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Connecting Across Cultures: Building Multinational Education Partnerships in the Mekong Basin
Presented by Professor Roberto Rabel Pro Vice-Chancellor (International)Victoria University of Wellington
‘Going Global 2012’London, United Kingdom14 March 2012
Challenges of Capacity Building
for Developed World
• Multiple pressures on contemporary universities in developed world: teaching, research, equity, service, innovation, economic growth, social transformation, international outreach.
• Resource limitations—more with less.
• Internationalisation vs. ‘export education’ as competing paradigms.
• Is international capacity-building still appropriate for universities in rapidly changing global environment? If so, how to develop institutional strategies and mobilise resources?
Challenges of Capacity Building
in Emerging Economies
• Multiple pressures on contemporary universities in emerging economies: teaching, research, equity, service, innovation, economic growth, social transformation, international outreach.
• Resource limitations—in spades!
• Challenge of English as lingua franca of academe and business.
• International capacity-building imperative but how to develop institutional strategies and mobilise resources?
Collaboration as a Response
• One response is multinational collaboration on basis of genuine partnerships.
• Offers mutual benefits, shared burdens, more appeal to third parties for funding.
• Raises prospects of multiple synergies if developed creatively, especially the nurturing of long-term connections among universities in developed and emerging economies.
• Perfect fit for universities with integrated internationalisation strategies which include equity and international development objectives, such as VUW.
Greater Mekong Subregion
Tertiary Education Consortium
GMSTEC is a charitable trust and multinational network established in 2002 with a mission of:
1.Sharing knowledge and building cultural understanding;2.Advancing the quality and diversity of programmes offered among GMSTEC members;3.Expanding learning and research opportunities available to staff and students in GMS, New Zealand and Australian universities;4.Mobilising academic and other resources to assist development of the Greater Mekong Subregion.
GMSTEC has contributed to capacity building by combining local and international expertise to provide a unique perspective on challenges for higher education in the Mekong Basin and to deliver university-led solutions to these challenges.
GMSTEC Members
New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington Australia: The Australian National University
Thailand: Khon Kaen UniversityKing Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi
Cambodia: Royal University of Phnom PenhRoyal University of Agriculture
Lao PDR: National University of Laos
Vietnam: National Economics University, HanoiUniversity of Economics, Ho Chi Minh CityHanoi University of Science and TechnologyCan Tho University
China: Yunnan University
GMSTEC Achievements (1)
• Capacity building programmes in Lao PDR and Vietnam on: Managing Network Infrastructure; Social Protection; and, Strategic Human Resource Management.
• Capacity building in English language training; Royal University of Phnom Penh.
• Teacher Development Workshops in Thailand
• Workshop on Development studies in the Mekong Region.
• Training needs analysis for government officials in the GMS.
• Text books for Cambodian Universities campaign.
GMSTEC Achievements (2)
• International conference on Sustainable Development for the GMS in Bangkok in 2010.
• GMSTEC Research Fellowship Programme.
• GMSTEC Research Grant Programme
• Two planned GMSTEC Symposia for 2012 on Climate Change Impacts in the GMS and China’s engagement with the GMS.
• Planned Mekong Study Abroad programme for 2013
Conclusion: GMSTEC as Case for
Multinational Capacity-building (1)
Challenges of using multinational networks for capacity-building include:
• Cross-cultural communication;
• Managing diverse academic cultures, resources and interests;
• Institutional vs. individual/faculty buy-in & commitment;
• Sustaining momentum as ‘coalitions of the willing’;
• Amassing concrete achievements;
• Justifying opportunity costs and funding.
Conclusion: GMSTEC as Case for
Multinational Capacity-building (2)
Benefits of using multinational networks for capacity-building include:
• Research collaboration to facilitate academically informed contributions to GMS development challenges;• Enhanced English, research and teaching capacity for GMS universities;• Innovative networking opportunities; • Multidimensional and multinational interactions amongst partners rather than narrowly focused, bilateral interactions;• Profile-building and other opportunities in GMS for VUW and ANU, such as VUW campus in Vietnam in cooperation with the University of Economics-HCMC.
Above all, ventures such as GMSTEC create platforms and frameworks for capacity-building in emerging economies while facilitating the enduring multinational partnerships among universities that will increasingly characterise the globalised international education era we are entering.