UK-SEA Partnerships and Exchanges Baseline Research (UK-SEA PEER)

Collaborators

Joint Coordinator of Work Package 1 (HE and VET Partnerships in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)): 

Associate Professor Meng-Hsuan Chou, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

Joint Coordinator of Work Package 2 (HE and VET Partnerships in Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS)):

Dr Paryono, Senior Researcher, Deputy Director for Research at VOCTECH, Southeast Asian Ministry of Education Organisation (SEAMEO), Centre for Vocational and Technical Education and Training (VOCTECH), Brunei Darussalam.

Joint Coordinator of Work Package 3 (Research and Innovation Partnerships):

Professor Ka Ho Mok, Lingnan University, Hongkong, Member of the Centre for Global Higher Education (Oxford Uni).

Other partners

• Professor Takao Kamibeppu, Fukuyama City University, Japan.
• Dr Bing Wu Berberich, Lecturer in HRM, Glasgow school for business and society, Glasgow Caledonian University.
• Dr Roger Yap Chao Jr. Independent Consultant, The Philippines.
• Dr. Choltis Dhirathiti, Executive Director, ASEAN University Network (AUN), Thailand.
• Ms Leonie Nagarajan, Director, Education Department, Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), Singapore.
• Assistant Professor, Dr. Fuangarun Preededilok,  Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
• Dr Doungkamol Bangchuad, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Dates

March 2021 to December 2022

Project overview

The emergence of a nascent ASEAN HE space, the ASEAN+3 (https://asean.org/storage/2016/01/APT-Overview-Paper-24-Apr-2020.pdf) (China, Japan, South Korea) region, and the new Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with increasing intra-regional student mobility are providing grounds for a ‘Global Britain’ to reinvest in its multilateral relationships. The impact of UK higher education (HE) internationalisation can be felt in East Asia, in the number of UK transnational education (TNE) arrangements and research collaborations in the region and the number of Asian students choosing to study in the UK.

This study aims to develop a greater understanding of policies, practices, emerging priorities and concepts of HE internationalisation in the UK and East Asia.

Three work packages with UK-based and Asia-based researchers will examine the scope, profiles and patterns of the existing HE, vocational education, and research partnerships at governmental and institutional levels by answering overarching questions:

1. What model of partnerships and types of UK TNE and collaborative research have been prioritised to date and how do they compare across East Asian countries?
2. How and by whom are quality and inclusion in partnerships defined and implemented?
3. How do the current UK-East Asia partnerships serve to inform future initiatives?
4. Which actors, ideas and principles will form and drive UK-ASEAN regional partnerships in a post-Brexit and post-pandemic era?

Combining British and Asian perspectives and theoretical resources from international relations and HE research fields, this mixed-method study will identify new and innovative concepts for future partnership initiatives that bring equity, mutual benefits and added value to all involved.

Project objective

This project will investigate the existing UK-East Asia partnerships by answering the overarching research questions defined above to meet the following objectives:

• To map the landscape of UK-ASEAN, UK-ASEAN+3 partnerships and exchanges over the past 10 years in HE, Vocational Education and Training (VET), and Research and Innovation (R&I), highlighting the quantity, models and profiles of the partnerships at governmental and institutional levels;
• To develop a deeper understanding of policies, practices, priorities of HE internationalisation by investigating ideas, principles, institutional arrangements, contexts and actors that foster or weaken UK-East Asia partnerships;
• To provide policy makers and HEIs with reliable data and synthesised analyses to inform their policies for future multilateral or regional partnerships that will support the need for enhanced equity and inclusion, bringing mutual benefits and added value to all involved; and
• To contribute original knowledge and methodological advancement to the field of HE research for analysing multidimensional HE partnerships at a large scale and under the pandemic.

Impact

The project aims to benefit students, HEIs, policy makers and the wider public by creating the following concrete societal and academic impacts.

• Substantiate the British Council’s initial proposal set out in the ASEAN Dialogue Partner Proposition: UK-ASEAN Partnerships for Education Opportunities- Providing Learning and Exchange (UK-ASEAN PEOPLE);
• Enhance understanding of internationalisation strategies and practices at national and institutional levels, and emerging priorities of the UK, ASEAN, and ASEAN+3 countries in post-Brexit and post pandemic context. Hence, promote research-informed practices and pedagogies of TNE in STEM and HSS to enhance student learning experience and to strengthen UK-ASEAN HE interconnectedness;
• Advocate diversity, inclusion and equity through responsible international education partnerships in all countries involved, particularly ODA countries;
• Call for greater support to sustain partnerships between the UK and East Asia that contribute to global knowledge production, tackling global challenges and achieving the SDGs;
• Strengthen people-to-people connectivity and build trust between the UK and East Asia, especially connecting young people, thus repositioning Britain in East Asia and vice versa. Multilateral partnerships in education not only help the education systems and individuals mitigate the long-term effects of the current pandemic but also play an important role in promoting peace and people diplomacy among nations;
• Deconstruct and reconceptualise 'internationalisation of education and research' in the British and East Asian perspectives;
• Expand the concept of 'Variegated HE Regionalism' that refers to the outcome of ongoing interactions with existing spatial, temporal, social and structural relations, norms and ways of making sense of the HE world.

Outputs

The PEER project has released some key research findings in a creative and user-friendly format for the wider public.

• Three videos on the key findings- providing both the conceptual understanding and changing landscape of East Asia-UK partnerships: UK Transnational Education (TNE) across the East Asian region, affirming the growing interdependence between the UK and East Asian scientific systems, and arguing that the success of ‘Global Britain’ depends not simply on the energy and resources the UK devotes to it but also on the participation of its partners. Watch the videos.
• Two flipbooks provide an at-a-glance overview of partnerships between the UK and individual East Asian countries: highlighting co-authored research publications, top disciplines and top funders, comparing UK TNE students and UK-based students. View them.
• Three sets of web-based interactive maps visualise the current landscape and trajectories of UK-East Asia partnerships through TNE students and programmes, research co-authorships, and SDG-related co-authored publications over a decade. Please interact with the maps.
• Professor Richard Wells, Pro-Vice-Chancellor International, Coventry University presented the PEER project’s key findings about UK transnational education (TNE) in East Asia at the British Council’s flagship Going Global Asia Pacific Conference held in Singapore on 30 November 2022. Read more.
• Three PEER researchers presented the PEER project’s results at the SEAMEO RIHED Symposium ‘Sustainable Learning in Higher Education: Towards Sustainable Development’ which was held in Bangkok, Thailand, on 23-25 November 2022. Read more.

• Professor Richard Dashwood, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Coventry University opened the PEER concluding conference in October 2022. Read the research blog.
• Four hybrid dissemination events in Bangkok and Coventry between June and October 2022. Find out more.

Coming soon:

• Three policy briefs in English and in several Asian languages
• Three blog posts/commentaries
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