EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT – A KEY FOR THE ASEAN'S STRENGTH IN THE FUTURE

On November 25^th , Ph.D. student Pawel Soja (Jagiellonian University - Poland) and Postgraduate student Andrea Passannanti (Cagliari University - Italy) had a meeting with Dr. Tran Dinh Lam - Director of Center for Vietnamese and Southeast Asian Studies (CVSEAS). During the meeting session, which was a part of their schedule of study in Southeast Asia, they highlighted the role of education development in promoting ASEAN’s strength in the years to come. Postgraduate Doan Thi Quynh Dung, researching the topic: “ASEAN intra regional trade in goods (1992-2015)”, joined the discussion.

In their studies on ASEAN in comparison with EU and other developed countries in Europe, two postgraduate students Pawel and Andrea found that it is necessary for ASEAN leaders to learn experience from their EU’s counterparts. In addition to that, Pawel insisted that those leaders should also learn how the European countries overcame their obstacles and became a powerful block as it is today.

In terms of lessons learned from the EU’s development, two European students emphasized the role of investing in education which in turn would help ASEAN to become a developed community. This is not only individual efforts of each member states but they also work together as a network of education, which supports and assists each other to form education programs, scholarships, cultural exchanges. This is to help the ASEAN’s citizens understand each other's cultures and narrow the huge gap between their levels. Thus, the power of education will spread within a country as well as create motivations for developing the whole community.

Dr. Tran Dinh Lam and the postgraduate students

Besides, promoting the awareness and civic responsibility to the ASEAN block in all member countries, according to Pawel, is crucial to the current development of the ASEAN community. In fact, the two recent cases in which Cambodia disagreed on the ASEAN joint statements can be seen as vivid evidence, showing that the ASEAN member countries, especially those who are in need of economic assistance, can be easily affected by external factors if the block’s attractions are not strong enough to balance different interests. Basically, Cambodia’s responsibility for the ASEAN community was not demonstrated in such situation. Therefore, raising the awareness of responsibility seems to be a difficult task for the whole community on which the ASEAN leaders need to focus. To some extent, this will be a key instrument for ASEAN member countries to narrow the gap in many aspects of the diverse community, which in turn will greatly contribute to the ASEAN’s identity and strength in the years to come.

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