for higher education
internationalisation. It is then followed by a review of literature on the internationalisation of
higher education and the higher education internationalisation process in Malaysia. Next, the
research design and methodology employed for this study are described. This is followed by

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