Universities in Europe and Asia must collaborate, say rectors

By Yojana Sharma. Universities in Europe and Asia must collaborate to make their graduates employable in a globalised world, with joint programmes and dual degrees paving the way for greater student mobility, heads of universities in 37 Asian and European countries heard at a major conference in The Netherlands this week.
Although some joint degrees exist between European and Asian universities, Karsten Warnecke, deputy executive director of the Singapore-based Europe Asia Foundation, said there were eight times more Asian students going to Europe than European students going to Asia. With high graduate unemployment in many southern European countries, “it is not a solution for graduate unemployment in Europe for students to go to Asia [for jobs], but they should go to Asia to increase soft skills and to get a different perspective and experience,” said Warnecke.
However, “not enough European students at the moment see the advantage in going to Asia to study,” said Sibrandes Poppema, president of the University of Groningen, which hosted the third Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) of university rectors on 25-26 September. The conference recommendations, including promoting a credit transfer system within ASEM, were agreed to by 100 heads of universities from 27 European Union countries and 10 Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).