The July 2018 special issue of HESB focused on the university internationalisation project in which various policy challenges and opportunities around internationalisation were explored. The project examined the institutional policies and initiatives for internationalisation with regard to academic programmes, research, governance and leadership. It also sought to determine the extent to which institutions accommodate internationalisation policies and initiatives with local knowledge, capital, systems, identities and cultures.

That HESB special issue surfaced the realisation that countries as diverse as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand all had some level of ambition to be international or regional educational hubs, whether that impulse came from government or the institutes of higher education. In discussing the Malaysian case, Hazri Jamil, Wan Chang Da and Ooi Poh Ling explained how the Malaysia Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015–2025 (MEBHE) encapsulates the aspiration to establish Malaysia as an international education hub that is valued by students for its “competitive advantage in providing value-for-money higher education — that balances quality and affordability with the added value of rich cultural experiences.”

Yet the 2018 British Council report “Shape of Global Higher Education: Understanding the ASEAN Region” noted that while student mobility has been important to institutes of higher education, it had not been its defining feature in ASEAN as it is in many other parts of the world. While mobility is important in the ASEAN region, it has sat alongside the development of academic talents as the core part of this ASEAN-centric approach to the institutes of higher education.

Beyond Education

For most students, the primary motivation to pursue an overseas education is to expose themselves to new and innovative ideas in their area of study and expand their employment opportunities. As the articles in this issue have demonstrated, the benefits can extend beyond one’s field of study. 

Through the leadership of SEAMEO RIHED, the ASEAN Secretariat and other regional organisations, significant resources have been devoted to fostering a sense of camaraderie and friendship among Southeast Asian countries, and between the region and her neighbours. Countries within a region as culturally diverse as ASEAN stand to benefit greatly from student mobility programmes, such as AIMS, which provide a potentially powerful platform for bridging these different cultures.. Beyond providing a quality education, mobility programmes allow students to immerse themselves for an extended period in the culture and practices of their host country. This deeper understanding of the culture and practices of others, particularly among ASEAN’s youth, bodes well for regional integration and cooperation. 

A prolonged decline in birth rates in economies such as Japan has resulted in serious labour shortfalls, that could potentially stymie economic growth – or at least as classical economic theory would posit. Student mobility programmes like AIMS provide these countries a pathway towards attracting talented international students to consider staying on and contributing to the local economy. Beyond mobility programmes, countries such as Singapore offer attractive scholarships to exemplary international students keen to enrol in local universities. Most such scholarships, in Singapore, require the recipients to stay on and work for at least three years upon the completion of their studies. Beyond being a potential source of talent to mitigate the effects of declining birth rates, student mobility programmes give countries a way to project soft power.